Doctors & patients are saying about 'A-Fib.com'...
"A-Fib.com is a great web site for patients, that is unequaled by anything else out there."
Dr. Douglas L. Packer, MD, FHRS, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
"Jill and I put you and your work in our prayers every night. What you do to help people through this [A-Fib] process is really incredible."
Jill and Steve Douglas, East Troy, WI
“I really appreciate all the information on your website as it allows me to be a better informed patient and to know what questions to ask my EP.
Faye Spencer, Boise, ID, April 2017
“I think your site has helped a lot of patients.”Dr. Hugh G. Calkins, MD Johns Hopkins,
Baltimore, MD
FAQs Coping with A-Fib: Sex and Exercise
“Should I cool my sex life? Can I exercise if I have Atrial Fibrillation? Should I exercise?”
You don’t have to worry about dying while making love. A-Fib isn’t like having a heart attack. Episodes of A-Fib are normally not life threatening
Whether or not you should exercise, is really a judgment call for you and your doctor to make. In A-Fib when you first start exercising, often your heart rate tends to be very rapid. Also, the A-Fib reduces your overall capacity to exercise, because your heart isn’t pumping properly.
These observations aside, if you can exercise without your heart rate becoming too rapid and you feel like exercising, you probably should. But check with your doctor. (In some types of A-Fib, moderate exercise may actually help you come out of an attack of A-Fib.)
Consumer Heart Rate Monitors by Polar
If you want to monitor your heart rate while you exercise, you can wear a consumer or sports heart rate monitor. We like the “Polar” brand. Check out the array of Polar brand heart rate monitors on Amazon.com. Other companies include Timex, Garmin, Acumen, Nike, and Cardiosport. Used by runners and other athletes, they rely on the use of a chest strap to pick up the electrical signals from the heart and transmit to a special wrist watch. You can set it to sound an alarm if your pulse exceeds a certain rate.
For an in-depth review of DIY/sports monitors, see my report: Consumer (DIY) Heart Rate Monitors and my Shopping Guide to DiY Monitors.
Go back to FAQ for the Newly Diagnosed A-Fib Patient
Last updated: Monday, June 18, 2018
