Has anyone heard of ATHLETES HEART?

[CountessVonKnackerstein]

I overheard someone talking about it, it has very obvious symptoms such as low resting heart rate.
I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any experience of this?

I've heard that athletes often have low blood pressure.

yes. It's the low pulse rate and slow heartbeat which accompanies very good levels of fitness.

I go through phases of being very fit and am reasonably fit as I swim and jog. My average heart rate (resting ) is under 60bpm. When I wake up of a morning it is lower. However, I don't like having low blood pressure as it makes me feel faint!

Apparently I have bradycardia & low blood pressure too, I would say I am relatively fit, although don't do any serious exercise, just take opportunity whenever I can (walking, stairs,occasional swim, cycling, home pilates or yoga)

So have you ladies been diagnosed with it?

I knew a pilot who was diagnosed with this. Had a very slow resting pulse 45bpm. He was very fit. Every year at his medical he would end up with EGC'S etc.

Conclusion: Just a very, very fit athletic man (he used to run marathons).

At various points I've had ecgs and have a very slow resting rate, between 38-50 bpm. It's also often irregular. As soon as I exercise it becomes regular and gradually faster. My blood pressure's not low though and I've never felt faint. I have run regularly for 25 years and have been told it's entirely normal for me. Always worries my GPs though.

trefusis me too! Isn't it odd!

True athletic heart means that the heart as become enlarged due to prolonged exercise - it's the heart's response to the extra demand put on it. The symptoms can be an indication of other underlying conditions though, types of cardiomyopathy for example.