Extreme physical exercise can cause severe physiological disturbances that mimic life-threatening conditions, requiring a complex understanding of pathophysiology to prevent deleterious outcomes, particularly in military and athletic settings.
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Clinicians should monitor for multi-system complications in extreme exercisers; this review leaves open prospective studies on risk thresholds and prevention.
Extreme physical exercise is potentially harmful or even lethal activity. It is associated with several compensatory mechanisms focused on increasing functional capacity. Hormonal and metabolic pathways rearrange to maintain glucose supply in working tissue. Cardiovascular system substantially increases cardiac output and redistributes blood flow in working muscles. Respiratory system increases tidal volume and respiratory rate. Immune system and other systems are also affected.
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Jakl et al. (2016) studied this question.
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