High heart rate during exercise

[picks4]

I am a new paramedic, and I recently took the physical fitness test at the hospital.  I was told that as a 33 year old female, my maximum heart rate should be around 158 during activity.  It was 198 at one point.  Unfortunately my active heart rate has always been high, and until this test, it has never been a problem.  I was told I need to figure out how to correct this.  Any ideas? Certain exercises, or medications?

[Abbysim]

Does anxiety run in your family? Because you may be having an anxiety attack without realizing it. Many people seem to think that they weren't anxious about anything but many thoughts are rarely acknowledged by your conscious yet still have a large impact on your emotions. Emotions have a great deal of control over the CNS and can cause spikes in HR and BP. Sometimes the fear of heart pain can be classified as an anxiety trigger. I'm not trying to say there isn't anything wrong with your heart but if the physical tests don't come up with anything I would suggest meditation to help ease your anxiety during an attack.
I also get my heart rate well into the 200's without much effort.  I have a pre-existing condition of a nerve bundling which complicates things a great deal. I find taking a multi vitamin and drinking a sugary drink as opposed to water during a work out helps keep my heart stable. Also try to avoid caffeine before a workout.
Best luck.

[Tinishap]

Ok so I have just started biking for the first time this season. I was out yesterday and my heart rate got to about 183 after only a few minutes of biking. I am not in any way healthy which is why I am trying to get it under control...but I went to the doctor's and they said that my heart rate shouldn't be that high. But when my heart in is the "normal" range, I'm not getting a work out. At work, where I have to sit all day, my heart rate is normally around 90 (I have a heart rate watch). Should it be this high? I am already doing strength training and intervals. I wouldn't worry about it but I feel like I am going to be sick when it gets that high.

[CuteNsweeT]

Have you tried interval training? It's great at getting you fitter in a shorter space of time.

A quick intro to it, if you don't already do it;
Give yourself a 5min warm-up, then run(or jog if that's all you can manage) at about 85% max heartrate (don't go higher at this stage, as it will just exhaust you and you're trying to improve your fitness, not weaken all your muscles)  just for 1 minute. Slow right down to moderate/brisk walking pace for 90secs, this will let your heartrate come back down and allow you to breathe easy. Then go back up to a run for just another minute, etc etc, until you have your 20/30/40/whatever mins done. Make sure you cool down at the end, about 5mins. After a week, (or sooner if you train every day) increase your timings to 90secs runs and 90secs walks. Next is 2min runs and 1min walks. After that go back to 1min runs/90secs walks, but rev up your speed a bit, and continue the same patterns as before. You should find it easier by now to run faster, and knowing that you only have another 59secs or whatever to go makes it seem even more do-able, and before you know it you're running 10/15min stretches without collapsing! Hope that helps.

[Jesusislordovermylife]

Every time run and work up my self for a short time my heart start to race and I struggle to breathe and I am going to d army what can I do to build my stamina up and stop that short breathing help me plz

[CuteNsweeT]

I noticed that you said your height was 5'2". Smaller adults (and children) tend to have a higher heart rate, so I would say that a resting rate of 90bpm is actually okay for you. Also, the HR monitors on gym equipment is not accurate unless used in conjunction with an electrode chest strap. According to the sensors on the (new!) treadmill at my gym, I've had my HR jump from 185 to 150 up to 190 then down to 140 all in the space of about a minute, with no change of intensity, so I just ignore it now until I can afford a decent HRM watch.
If you go by the generally used calculation (220 - age = max HR) then 85% for a 38yr old would be 154bpm, not 145.
If you take into account your resting heart rate (which in your case is already a little high)
and apply the Karvonen method *(Target HR = ((HRmax − HRrest) × % intensity) + HRrest)*
then you actually get 168bpm for your target heart rate. I'd say this is a more accurate number to go by, as it is based more on your own personal body rate than just your age.
Another thing to mention is dehydration-- if you're not keeping hydrated enough during exercise that'll push your heart-rate up too.
Hope that helps a little bit!

[leon72]

I am a 38 yr old male 160 lb 5'2  and for about 6 years now I've been conscious of my heart rate being much higher than normal. My resting heart rate is around 90, so I very easily get over 145 when working out at the eliptic machine. Last week a doctor that was working out next to me noticed my heart rate, which was at 150 at the time and was very concerned because the speed that I was working out at was very slow (4.5 mph). He told me that we should never exceed 85% of your heart's max and that at my age, 145 should be the limit. Taking my heart rate over 145 is risking a heart attack, so I should take it easy and let my physical condition get better and my heart stronger to be able to work out at a faster speed. Hope this helps because I've been reading here about people taking it over 200, that has to be very dangerous.