There's a right way to get a rate increase.(athletes, ephedrine and heart rate)

Here's what happens. The stuff makes stuff happen faster. The way God set it up, most times your heart just does what it does. You're along for the ride. Same thing with breathing. Not your job. Some nerves somewhere take care of that. The central nervous system is a miracle. But, people being people, some people want to jack it up. So they swallow this stuff that gets into the bloodstream and goes to those nerve endings that control the central nervous system. And then ...

"The sympathomimetics increase the speed that messages move across the nerve endings," the doctor says.

Whoa, the big word?

"Sympathomimetics," he says.

A spelling lesson ensues, after which Dr. John Lombardo, medical adviser to the NFL and team physician at Ohio State, says sympathomimetics stimulate the central nervous system in ways that increases the effectiveness of body and brain. "A pick-me-up," he says.

The heart's pumping. Soon enough, you're feeling good, even tingly. Next, you're warm because that big heart muscle is flexing maybe two, three times a second.

Talking about ephedrine here.