Heart Starters: The thrill seekers in sport

Catching a wave really is a big thrill! Did you know that big-wave surfers get such an adrenalin rush that they maintain high, prolonged heart rates (90 percent of maximum based on treadmill tests) for periods greater than any other sports people. A rate of more than 180 beats per minute for three hours has been recorded in a professional big-wave surfer. Not surprisingly, surfers can be exhausted for a week after battling the waves.

The psychological component of heart rate gets little attention in contemporary research but could do with closer scrutiny. Terri Williams, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at University of California Santa Cruz, proposes that the nervous adrenaline rush at the start of a triathlon race combined with the physiological impact of sudden immersion in cold water creates an extreme challenge for the heart, especially for people with pre-existing cardiac conditions.

Discover more amazing heart findings here in this article at Medical News Today.