Study: Pollution Raises Exercise Risks

I guess this means the end of the ubiquitous truck stop fitness center so many of us patronize.

"Exercising in areas with high levels of diesel exhaust and microscopic soot particles is especially risky for people with heart disease, according to the first study in which heart patients were directly exposed to pollution."

Safety tip: avoid fitness centers in Sweden and the UK where you are put in a chamber attached to an exhaust pipe:

"Researchers in Sweden and the United Kingdom tested 20 men aged about 60 who had survived a heart attack at least six months earlier, had blockages cleared and propped open with a stent, and were getting treatment to prevent a second heart attack. The researchers noted they only tested men with stable heart disease and good tolerance for exercise, and monitored each closely to ensure none suffered any health problems.

On two separate occasions, each man was put in an enclosed chamber for an hour and exposed to either diluted diesel exhaust or clean, filtered air. They rode an exercise bike for two 15-minute periods and rested in between. The men had electrodes attached to their bodies to monitor the heart's electrical activity, like what happens in a standard heart stress test.

While exercising and exposed to diesel exhaust, the men experienced drops in the heart's electrical activity two to six times greater than when they were breathing filtered air. Those reductions indicated the heart muscles were not getting enough blood. "