The festive season is a time of gifts and revelry. But a surprise may be looming for those who party too hard. A heart attack can strike at any time in a person with coronary artery disease. It has been noted that across the globe, heart attacks are more likely during the festive season and especially between the Christmas and New Year period.
Initially this was believed to be due to the colder weather in the northern hemisphere during the Christmas period but the spike in often deadly heart attacks are just as likely to occur in warmer climates. There are several reasons why this may be the case but the exact cause has not as yet been conclusively identified and it is most likely not a single factor.
The heart is a muscular pump that works throughout your life to keep blood circulating through the entire body. It has high demands in terms of oxygen and nutrients and this is supplied to the heart muscle by the coronary arteries. When the coronary arteries are blocked, oxygen and food cannot reach the heart muscle.Without the necessary supply. the heart muscle is suffocated and the dies. This is known as a heart attack or myocardial infarction (MI).
High blood pressure (hypertension) is often termed the ‘silent killer’ because at the outset you may not even know that you have it. With time, hypertension will cause significant cardiovascular damage, affecting the heart and blood vessels and increasing the workload or affect the functioning of the heart. This can present as a number of different conditions collectively called heart disease.
Obesity is defined as the excessive accumulation and storage of body fat, usually measured by the body mass index (BMI) system. Your BMI is a body weight to height ratio and is calculated by dividing your weight (kg) by the square of your height (m). Refer to the online BMI calculator to work out your body mass index. While the BMI is not the most accurate method of assessing weight management problems, it is nevertheless the universal measure of assessing a healthy body weight.
