Stress test – Some Q’s

I am 42years old male, smoker for almost 20 years (I quit just a month back). Today I had my stress test and heart echo done. The doctor told me everything comes normal and your heart is functioning well? My questions: 1- I reached my HR target (180pbm) in the middle of stage 3 (almost after 7mnts) and the doctor says this is due to lack of fitness / lack of exercises and nothing to worry about, just be more active and strat some sports. Is that right? What is heart echo and what info about my heart it tells the doctor? Thx and Happy New Year    

[CCF HeartMD-1]

Reaching your target heart rate at stage 3 in the exercise protocol is not necessarily a bad thing.  I would probably agree, that the more fit you are the longer it should take you to reach your target heart rate.  People who exercise a lot typically have lower resting heart rates so it takes them a while to reach there target heart rate when exercising.  However, the more important parameter of a stress test, is the number of METs you were able to do which is a measure of your functional capacity.  10 METs or more is very good!!!  If you stopped at stage 3 then yes, your physician is probably right that you need to be more active and get involved in sports.  

An echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart which measures the function of your heart (how hard it is squeezing) and it allows us to look closely at your heart valves to make sure there are no abnormalities.  

Hope this helps.