Are you looking for an article elaborating how to pass a treadmill stress test? Then you are on the right spot. Passing the treadmill stress test is important to validate your good cardiac(related to the heart) health.
Treadmill Stress Test
Let’s first, understand, what is a stress test? The stress test will determine the functioning of your heart. If you are wondering how to pass a treadmill stress test then go through the article.
A stress test is commonly known as a fitness test, exercise test, treadmill stress test, and an electrocardiogram(ECG).
A stress test tells your doctor about how much your heart can bear stress while doing work or exercise. If you are facing problems like shortness of breath, heart problems (sudden alteration of a beat), and chest pain then you should seek your doctor for a stress test.
The test is usually more common for old-aged folks(more than ’40s), for those who are obese(high cholesterol level).
In this process, the monitor will show your blood pressure, heartbeat rate, with help of ECG signals.
How stress test is performed?
In this test, you walk on a treadmill or paddle a stationary bicycle.
Initially, sticky patches(electrodes) are placed on some areas of your chest. These patches assist in displaying your heartbeat on monitor.
Once, your heartbeat and blood pressure are checked before exercise. And secondly during exercise.
After checking your condition at rest, you walk on a treadmill or paddle a stationary bicycle. The rate of exercise gradually increases to check how much pressure your heart can bear. The difficulty of exercise will increase steadily.
Make sure to let your doctor know if you feel any of the following conditions during exercise.
- Chest pain
- Heart problem
- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness
The gradual increase of your heartbeat rate, blood pressure, and gradual shortness of breath is normal. You don’t need to worry at all because your technician is also monitoring your condition on the monitor. However, if you are feeling any kind of discomfort tell your doctor.
Once you are done with your stress test while exercising the next step is to gradually slow down your body motion.
Why treadmill stress test is done?
There might be some reasons for doing a treadmill stress test.
- To check the severity of chest pain while doing the workout.
- To determine your heartbeat rate(pumping action of the heart) while performing a hard activity.
- To check intenseness of coronary artery disease(CAD) caused by inadequate flow of blood to heart i.e. higher level of cholesterol in arteries or coagulation of blood.
- So that you can enjoy a better workout or gym experience.
What to deduce from a stress test?
For men, if a stress test of an individual having problems like shortness of breath is not normal it means that person has a higher risk of (CAD). But one has to worry more if he is old, obese(high level of cholesterol), and also his stress test is disappointing it means that there is more possibility of having (CAD).
But if sometimes a person experiences few problems and has resulted in a normal electrocardiogram(ECD) test. It means he is less likely to have CAD.
But it doesn’t mean that he is completely in a safe zone. Because most often an individual having 70-100% blocked arteries have disappointing stress test results. So an individual having a normal result of stress test still requires some more tests to validate that his arteries are completely normal.
A person with little blockage of arteries might face a heart attack. So it’s important to control the cholesterol level from the start. Because rupture can still occur and coagulate the arteries, resulting in a heart attack.
Types of Stress Test
There are two common types of stress test.
- Exercise Stress Test
- Nuclear Stress Test
1.Exercise Stress Test
In this test, the technician sticks patches on some areas of your chest known as electrodes. You walk on a treadmill. Then results are monitored graphically.
Your exercising level increases gradually then you slow gradually to get accurate results.
This will give your doctor a clear notion of whether your cardiac muscles are healthy enough for exercise.
Because during workout your heart pumps fastly, supply of oxygen increases consequently blood circulation from the body to heart increases. So if your arteries are wide open the blood will flow smoothly otherwise blocked arteries offer resistance to blood giving the low down of blocked arteries.
So this is the complete process of the exercise stress test.
Related: Treadmill Stress Test Interpretation
2.Nuclear Stress Test
This test gives us more detailed information about the beating of the heart, pumping action of the heart, blood flow through the valves of heart, etc.
“Initially in nuclear stress test you lay on a table then controlled amount of radioactive rays pass through your heart. Doctors will trace the path of these rays through special designed cameras”.
The more radioactive rays crossing your heart will describe the good pumping and beating actions of the heart. Because rays can pass easily through unblocked arteries and open valves of heart while rays return from the region of heart where coagulation has occurred.
The patient’s cardiac behaviors are inspected two times. First, when the patient is at rest and second soon after exercising. This will give the doctor a clear picture of the performance of the heart by comparing both reports(at rest and of exercising).
By doing this your doctor will analyze which parts of your heart aren’t getting enough blood while exercising.
Precaution
This process might not be appropriate for the pregnant woman as the radioactive rays are intense beams that can harm the fetus.
FAQ’s about Treadmill Stress Test
There are definitely some questions that will arise in your mind regarding the stress test.
How long is a treadmill stress test?
The time including the preparation can take 30-45 minutes while the exact treadmill stress test can take 10-15 minutes. However, an appointment with a doctor might last up to half an hour or possibly can take more time.
Which signs show you need a stress test?
You have to consult your doctor or physician if you face any of the following unusual changes.
- Shortness of breath
- Notable change ( increase or decrease) in heartbeat rate.
- Chest pain
Can you drive yourself before and after a stress test?
After a stress test, you might not drive yourself home safely. Because the medicine used to numb your throat for nuclear stress test might take up to an hour in terminating its effect. Therefore it is good to have someone with you who can take you home after the stress test.
Hello,
This is Safeer Ahmad founder of FitnessGearsHub. I’m an aspirant fitness freak, I commenced my career as a blogger and I opted for “gym and fitness” as my primary domain. As all fitness gears fancy me, I spend considerable time on research before buying one, I believe a health fanatic should be mindful of the product before making buying decision so I’ll try my level best to provide you ample information to buy one or maintain your gym equipment.
