Does a low heart rate always mean an enlarged heart size?
Former Member
I was having this discussion with someone who says that a person with a low resting heart rate automatically has an enlarged heart.
I once had my heart checked. While my resting heart rate was around 35 bpm, my heart size was rather average. I recently read something that said that an athlete does NOT automatically have an enlarged heart.
I can't find that article anymore.
Does anyone know in what way a low heart rate has to do with the size of your heart and if all swimmers have larger hearts than average people?
Lefty, for what it's worth, I once measured my heart rate, first thing upon awakening, before getting out of bed, at 38. It might have been lower, but I got so excited by the prospect of beating 40 that I could feel it speed up a bit towards the end of the minute.
My father, who was a reasonably regular exerciser (tennis), had a lifelong low heart beat, and I am sure that some of this is genetically mediated. However, I do think that Lui's 35 is not all that difficult to believe, especially if he had been training a lot for a long period of time.
By the way, if you look at the first link he sent, it was from (The American Journal of Epidemiology, 1999, Vol. 149, No. 9, pp. 853-862)--not that suspect, really.
As far as Wikipedia goes, it seems to me I have come across academic studies that have found the info here to be as accurate as that found in the Encyclopedia Brittanica.
Lefty, for what it's worth, I once measured my heart rate, first thing upon awakening, before getting out of bed, at 38. It might have been lower, but I got so excited by the prospect of beating 40 that I could feel it speed up a bit towards the end of the minute.
My father, who was a reasonably regular exerciser (tennis), had a lifelong low heart beat, and I am sure that some of this is genetically mediated. However, I do think that Lui's 35 is not all that difficult to believe, especially if he had been training a lot for a long period of time.
By the way, if you look at the first link he sent, it was from (The American Journal of Epidemiology, 1999, Vol. 149, No. 9, pp. 853-862)--not that suspect, really.
As far as Wikipedia goes, it seems to me I have come across academic studies that have found the info here to be as accurate as that found in the Encyclopedia Brittanica.
