Can I do sports with a long-term ECG? | Long-term ECG

Can I do sports with a long-term ECG?

In general, sports activities are possible during a long-term ECG measurement. If sports are part of the patient’s everyday life, sports can be performed on this day as well. However, it should be noted that the electrodes are connected to the recorder via cable and care must be taken not to tear off anything by jerky movements.

Since showering should be avoided during the 24 hours, the patient must decide whether or not sports without the possibility of washing on that day make sense. If you sweat too much on your chest, the electrodes may also become detached. For people who rarely exercise in everyday life, an endurance-straining activity can falsify the results.

Half an hour of endurance training can influence the heart activity for a few hours. Therefore, exercising during a long-term ECG should be done with caution. Taking a break from sport for this one day is advantageous, but not absolutely necessary.

Costs

The costs for a long-term ECG vary from practice to practice, but in most cases they amount to about 40€. This includes the equipment with the electrodes and the recorder for one day, as well as the evaluation of all heart activities of the 24 hours by the physician with possible diagnosis. Some cardiological practices offer general heart examinations for about 200€, which includes the long-term ECG and various other examinations. In most cases, the costs for a long-term ECG are covered by the health insurance company if there is a medical indication. Frequently, even a slight suspicion, for example a palpitations, is enough to prompt the cardiologist to perform an examination.

Supraventricular Extrasystoles (SVES)

SVES stands for “supraventricular extrasystoles”. These are additional heartbeats that are triggered by the excitation conduction system of the heart in the atrium (supraventricular = above the ventricle). They represent a cardiac dysrhythmia that also occurs from time to time in healthy individuals.

Since they rarely appear continuously, they can be detected almost exclusively by a long-term ECG. In addition to the normal heartbeat, there are extra beats that appear in the ECG to be normal heartbeats, since, like the normal heartbeat, they are formed in the atrium. If they occur in the context of other heart diseases, their cause should be determined and treated. In healthy individuals, they can also occur due to fatigue or after consumption of alcohol or nicotine.