Tag Archives: sport

Introduction Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia with an estimated prevalence in the UK of 3%.1 Epidemiological studies have shown a 12–20% reduction in the risk of AF in individuals who engage in guideline-recommended physical activity levels.2,3 However, the reduction in AF risk appears to diminish with increasing doses of exercise, with contemporary data proposing a paradoxical rise in the risk of AF with the highest doses of exercise; suggesting a U-shaped dose-response relationship (figure 1).4 Figure 1. The extreme exercise hypothesis4 whereby the benefits of exercise are reduced in extreme training volumes