athlete's heart

/'æθli:ts'hɑ:t/

Thân thiện

An athlete's heart is a healthy adaptation to long-term endurance training.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • An enlarged heart commonly found among athletes trained for endurance: This is a physiological condition where the heart muscle, particularly the left ventricle, becomes larger and stronger due to prolonged, intensive aerobic exercise. It is generally considered a benign adaptation, not a disease, and is associated with a lower resting heart rate.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The cardiologist explained that the athlete's heart was a normal adaptation to years of marathon training.
  • An echocardiogram can distinguish between a healthy athlete's heart and pathological cardiac enlargement.

Advanced Usage

• Medical Context: The term is used in sports medicine and cardiology to describe a specific, exercise-induced cardiac morphology. It is crucial to differentiate it from pathological conditions like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
  • The study focused on the electrical remodeling that accompanies the athlete's heart.

Variants and Related Words

• Athletic heart syndrome: A synonymous term used in medical literature.
  • Athletic heart syndrome is characterized by both structural and functional changes.

Synonyms

• Exercise-induced cardiomegaly: A more clinical term describing the same condition.
• Physiological cardiac hypertrophy: Refers to the beneficial thickening of the heart muscle.

Related Phrases/Idioms

• "Having the heart of a lion": While not a direct idiom for "athlete's heart," this phrase metaphorically describes great courage and stamina, qualities associated with elite athletes.

Học thuật

Noun

1. enlarged heart commonly found among athletes trained for endurance