Can Extreme Exercise Hurt Your Heart? Swimming the Pacific to Find Out

Re:Can Extreme Exercise Hurt Your Heart? Swimming the Pacifi... by xiaoma on Monday February 08, 2016 @05:21AM (#11057319)

I applaud both the athlete and the research so please forgive this ignorant question. Even if he can handle the waves, isn't he at a huge risk of being eaten by a shark or other predator as he does a 6 month swim across the Pacific?

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Re:Can Extreme Exercise Hurt Your Heart? Swimming the Pacifi... by lentil_soup on Monday February 08, 2016 @05:33AM (#11057352)

According to Wikipedia, during his Atlantic crossing "he was accompanied by a 40 ft. sailboat that had an electromagnetic field for 25 feet to ward off sharks. He was followed by a great white shark for 5 days."

Any idea how that works?

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Re:Can Extreme Exercise Hurt Your Heart? Swimming the Pacifi... by 4714 on Monday February 08, 2016 @06:16AM (#11057491)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_shark_repellent

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Re:Can Extreme Exercise Hurt Your Heart? Swimming the Pacifi... by VLM on Monday February 08, 2016 @10:48AM (#11058713)

Sharks don't have internet access to know where he is, and fishermen have to go to quite a bit of effort to find their catch. Very few people are eaten by sharks, his odds of not being eaten are excellent.

His flesh eating enemies are likely to be microscopic. I would worry about things like contact dermatitis and skin infections from swimming thru who knows what.

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Re:Can Extreme Exercise Hurt Your Heart? Swimming the Pacifi... by eloff on Monday February 08, 2016 @11:33AM (#11059052)

This ignores the fact that your odds of being eaten by a shark may be significantly higher in the open ocean than at the beach. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_whitetip_shark

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