Why too much running is bad for your heart (2024)

FAQs

Why too much running is bad for your heart? ›

Marathon runners increased risk of heart attack

The Dangers of Excessive Running

Too much exercise can lead to overtraining — a state of chronic stress and fatigue that occurs when you overtax your body, exceeding its ability to recover from strenuous exercise. When you become overtrained, you stop making progress. Your strength goes down, your mile time goes up.

Those who start running on a regular basis decrease their risk for heart disease by 35 to 55 percent. Running helps prevent blood clots in the arteries and blood vessels. It also supports healthy blood flow, blood pressure and cholesterol.

How much: Ideally, at least 30 minutes a day, at least five days a week. Examples: Brisk walking, running, swimming, cycling, playing tennis and jumping rope. Heart-pumping aerobic exercise is the kind that doctors have in mind when they recommend at least 150 minutes per week of moderate activity.

A routine of regular exercise is highly effective for prevention and treatment of many common chronic diseases and improves cardiovascular (CV) health and longevity. However, long-term excessive endurance exercise may induce pathologic structural remodeling of the heart and large arteries.

Injury Risk Rises

You're more likely to get injured when every run is fast. A tired and run-down body is much more susceptible to injuries. Not only will an injury derail your running, but when you're run down and demanding a lot from your body, you're risking getting sick.

Is running everyday good for you? Generally speaking, it is not recommended to go running everyday. Sports scientists and coaches point out that your body needs time to rest between workouts. Running is a high impact activity, and your muscles need time to recover before you go running again.

Running is a high impact, repetitive exercise and certainly has potential for injuries. As with any sport or exercise there is always risk of injury. The level of risk varies with your current level of health and fitness, previous injuries and appropriate training programs.

Running 10 miles or more or running to exhaustion, however, may temporarily weaken the immune system. This impairment of immune function generally lasts only for a few hours, although for some people, it may take several days to recover, especially for those with an already weakened immune system.

The researchers found that the large-muscle group's heart-disease risk was as much as six times higher than the group of men with the smallest abdominal muscle area. Larsen said the team was surprised by the correlation of higher muscle area with higher coronary heart disease.

Is running good for belly fat? ›

Running is an excellent form of exercise for weight loss. It burns a lot of calories, may help you continue to burn calories long after a workout, may help suppress appetite and targets harmful belly fat. What's more, running has many other benefits for your health and is simple to begin.

Aerobic activities like walking, running or jumping rope give your heart and lungs the kind of workout they need to function efficiently. Muscle-strengthening activities like weight-lifting or Pilates build core strength, improving your posture, and toning your breathing muscles.

If you want to keep your heart healthy well into your years, then running is an excellent choice. Regular moderate or vigorous aerobic activity gets your heart pumping, which in turn increases its longevity and capability over the long haul. It's a surefire way to keep your heart healthy well into your older years.

Walking and running are both excellent forms of cardiovascular exercise. Neither is necessarily “better” than the other. The choice that's best for you depends on your fitness and health goals. If you're looking to burn more calories or lose weight fast, running is a better choice.

Your chest may feel heavy or like someone is squeezing your chest or heart. You may also feel a sharp, burning pain in your chest. You may feel the pain under your breastbone (sternum, so the pain is called substernal) or in your neck, arms, stomach, jaw, or upper back.

Chronic extreme exercise training and competing in endurance events can lead to heart damage and rhythm disorders. People with genetic risk factors are especially vulnerable. That doesn't mean you should put away the walking shoes, though.

In elite athletes, due to the sheer intensity at which they perform, this effect is naturally far higher. While these stressors may be tolerated by an athlete with a healthy heart, those with structural or electrical abnormalities are the individuals where problems arise and the risk of fatal arrythmia can occur.

A woman who can run a mile in 9 minutes or less is highly fit, in 10.5 minutes or less is moderately so. A man who takes longer than 10 minutes or a woman who takes longer than 12 shows a poor level of fitness. With each minute longer, there's a dramatic increase in heart risk, the research shows.

When your heart works harder, it also needs more oxygen — oxygen it can't get because of the clogged coronary artery. The heart's lack of oxygen causes chest pain during exertion, a condition called angina.