OhioHealth Cardiologist Explains the Risks of Shoveling Snow
With the winter storm impacting Columbus over the weekend, OhioHealth interventional cardiologist at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, Dr. Michael Jolly, shared the cardiovascular risks of shoveling snow.
"In cardiology, it's well established that when the first snow of the year comes in, there's going to be a heart attack," Dr. Jolly told Bailey Gallion at The Columbus Dispatch. He said that physical exercise in combination with exposure to the cold can trigger these cardiovascular issues, especially in people who don’t exercise regularly. He adds that heart attacks often happen in people who don’t realize that they have any cardiovascular issues.
Dr. Jolly said that many people don’t realize how difficult shoveling snow can be for people who are not typically physically active, as it can involve cardio and heavy lifting. "They don't exercise, they've never wielded anything else for the whole year," Jolly said. “So they discover for the first time in sometimes two or three years that, wow, they're not as in-shape as they used to be. They're more short of breath. They have chest pain”.
There have been headlines warning people who are 45 and older to avoid shoveling snow because of the increased risk of a heart attack. Gallion asked Dr. Jolly and another health care professional about this claim, but they both agreed that it’s more important to focus on a person’s exercise habits and cardiac risk factors than their age.
Dr. Jolly said that it’s important to ask these questions when wondering if you’re too old to shovel snow, “Can you do hard work routinely? Can you exercise? If the answer is no, it's a really bad time to start learning what you can do when you are forced to do things. Especially if it's a vigorous activity”.
He recommends that people warm up, stretch and slowly shovel small amounts to avoid any cardiac problems. If someone experiences severe nausea, dizziness, excessive sweating, shortness of breath or chest pain, Dr. Jolly advises that they stop shoveling and see a doctor.
