Endurance runners are far more likely to die of heat stroke than an undetected heart condition. [s]HealthDay[/s] reports that researchers found that endurance athletes participating in events in warm climates are actually 10 times more likely to develop severe and life-threatening heat stroke. Yet, the less common sudden death of a young and apparently healthy person due to undetected heart problems, such as an irregular heartbeat, often gets a lot more media attention.
‘This research shows that heat stroke is a real threat to marathon and long-distance runners; however, there are no clinical studies of potential strategies to prevent heat stroke during these types of events,’ said senior study author Dr Sami Viskin, a cardiologist at [b]Tel Aviv Medical Centre in Israel[/b]. ‘It’s important that clinicians educate runners on the ways to minimise their risk of heat stroke, including allowing 10 to 14 days to adjust to a warm climate, discouraging running if a person is ill or was recently ill, because a pre-existing fever impairs the body’s ability to dissipate additional heat stress, and developing better methods of monitoring body core temperature during physical activity.’
[link url=http://consumer.healthday.com/fitness-information-14/jogging-and-running-health-news-261/heat-stroke-a-greater-risk-for-endurance-runners-than-heart-problems-690057.html]Full HealthDay report[/link]
[link url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109714027533]Journal of the American College of Cardiology abstract[/link]