A 19-year-old boy died suddenly after exercising. Type 2 exercise patterns are the most dangerous, and type 5 groups are prone to arrhythmia
Previously, there was news that a 19-year-old boy died suddenly after drinking ice water after strenuous exercise. Some media said that it was caused by acute myocardial infarction, and some people said that it was caused by arrhythmia. In fact, no matter what kind of disease, exercise and drinking Water is the trigger.
In July 2021, a 24-year-old man in Zhuzhou, Hunan fell to the ground after playing basketball outdoors, and his heart stopped suddenly. The medical staff tried to rescue him but he still died. Witnesses said that the weather was hot, and the man drank a lot of alcohol after he got off the court. Less ice water, unexpectedly, an accident happened suddenly.
Similar news is not uncommon, but media reports use the sentence “because… so”. It feels that drinking ice water after strenuous exercise will cause heart disease. This is a wrong perception.
In fact, the myocardial infarction or arrhythmia (arrhythmia) induced by the above two boys was caused by drinking a lot of water during strenuous exercise. Ice, may not really be the key.
Excessive exercise may lead to arrhythmia, sudden death? Category 2 Sport Mode Dangerous
With the question of boys drinking water, let’s look back at sports.
Exercise is an important key to maintaining health, but attention must be paid to exercise intensity and exercise status. Scientific evidence shows that athletes who exercise excessively over a long period of time have a higher risk of cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death than the average person, and this is an athlete, let alone an average person.
The so-called excessive exercise refers to doing vigorous exercise every day, the amount of exercise that is beyond the tolerance of ordinary people. For example, playing basketball and football with friends today is very enjoyable. I usually play for an hour and get tired. Today, I played for 3 hours. is an excess;
In addition, if you usually lack exercise training, it is not recommended to rashly engage in high-intensity exercise, such as mountain climbing, marathon running, etc., especially if you have a history of heart disease, climbing steep slopes and other actions will increase the burden on the heart, easily lead to drastic changes in the cardiovascular system, and endanger life.
Atrial fibrillation is asymptomatic but stroke may occur, and 1 in 6 strokes is associated with atrial fibrillation!
After talking about exercise, let’s look at arrhythmia.
Arrhythmias can be divided into ventricular fibrillation (ventricular fibrillation) and atrial fibrillation (atrial fibrillation). Although the predisposing factors of the two overlap, their attack mechanisms are not exactly the same. The reason for the easy occurrence of atrial fibrillation is mainly related to the patient’s older age, lung disease, thyroid disease and other problems; the principle of easy occurrence of ventricular fibrillation may be related to the history of myocardial infarction, heart failure and other heart problems.
Although both can cause sudden death, the sudden death rate of atrial fibrillation is higher.
Overall, the incidence of atrial fibrillation in adults is around 2%-4%, and the incidence increases with age. In this case, the patient may not have any obvious symptoms, but because of the atrial fibrillation. Fibrillation causes irregular heartbeats. In severe cases, blood in the atrium may flow abnormally and form a blood clot. Once the blood clot blocks the blood vessels in the heart, it may cause myocardial infarction, and when it blocks the blood vessels in the brain, it may cause a stroke.
Statistics show that 1 in 6 stroke patients is related to atrial fibrillation. The average stroke risk of atrial fibrillation patients is 3-5 times higher, and the risk of sudden death is 2 times higher than that of ordinary people. About 1 in 10 people over the age of 80 has atrial fibrillation, and if the patient has other chronic diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, the risk of atrial fibrillation is higher.
5 high-risk groups are prone to arrhythmia! Watch out for 4 abnormal signs
Arrhythmia and atrial fibrillation may pose a major threat to life, but people still lack awareness of them. There are five high-risk groups that need to be paid attention to, including the elderly, patients with cardiovascular disease, those with family history, and those with unhealthy lifestyles People who are used to it and patients with heart failure should pay attention to 4 abnormal signs, namely: dyspnea, frequent palpitations, unexplained chest tightness and chest pain, and easy fatigue. Seek medical examination and treatment as soon as possible to prevent sudden death.
How to choose an anticoagulant?
In addition, patients with such cardiovascular problems must regularly take anticoagulant drugs to reduce the risk of stroke, and at the same time use drugs to control atrial fibrillation to prevent symptoms from occurring. I take medicine when I feel it, because the onset of the disease is urgent, and it may be too late to take the medicine, or even unable to take the medicine.
Patients with cardiovascular disease generally need to take anticoagulant drugs on time as a preventive method. These drugs are divided into two categories, one is vitamin K drugs, and the other is a new type of anticoagulant. The patient will also be asked whether he has ever had a prosthetic valve, whether he has mitral valve stenosis, and whether the kidney function is good or bad to consider the method of medication.
It is very important to take anticoagulants regularly, but if you have other diseases, you need to tell your doctor in advance. For example, if a patient needs to have a tooth extraction or surgery, you must first consult a cardiovascular doctor to see if it is necessary to stop the drug. However, there are some newly developed anticoagulant drugs that do not necessarily need to be stopped, but traditional drugs, such as aspirin, must be stopped for a week before invasive surgery, which requires doctors to assess the risk.
One-third of atrial fibrillation is asymptomatic, and smart devices monitor it at any time
Atrial fibrillation does not occur anytime and anywhere. Most patients are paroxysmal. They may suddenly develop at a certain time when they are eating, walking, or when they are angry, and they will recover after a stroke, so it is impossible to know in time.
Past studies have found that even using a 24-hour electrocardiogram, the detection rate for atrial fibrillation is only 1-2%. In this case, in addition to encouraging patients to have regular physical examinations, smart wearable devices can also be used to help monitor, such as some with electrocardiogram records. A functional smart watch that measures and records an electrocardiogram for more than 30 seconds when palpitations or other uncomfortable symptoms occur. According to the current data, the initial diagnosis accuracy rate of big brand smart watches can reach about 80%, which can be used as an indicator for doctors to assess the condition.
How can high-risk groups avoid recurrence? Is it wrong to just exercise and not take medicine?
Cardiovascular diseases have a characteristic that if an acute attack occurs for the first time, such as myocardial infarction, arrhythmia, stroke, etc., if it occurs again, the mortality rate will increase significantly.
Therefore, for high-risk groups who have had a stroke or have cardiovascular disease, the two most important aspects of secondary prevention are: one is to control risk factors, including three highs and metabolic syndrome, and at the same time, quit smoking, drinking and other bad habits, and eat as little as possible. Oil, less salt, slowly start rehabilitation and increase the amount of exercise; another is that some people are superstitious that taking medicine is not good for their health, and choose to refuse to seek medical treatment and take medicine, thinking that only life control and exercise can naturally cure cardiovascular disease disease.
High-risk groups should not think that exercise is a panacea for improving cardiovascular disease, and ignore the importance of drug therapy. In the past, medical technology was relatively backward, the purification was not good, and the side effects were relatively large, but now the medicine has made great progress, not only the efficacy is guaranteed, especially the drug treatment of atrial fibrillation can reduce the risk of stroke by about 50%, and the side effects are also less than before. In many cases, reasonable drug treatment combined with ECG monitoring and regular check-ups with wearable devices can greatly improve the chance of recurrence.