I've been thinking a lot lately about Broc Bebout, the 57-year-old Indiana cyclist who died the day after completing a cross-country bicycle tour.
The well-liked bike club member from Anderson was a marathon runner in his 20s and 30s, until he was diagnosed with heart disease and underwent a quadruple bypass at age 39. Bicycling helped him lead a full life afterwards.
Riding a bicycle 100 miles a week, or jogging 5 miles a day, or waking up to a round of step aerobics doesn't guarantee that a person is protected from heart disease.
The more exercise the better. The American Heart Association recommends 30 to 60 minutes of exercise — biking, jogging, walking, swimming — every day.
But even then, there are still people who are genetically prone to heart disease. Here's a story from the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier about Mary Jo Scully Klatt, 54, who had emergency double bypass heart surgery after doctors found a major heart artery that was 90% blocked. What's surprising is that she has been an aerobics instructor for 20 years, never smoked, and ate right.
The burning sensation she felt in her chest during exercise occasionally during the past 18 months wasn't indigestion, however. It was the heart struggling for oxygen.
Listen to your heart.
The newspaper quotes Dr. Kalyana Sundaram, a cardiologist with Cedar Valley Medical Specialists. He says that for people like Klatt, the exercise wasn't a waste of time. The exercise helps the heart survive with insufficient oxygen and form natural bypasses around the blockage.
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