You know, I was going to post last night about all my excuses not to do that. I very nearly didn't work out last night because of all my excuses, but made myself do it and yet again was so glad I did. Seriously, try it, you'll like it! Or, maybe, if you're concerned about how your heart felt while you were shoveling, maybe you should get a treadmill stress test first.
As for your question, I knew it was something about the body overcompensating for the cold by shutting down blood vessels, but hadn't really looked it up until now. Here's part of an ABC news article that explains it:
When it's cold, the body prevents heat loss by closing down blood vessels in the skin, arms and legs.
Paul Romanello, Lenox Hill Hospital: "But the body's not perfect and what happens is that other arteries also start to narrow down or constrict, and when this happens in the heart arteries, it directly affects blood flow."
For heart patients whose arteries are already narrowed by cholesterol, more constriction from the cold may cause:
Chest discomfort or squeezing chest pain Shortness of breath Sweating Nausea If you have heart problems, the best way to prevent chest pain is to minimize heat loss, wear a hat and gloves, and to avoid going out in this weather. If the cold brings about chest symptoms that you haven't had before, tell your doctor. A treadmill stress test may show heart disease and prevent a heart attack. But chest symptoms don't always point to the heart.
Paul Romanello: "Some patients who have asthma will get a constriction across the chest and they'll be short of breath."
And stomach disorders cause similar symptoms. But don't you make that assumption.
And: Cold air increases the vasoconstriction of the blood vessels not only in the skin but at these temperatures, there is vasoconstriction of the deeper blood vessels, so the heart has to pump against more resistance. One way of thinking of that is that the heart gets more workout than would be the case for the same jog at a higher temperature. If the heart is borderline in function that can produce symptoms or very occasionally, even heart attack.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-01-26 04:31 am (UTC)From:As for your question, I knew it was something about the body overcompensating for the cold by shutting down blood vessels, but hadn't really looked it up until now. Here's part of an ABC news article that explains it:
When it's cold, the body prevents heat loss by closing down blood vessels in the skin, arms and legs.
Paul Romanello, Lenox Hill Hospital: "But the body's not perfect and what happens is that other arteries also start to narrow down or constrict, and when this happens in the heart arteries, it directly affects blood flow."
For heart patients whose arteries are already narrowed by cholesterol, more constriction from the cold may cause:
Chest discomfort or squeezing chest pain
Shortness of breath
Sweating
Nausea
If you have heart problems, the best way to prevent chest pain is to minimize heat loss, wear a hat and gloves, and to avoid going out in this weather. If the cold brings about chest symptoms that you haven't had before, tell your doctor. A treadmill stress test may show heart disease and prevent a heart attack. But chest symptoms don't always point to the heart.
Paul Romanello: "Some patients who have asthma will get a constriction across the chest and they'll be short of breath."
And stomach disorders cause similar symptoms. But don't you make that assumption.
Entire article: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/health/wabc_oncall_011604chestpain.html
And: Cold air increases the vasoconstriction of the blood vessels not only in the skin but at these temperatures, there is vasoconstriction of the deeper blood vessels, so the heart has to pump against more resistance. One way of thinking of that is that the heart gets more workout than would be the case for the same jog at a higher temperature. If the heart is borderline in function that can produce symptoms or very occasionally, even heart attack.
http://www.mediscene.com/patient/topic.php?topic=exercise