Dangers of low resting heart rate

pbracing

Never fainted, but thanks for the reminder of an accident a couple of years ago on my 450 motocross bike. I was doing an enduro and went down heavy in a pine wood. I landed on a tree stump right on my hip. It stopped me dead in my tracks. It was agonising, but I was in a race so got back on and shot off, only to drop it again after 200 yards and back up to speed. I landed on another stump on the same hip, an exact repeat! The pain was unreal :shock: :shock:
The only thing to do was sit down for 10 mins. I can almost feel it now.

I've got a mate who passes out every time he crashes. Not sure what makes different people react differently.

Wogan

neeb wrote:

I hit my hip, felt OK, then felt weird, then fainted.

Sounds like Ye Classic Vasovagal Syncope, probably caused by the pain. Brain goes "WHAT THE HELL DID WE HIT"?, vagus nerve is stimulated a bit too much causing your heart to slow down, blood pressure drops and you feel woooozy, sick, odd and finally, pass out. Then everything goes back to normal and you wake up wondering why everyone is making a fuss.

If you've only fainted twice in your life after significant events like this, then I wouldn't worry about it. Just try not to land on your hip next time. Oh, and don't fly EasyJet!

(DIsclaimer: not a medic. YMMV. TTFN.)

neeb

Fainting because of the pain? How humiliating. Oh well, there goes my potential career as a roman gladiator or grizzly bear wrestler. Although interestingly, I did hear a theory that fainting in these sorts of situations has its origins as a defense mechanism that enables you to to realistically "play dead".

Elganesh

oldwelshman wrote:

The heart has a difinitive number of beats per lifetime (ok average, cannot remember number but sure you could google iand find it and benefits of low hr) so it goes without saying that if yours is 20/min less than average, your heart will last longer

While I am no expert on mammalian biology I have read that this is certainly true for the majority of mammals. A mammal's heart tends to beat, on average, an equal number of beats over the course of its life no matter what species it is, hence field mice having a much shorter life span than say elephants.

Homo Sapiens however, is an exception having a proportionally larger number of heartbeats for it's size. This is due to lots of different factors, not least the fact that we can actively strive to improve our bodies capabilites through choice rather than instinct.

I suppose it could be said that if you have a lower HR than someone else then you might live longer but there are so many variables because of our lifestyles that it is virtually impossible to say.

Besides would you really want to live untill 130? 65 years of retirement? I wouldn't know what to do!

StealthHunter

About 3 years ago I had a resting RHR of only 38..............I only found this out when I was taken into hospital for an RTA.

It shocked me I can tell you as I only rode to and from work and the Saturday CR. It is now mid 50's so need a bit of work on it.