A large, international
study ties heavy exertion while stressed or mad to a tripled risk of having a
heart attack within an hour.
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 extreme can trigger harm.
"This study is further evidence of the connection between
mind and body. When you're angry, that's not the time to go out and chop a
stack of wood," said Barry Jacobs, a psychologist at the Crozer-Keystone
Health System in suburban Philadelphia and an American Heart Association
volunteer.
He had no role in the study, 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 researcher 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.
Big
caveats: Patients reported their own stress or anger, and people who just had a
heart attack may be more prone to recall or think they suffered one of these
triggers than they otherwise might have been. Also, strenuous exertion is
whatever the patient perceives it to be - for some people that could be
climbing stairs and for others, running a marathon.
The
study also is observational, so it cannot prove cause and effect. But it's
likely to be the best kind of information available - it's not possible to
randomly assign people to be angry and exercise, then see how many have heart
attacks.
"This
is a large enough sample size that we can put stock in the findings,"
Jacobs said.
"We
all need to find ways of modifying our emotional reactions and to avoid extreme
anger," such as distracting ourselves, walking away from the stressful
situation, trying to see it from a different perspective, talking it out and
getting support from other people, he said.
Source:
www.foxnews.com/
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