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Frame from Cyclists' hearts: can you be so fit that you die? Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Cyclists' hearts: can you be so fit that you die?

5 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
2 HN users recommended this explainer2 months2019–2023 score 2
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN recommends it as a good, short explanation of athlete's heart and the risks of extreme fitness.

Medlife Crisis examines why some elite endurance athletes die in their sleep, covering extremely slow heart rates and the effects of performance-enhancing drugs that thicken blood. It uses cyclist Marco Pantani as an example.

“Medlife Crisis (a YouTube channel that deserves a much larger following) has a good video related to this topic” (HN, 2020)

2 recommendations · 3 citations · Explainers

5 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@JshWright Jan 2020 Recommends
on HN thread Athlete’s Heart (2003)
Medlife Crisis (a YouTube channel that deserves a much larger following) has a good video related to this topic: [this video]
Good video on athlete's heart from a channel deserving more followers.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@ausbah Apr 2019 Cites it
on HN thread The Heart of a Swimmer vs. the Heart of a Runner
I've heard of some professional cyclists years ago who turned their bodies into such efficient biking machines from training + drugs that when they when to sleep, there was a change of them dying in their sleep because their heart rate was so slow. They'd have to get up in the middle of the night and bike just to stay alive. Only anecdotal, but worth considering. [this video]
Explains how extreme fitness can slow heart rate dangerously.
@xref Jan 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Overweight and healthy is a big fat lie, obesity study finds
> He was so fit, he has to cycle several times at night to make his heart go faster and not to die. That wasn’t because he was “so fit” was it, but rather from being in the middle of a powerful doping regimen (like all top cyclists were, you simply couldn’t compete otherwise) raising your hemocrit level to the point it could kill you? Vid about it: [this video]
Covers cyclists' hearts and risks of extreme fitness and doping.
@01100011 Nov 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Heavily mutated coronavirus variant puts scientists on alert
I don't know, but just to throw this out there, I believe very cardiovascularly 'fit' people have a risk of death because their heart rate can drop dangerously during sleep( [this video] ). I would also think soccer players are more likely to use performance enhancing drugs. I wouldn't blame it on the vaccine without more data.
Shows very fit people's heart rates can drop dangerously during sleep.

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