Where in Taipei can I find a good cardiologist, or where is the best hospital to do a check up on ones heart or cardiovascular health?
cheers.
Can’t help you with the cardiologist, but have some interesting information.
A Doctor in Florida, Al Sears studied cardiology and specifically why marathon runners and seemingly fit people die of heart attacks. Turns out it’s due to long duration exercise and the adaptive response to the heart muscle – it becomes smaller, because it needs to be efficient in order to perform for such long periods of time.
He has a program called PACE, whereby you perform 30 seconds of exercise (cycling, swimming, running, etc) at maximum intensity, then 30 seconds easy. Repeat 6 times (with a 2 minute warm up) and you’re done. He talks about cavemen and how they either sat around doing nothing, or were involved in some explosive activity (running for their lives, catching food, etc)
I’ve adapted it to weights, cycling and I’ve also had a go at sprinting and it’s a real workout, not to mention it saves a lot of time in the gym.
I have an audio of him talking about PACE, so let me know if this interests you and I’ll upload it for you.
His site is:
http://www.alsearsmd.com/pace/
The cardiology department at National Taiwan University Hospital has a very good reputation.
For those in the Taichung area or willing to make the trip, I recommend Jen Ai Hospital in Dali; specifically Dr Chang, their chief cardiologist. He’s the one taking care of my ticker. His English is almost native level. Visiting him isn’t for the faint of heart, however. He doesn’t sugar coat it for you, so he can sometimes come across rather gruff.
Um, that kind of defeats the whole purpose then, doesn’t it?
i would have thought those most faint and troubled of heart would surely be best off visiting a cardiologist.
he he. sorry dr lobster.
and a comment on the ‘small heart for marathon runners’ story from dr wot’sisname. take that interpretation with a grain of salt, please.
humans are phenomenal endurance athletes, and most theories of caveman hunting entail long distance chases of prey, and then the inevitable return to the camp. only wolves are better endurance machines, and dogs of course, as they’re just wolves too. except Chihuahuas, they’re descended from rats, I believe.
I think his main point is there’s a best way to train and develop the amazing endurance you mention. I just found it interesting because I’ve often wondered why seemingly fit people die running marathons. There had to be a reason. I’m also into prevention versus cure.
Just found this:
[quote]New findings suggest that it pays to alternate short bursts of high-intensity exercise with gentle recovery during workout regimens at least once a week.
Although this alternating technique, called interval training, has existed for decades, a new study has confirmed that it can dramatically improve cardiovascular fitness and the body’s fat-burning capabilities.
Researchers asked eight college-age men and women to sprint for 30 seconds, and then either stop or pedal gently for four minutes. After only two weeks of this interval training, 75 percent of them doubled their endurance.
A control group, which did not do any interval training, showed no improvement in endurance. The marked improvement in the interval training group was even more startling because the volunteers were already fairly fit.
Another study also showed that interval training enhances the body’s ability to burn fat. Eight women in their early 20s were told to cycle for 10 sets of four minutes of hard riding, followed by two minutes of rest. After two weeks, the amount of fat burned in an hour of continuous moderate cycling increased by 36 percent, and their cardiovascular fitness improved by 13 percent.[/quote]
i have long been a fan of interval training… and i have an interest in endurance sport heart attacks too, as a riding partner died from a heart attack while swim training for triathlons earlier this year, a couple of miles off Kending beach.
i think humans are pretty good at running long distances within their comfort zone. full-on marathons are not generally within one’s comfort zone… funnily enough, not many professional cyclists die from heart attacks on the bike, but then their endurance requirements and power output are rather different from marathon runners’.