Heart health and dangers of shoveling snow

Shoveling and digging out after a heavy snowfall can be a good workout for most people; but for those with heart disease, shoveling is best left for others to do.

Dr. Sharonne N. Hayes, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist says she encourages exercising but the combination of cold weather and strenuous exercise puts extra strain on your heart and can trigger a heart attack.

Shoveling snow can be a good workout, but it’s not for everyone.

“Shoveling snow is one of those uniquely dangerous cardiovascular stress tests for a variety of reasons,” says Dr. Hayes.

She tells her heart patients, “I really don’t want you to do that anymore. You can mow your lawn; you can go on hikes and walks. I want you to exercise.”

The reasons, she says, are both physiological and psychological.

Physiological includes your blood vessels constricting from being out in the cold, which increases blood pressure.

“And that’s enough, in a vulnerable individual sometimes, to give them chest pain. Say they have some blockages, it might give them angina, or chest pain,” Dr. Hayes says.

Add that to the workload of digging heavy snow.

“The psychologic part. And everyone says - oh!” says Dr. Hayes. “My patients smile when I say because it’s a knowing smile. Oh, yeah.”

Sometimes it’s hard to stop once you start something.

To avoid a trip to the emergency department, when shoveling it’s best to push the snow instead of hoisting and dumping, it which can be a big workout on your heart.

“It’s that combination of cold. extreme exertion, and then maybe sticking it out longer than is wise because we got to finish and get to the end of the walk,” Dr. Hayes explains. “If you start shoveling, and you start having chest pain or shortness of breath, you should put that shovel down and rest, and go in and be checked if it’s chest pain.”

It’s best to check with your doctor about the advisability of shoveling heavy snow, says Dr. Hayes.

When chest discomfort becomes something to worry about Chest discomfort and pain account for more than 6.5 million emergency department visits in the U.S. each year. Discomfort can be the first sign of a serious heart event or a symptom of other medical conditions.

Dr. Regis Fernandes, a Mayo

Clinic cardiologist, says people should seek medical care at the first sign of chest pain.

Chest pain and discomfort has many possible causes — whether related to the heart, lungs, a panic attack or other reasons that can produce different sensations.

“For some people, it can also be felt in other areas than the heart, like the shoulder, the arm, on the back or the base of the neck,” says Dr. Fernandes.

Acute chest pain starts suddenly and last several minutes — increasing in intensity. This can be a representation of a heart attack. There’s also chronic chest discomfort caused by blocked arteries typically felt when people exert themselves.

“When you increase the workload that the heart has to do, you increase the demand for blood flow. And because the blood flow is blocked, patients will feel like a discomfort,” says Dr. Fernandes.

When you experience new or unexplained chest pain, seek medical attention.

“A health care professional will be able to get a good history, which is very important, on the details of your chest discomfort and a focused physical examination to be able to determine if your chest discomfort is more heart-related or not,” says Dr. Fernandes.

Courtesy: Mayo Clinic News network