Does Cardiorespiratory Fitness Prevent Breast Cancer in Women?
Scientific evidence collected for seven decades strongly supports the position that higher cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) levels are associated with more favorable health outcomes, including mortality due to various cancers. Findings from several small population studies suggest that a physically active lifestyle offers protection against pre- and postmenopausal breast cancer. However, physical activity in these studies […]
Fighting, Faith and Asynchronous Cardiac Rehab: Get to Know Alexis Bhagat, ACSM-CEP
Alexis Bhagat fought her way into sports medicine. The 32-year-old clinical exercise physiologist is a true Millennial: like many of us, she went to the mat, so to speak, on an extracurricular activity. Specifically karate, which blossomed into an impressive athletic career. And it was no surprise: Both of her older brothers were also fiercely […]
Reducing Heart Disease Risk for Young and Middle-Aged African Americans
In the U.S., the death rate for African Americans with heart disease is declining. However, more than 100,000 African Americans continue to die each year from cardiovascular disease and retain a significantly higher death rate than any other racial group. A January 2022 report from the Office of Minority Health noted that approximately 57% of African Americans have […]
Women’s Heart Health: Key Resources
Did you know heart disease is the #1 killer of women, claiming more lives than all forms of cancer combined? High blood pressure accounts for one in five deaths among women in the U.S. and is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. While these statistics might surprise you, February as American Heart Health month […]
The Importance of Cardiorespiratory Fitness, A 10-Year Update
This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the American Heart Association’s (AHA) policy statement “The Importance of Cardiorespiratory Fitness in the United States: The Need for a National Registry.” In my teaching and lecturing, I have often commented that the field of exercise physiology is a very young area of science. Much of the foundations […]
NFL Announces ACSM as New Member of Its Smart Hearts Coalition
The National Football League (NFL) announced on October 13, 2023 that the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has joined its Smart Hearts Coalition. Read the release. Founded in March of this year in response to the life-saving emergency care provided to Damar Hamlin, the NFL’s Smart Hearts Coalition is advocating for all 50 states to […]
Recognizing Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Athletes
On June 2, Jonathan Drezner, M.D., director of the University of Washington’s Center for Sports Cardiology, delivered the 2023 John R. Sutton Clinical Lecture at ACSM’s annual meeting covering sudden cardiac arrest in athletes. Learn how to recognize and respond to these not uncommon events by viewing the video from Dr. Drezner’s lecture below and […]
Universal Response to the Collapsed Athlete | Sudden Cardiac Arrest
Every facility, organization and medical professional needs to have an emergency action plan to treat sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). This protocol for the universal response to the collapsed athlete is explained by Jonathan Drezner, M.D.
We Can and Should Do Better When Estimating Cardiorespiratory Fitness
Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is an important component of physical fitness and represents the ability of the heart and the lungs to deliver oxygen to the working muscles during maximal-effort exercise. Over the past decades, CRF has been shown to be inversely related to many common and prevalent chronic diseases, including but not limited to cardiovascular […]
February is Heart Health Month: How Are You Monitoring Your or Your Clients’ Hearts?
Cardiovascular health is, if you’ll excuse the pun, at the heart of physical fitness. Appropriate, then, during American Heart Month to have a look at the ways we can monitor our hearts as well as those of our clients. For clients, getting ahold of an at-home blood pressure monitor can be a good start, as […]
