If you have ever exercised in your life, are an athlete, or visit the gym daily, then you would have noticed your heart rate increasing while you exercise. Even when you stop your exercise, the heart rate doesn’t return to normal immediately. Some may be worried about it, but the truth is, most of the time you don't have to.
Why Does Heart Rate Increase During Exercise?
If you’ve ever wondered why your heart rate increases during exercise, then you should know that while you exercise, or carry out any vigorous physical activity, your muscles require a large amount of energy. Although the muscles can get some energy by carrying out anaerobic metabolism, the majority of their energy needs are fulfilled by aerobic metabolism, which cannot be completed without oxygen. Since your bloodstream is responsible for bringing the oxygen to your muscles, your heart needs to pump a great amount of blood for maintaining the oxygen supply to the muscles that are working. To fulfill this goal, the heart starts beating rapidly and forcefully, which increases the heartbeat.
In addition to that, if you are exercising on a hot day, then too, the high temperature coupled with the vigorous activity performed by your heart will result in an abnormal increase in your heart rate. This happens because the heart needs to supply blood to the skin for cooling you down and it also needs to supply the blood to the working muscles. These two changes require the heart to beat quickly than usual. People who train a lot in hot environments become quite efficient at cooling their bodies.
How Does Exercise Affect Your Heart?
Why does heart rate increase during exercise? Now you know that the heat rate increases because your heart needs to supply more oxygen to your muscles. But what else will exercise do to your heart?
Cardiovascular Exercise
When you perform cardiovascular exercises, the entire blood flow becomes directed towards the working muscles, away from the regions that aren’t working much (like your digestive tract or arms). The blood volume and blood flow returning to your heart increases. When your heart registers a great volume of blood, the left ventricle begins adapting to this change and enlarges. The bigger cavity can now hold more blood and can eject more blood with every beat, even when you are resting.
With time, chronic cardiovascular training results in a decrease in the heart rate at rest as every beat is used to deliver a big amount of blood, which is why fewer heartbeats are required. This takes a lot of burden off the heart, which is why cardio exercises are recommended for keeping your heart healthy.
Strength Training Exercise
Strength training exercises work your heat in an entirely different manner. Certain body muscles are always contracting and rely on two main kinds of muscle fibers that are in charge of making us robust and attractive.
When the muscles contract, they press the blood vessels flowing through them and close them. This builds up pressure in your body, making the heart fight hard against a big force for pushing out the blood. The heart starts adapting to this change by enhancing your left ventricle wall’s thickness. This thickness, derived from extensive weight training is quite healthy and is different to the thickness gained from high blood pressure, which isn’t healthy.
Exercise stimulates the formation of brand new veins and blood vessels in your body that results in better blood circulation. By doing cardiovascular training with resistance training, you are able to increase the size of your new veins and arteries too.
Finding Your Current Heart Rate for Maximizing Your Exercise Plan
It's not enough to know "Why does heart rate increase during exercise?" You should know your current heart rate for maximizing your exercise regimen. This helps you strengthen your heart to derive maximum benefit from it. With more exercise, it becomes easier to reach closer to the targeted heart rate that is around 90 percent of the maximum heart rate. When you start exercising, your target should be to reach 50 percent of your greatest heart rate.
To determine the heart rate you should aim for, you should subtract your current age from 220. The answer is your greatest heart rate and refers to the number of heart beats per minute. If you are 30, then your answer will be 190 (220-30=190), or 190 beats per minute.
While exercising, the heart rate can be checked with a heart rate monitoring device or by examining your pulse. Exercise machines such as treadmills or exercise bicycles have heart rate monitoring devices built on their handlebars.
So, find out your heart rate and begin maximizing it to become stronger. By now, you must be fully aware of the reasons why heart rate increases during exercise and why it is beneficial for you.