Exercise, Anger May Trigger Heart Attacks

Heavy exertion while stressed or angry could cause a tripled risk of having a heart attack within an hour, a large international study revealed.

    Regular exercise is a healthy antidote to stress and can help prevent heart disease, the biggest problem is that too many people get too little of it. But the new research suggests there may be better or worse times to exercise, and that extremes can trigger harm.

    The study was led by the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Results were published Monday in the Heart Association journal Circulation.

    Earlier studies have looked at anger and exertion as heart attack triggers but most were small or in one country, or included few women or minorities. The new study involved 12,461 people suffering a first heart attack in 52 countries. Their average age was 58 and three-fourths were men.

    They answered a survey about whether they were angry or upset, or had heavy exertion, in the hour before their heart attack or during the same time period the previous day. That way researchers could compare risk at different times in the same people and the effect of these potential heart attack triggers.

    Being angry or upset doubled the risk of suffering heart attack symptoms within an hour; heavy physical exertion did the same. Having both at the same time more than tripled the risk for a heart attack.

    The risk was greatest between 6 p.m. and midnight, and was independent of other factors such as smoking, high blood pressure or obesity.

Source: QNA