What’s good for your AF heart

My experience is that some types of exercise are more likely to put my heart in afib.

A few years ago I only played squash (racketball), and my doctor suggested that I rather do some swimming or cycling. Well, I did not use that advice immediately and kept on playing squash, but I did think about his comments. Slowly I started running a few km’s every now and then but kept on playing squash because I loved it and did not enjoy the running that much. Also, the running was though!!,  and I did not do anything more than 5k’s.

If I wanted to do some swimming I had to join a gym, and although I do enjoy swimming the hassle was too much for me and I decided to rather try cycling. I started with some mountain biking. Was it difficult at first? YES very! It was a struggle to keep up with the guys, but I enjoyed the outdoors and kept on. I did my first 100km race in 2009 and stopped playing squash as a regular sport in 2010.

Doing some type of sport or exercise is very important to me and I try to stay fit. My feeling is that I was given a second chance on life and I am going to keep my body healthy. During my squash days, I have had a few episodes of afib attack, and my doctor agrees that the explosive nature of squash may cause an afib attack.

So according to my doctor (research) swimming and cycling are the sports best suited for someone with a previous/potential/possible afib heart. A few weeks ago I was invited to play a bit of squash, and can you believe it, just as I came off the court I got that awful and nasty racing heart, beating in my chest. I panicked, remembered to breath and thankfully the AF only lasted a few (felt like minutes) seconds. But I enjoy squash and may well play a few games now and then but, I will mostly keep on with my mountain biking and running.