In northwestern Sweden, the Vasaloppet, a fifty-six mile
cross-country ski marathon, is an exemplar for “studying the impacts of
intense, prolonged aerobic exertion on the human body”. The most recent study
has shown that the participants in this race who have engaged in many other
similar races, or who have finished faster than the rest, are more prone to
have an arrhythmia, irregular heartbeat, which makes some scientists
apprehensive. One study that happens to pertain to the rigorous race study
includes “marathon-running rats” heart rate vs. the inactive rats’ heart rate.
At the beginning of the article, author Gretchen Reynolds
started off with a widely known event (the race) that happens to be the subject
of one of the studies mentioned. She then proceeds to present the reason for
the study, which then leads to another study (the Montreal experiment)
mentioned. The first study, the Vasaloppet race, analyzed the participants
race’s records to predict on who will be the first people that will need
medical help first, why the second and third studies just analyze the
differences in the “marathon-running rats” and the lazy rats’ heart rhythms,
and in the distances and the amount of weeks that the rats ran. A problem was
introduced that stated that constantly doing vigorous activities can lead to
heart problems. But a possible solution to this problem, which concluded this
article, was quoted and explained that one should keep doing things as one
usually does but to always seek help when an aberration occurs, especially in
the body.
I agree with the last paragraph where it stated a helpful
advice. But what stood out to me the most was the contradiction on how
exercising vigorously can affect one’s health. I thought that doing aerobics
daily can help one live longer?
Hi Leslie!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it interesting that exercise also applies to the concept of "too much of anything is never too good."
Anyway, I like that you analyzed how the article was organized. It's like the technique we use when annotating critical reading passages. However, you lack commentary all throughout your analysis. What do you think of the studies and its theories? Were you affected in any way by this new finding that too much exercise can be harmful to our hearts?