How To Reduce Your Heart Rate While Running
Heart rate is not just something to write down in your training diary: on the contrary, it is an important indicator of how hard your body is working and how you feel in general.
When the intensity of training increases, so does the heart rate. But training too hard and raising the heart rate too high can damage the heart and lead to serious health complications.
Monitoring your heart rate can help protect you from these potentially dangerous health problems. In addition, maintaining the right heart rate zone for your age is the key to feeling better in everyday life.
Here is some information about heart rate zones and, above all, some tips to put into practise if your heart rate is too high.
1. Calculation of heart rate zones
The simplest, though not perfect, way to calculate your maximum heart rate is to subtract your age from 220. A 20-year-old runner, for example, will have a maximum heart rate of 200 beats per minute. It should now be considered that moderate intensity activity should be performed at 50-70% of maximum heart rate, and high intensity activity at 70-85%. That means between 100 and 170 beats per minute for a 20-year-old.
Of course, this applies in normal situations: medication, stress or illness may cause these data to vary.
What is the best way to know your own heart rate? Simple: a heart rate monitor.
2. Signs of an elevated heart rate
The benefits of aerobic exercise are innumerable, from reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, to strengthening muscles and bones, to improving mood. However, overwork can put excessive strain on the heart, lungs and muscles, which can lead to serious health complications. This is why it is important to monitor your heart rate during your run and make sure that it does not reach (or exceed) your maximum heart rate.
Here are some signs that you are going too fast:
- Dizziness or vertigo
- Nausea
- Chest pain
- Shortness of breath
If you experience any of these symptoms, stop exercising and take steps to lower your heart rate.
It is important to note that exercise in hot and humid weather can also increase the heart rate to potentially dangerous levels.
3. Improving heart rate while running
Aerobic fitness needs to be improved. It is not an immediate solution, but increasing aerobic fitness is vital to improve running heart rate. Why? Aerobic exercise – light activity that can be sustained over a long period of time – strengthens the heart, allowing it to pump blood more efficiently. In turn, your heart will not need to beat as fast when you are at rest or during activity. Some common aerobic exercises are running, walking, swimming or cycling.
Feeling dizzy, nauseous or out of breath during a run can be scary but, fortunately, there are things you can do to lower your heart rate and feel better
We recommend that you visit this page to follow our advice.