The first: Control the environment you’re exercising in to minimize sweating, because fluids lost through sweat are a driver of cardiac drift. There are two effective strategies for minimizing cardiac drift, says Comana.

Mental Fatigue Can Impair Physical PerformanceĬan you reduce the effects of cardiac drift?.This increased work puts stress on the body that can ultimately manifest as a slight rise in heart rate, says Comana. As you continue exercising-and thus keep generating more and more heat-your body has to work a little harder to lower your temperature. This effect, says Comana, likely accounts for just a small rise in heart rate.įinally, there’s the thermal regulatory effect, which basically means that as you exercise, you generate heat and your body has to devote resources to removing that heat. These hormones build up in your bloodstream and cause your heart rate to gradually increase as you continue to exercise. Exercise stimulates your sympathetic nervous system, which then activates the release of norepinephrine and epinephrine, Comana explains. To make up for this decreased stroke volume, your heart rate increases so that cardiac output can stay the same.Ĭardiac drift can also be chalked up, in part, to hormones. The primary one is that when you exercise, your body is trying to maintain cardiac output, which is basically how much blood the heart can pump out to the rest of the body, says Singh.Ĭardiac output is driven by two things: heart rate and stroke volume (essentially the amount of blood your heart can pump out with each beat).Īs you exercise, your stroke volume may decrease due to fluid loss caused by sweating, as well as muscle pump (basically, your muscles contracting), Comana explains.

There are a few different physiological effects that explain cardiac drift, says Comana.

Tapered stroke after effects