“HELP ME MONITOR MY VITAL SIGNS ON RACE DAY”
Reader Scott Owen wants to know whether his heart rate and lung capacity are normal when pushed. John Dickinson is here to help...
Scott: I’m nearly 60 and asthmatic. My resting heart rate is 52bpm, but it can be as high as 185bpm during a race. Is this normal? John: Basically, your resting heart rate is pretty healthy, and what you’d expect from a trained individual. If 185 is your peak heart rate and it’s not there constantly then there’s nothing to worry about. The only concern would be if it was elevated for a significant amount of time. If it’s in response to doing harder and harder exercise and then it reduces as you back off, it’s fine unless there are other symptoms alongside it. If it remains this high after finishing the exercise, say 5-10mins, then that would suggest there might be a wider problem that needs to be checked out. I recently had a flow meter reading that told me my lung capacity is between 450-475, which I’m told is quite low. Is this part of the problem? This is your peak respiratory flow, and without knowing more information like height and ethnic background it’s difficult to say what’s normal or abnormal. Individuals with asthma are usually given a peak flow meter and asked to monitor it regularly, at the same time every day to check for any significant variability. From my experience, that level for a 60-yearold is within normal range, and if the asthma is well controlled it shouldn’t be any limitation to your ability to take part in exercise.
Peak flow isn’t a measure of the size of your lungs, all it’s measuring is the peak speed you’re breathing out air. It’s difficult to decipher from this whether your lungs are actually smaller than average. If this was the case, then your ability to supply oxygen to the muscles and remove waste products would be limited. If, hypothetically speaking, your lungs were obstructed because of asthma or if your lungs were smaller, then your lung function may impact on performance, but it’s very difficult to decipher from this single peak flow measurement.
A much more thorough test would be what’s called a maximal flow volume loop. That would tell you how big your lungs are and how fast you can empty them, and from that information you could get more of an idea if your lung function is a limiting factor to your performance. Will my lung capacity and heart rate stop me from going faster? To put you at ease, that peak flow reading doesn’t sound abnormal. It night be a bit lower than the usual level but you need to monitor it every day to see if there’s a wider problem. If the asthma is well controlled, it shouldn’t be a limiting factor to performance. The heart rate is only an issue if it’s raised for a significant amount of time after completing exercise.
“The only concern would be if HR was elevated for a significant time”