Snow Shoveling and Heart Attacks

Above, the new snow shovel. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Ever since my "little" heart episode last summer, I have been careful in watching my diet, taking my meds and getting some exercise.

After the New Year's blizzard hit New Mexico, I went and bought a snow shovel. Last winter, the snow wasn't enough of a hindrance to warrant getting a shovel. But the New Year's blizzard dumped 14" of snow in the area. There's still plenty of it left on the ground, even though almost two weeks have passed.

Above, the mesas following the New Year's blizzard. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Shoveling snow has led to heart attacks, some of which had hit otherwise healthy people.

According to AccuWeather:

As winter kicks off and snowstorms strike across the country, an unsuspected risk arises when performing outside activities like shoveling. 

“It has been shown by many, many studies that there are more heart attacks in the December-January timeframe,” Doctor Samin Sharma, director of Clinical and Interventional Cardiology at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, said. 

While intense cardio exercise certainly puts a strain on the heart, cold weather is an exacerbating factor which leads to an increase in heart-related failures and fatalities over the winter season. 

These factors can even put an otherwise healthy person at risk. 

Cold weather causes the arteries to constrict, which then raises blood pressure and pulse rate. These increases put additional strain on the heart.

That's why I do snow shoveling a little at a time.

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