Do Different Drinks After Exercise Affect Your Heart Rate?

After an intense workout or exercise, consuming different drinks can have very different effects on your body. For example, drinks such as protein shakes help to rebuild tissue destroyed during exercise and provides help in building muscle mass and strength. Drinks with caffeine and other stimulants, meanwhile can have effects including an increased heart rate, more intense focus and continued energy.

Exercise's Effect on Heart Rate

When you engage in intense exercise, your heart rate rapidly increases to provide the body with enough blood to perform the task. After exercise, the body has a heightened level of adrenaline that naturally subsides over time. If you drink something that causes changes in the body, your heart rate might be different than if your body's adrenaline level subsided naturally.

Caffeinated Drinks

The drinks most associated with an effect on a person's heart rate are those that contain high amounts of caffeine such as espresso and energy drinks. Research, including a study published in 2009 in the journal "Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging," has shown that energy drinks that contain high amounts of caffeine, carbohydrates and taurine create increases in both sympathetic and parasympathetic activities after exercise, which leads to increases in heart rate and stroke volume.

Energy Drinks' Effect on Children and Other Diseases

In addition to increasing the heart rate after exercise, energy drinks may pose even more of a risk for children and those suffering from diabetes and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Consuming drinks that contain large amounts of sugar and caffeine after exercise can be particularly disruptive to people suffering from diabetes; these not only alter a person's heart rate during recovery but may also cause problems with their insulin and blood sugar levels. Children and those suffering from ADHD, meanwhile, may be sensitive to the effects of the ingredients in energy drinks, which can alter their recovery after exercise.

Heart Irregularities After Exercise

Consuming drinks that alter the speed of your heart can be dangerous, particularly to those with a predisposition to irregular heartbeats. A reduction in heart rate variability, which occurs when energy drinks are consumed after exercise, has been linked to sudden death along with the risk of sudden cardiac death after exercise, the "Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging" study reported. People with a family history of heart problems need to be particularly careful with what they drink after exercise because of the risk involved with sudden death after exercise.

Considerations

If you have any health concerns, you should discuss your exercise regimen and what to drink after exercise with your doctor. The University of Illinois' McKinley Health Center recommends drinking 1 to 2 cups of fluid about 2 hours before you exercise, up to 1 cup for each 15 minutes of exercise and, for each pound you lose during exercise, 2 1/2 cups after exercise. The center suggests water as the best fluid for hydration, but notes that sports drinks are appropriate if you're exercising for longer than 60 minutes.