That heart-pounding rush you get from a high-intensity workout is surprisingly close to what it’s like to have a heart attack, a new study finds.
Swedish researchers have found a single one-hour spinning exercise increases levels of a substance in the blood called “troponin T” - the same biochemical released during a heart attack.
University of Gothenburg researchers tested the blood of 10 athletes -- average age: 30 – before, during and after a spinning bicycle workout. The tests found the workout raised levels of troponin T, which is involved in heart contractions, and is sometimes used as a marker of whether a person has had a heart attack.
Researchers said their findings indicate troponin T measures could lead to a misdiagnosis of a heart attack
“While long-term endurance exercise is known to increase cardiac biomarkers, only a few studies on short-term exercise and these markers have been reported,” they wrote. “Thus, recently performed exercise …should be taken into consideration in the evaluation of acute chest pain with release of [troponin T].”