How to Assess Snow Shoveling Heart Attack Risk

We have all heard stories of the person suffering a major or even fatal heart attack while shoveling snow. Surprisingly, while these incidents are tragic, they can be "avoidable" to some extent. Knowing your overall health status and your cardiac risk factors can help you self-assess if there is a potential danger for developing any cardiac events while shoveling snow. This article will explain how.

Things You'll Need

• Recent health care exam
• Recent lipid profile
• Recent blood pressure monitoring
• List of all of your cardiac and other medications
• A sense of your basic well-being.
• Some common sense and planning

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Instructions

• 1

  Speak with your health care provider about the level of physical stress your heart is capable of tolerating. This may involve a complete physical exam, EKG and cardiac stress testing.

• 2

  Have your health care provider FULLY explain the significance of these results to you and ask the very simple question: "Am I in danger of having a heart attack (cardiac event) if I shovel snow at a given level of effort?" (The "effort" should be well-defined and explained by your health care provider.)

• 3

  Once the effort is defined for you, find out how you can self-monitor it by taking your pulse, assessing your breathing, noting any chest pressure and level of breathing effort.

• 4

  If you take respiratory medications prior to engaging in sporting activities, this will most likely be a wise idea prior to shoveling snow.

• 5

  If you have been told to keep certain heart medications on you at all times (such as nitroglycerin to help with chest pain), keep these medications with you if your health care provider deems it allowable to shovel snow.

• 6

  Take your break from snow shoveling inside a warm room and replace your wet or frozen outerwear. It should go without saying, but DO NOT SMOKE.

• 7

  Perhaps the best solution of all is to financially plan for snow removal in your annual budget prior to picking up that shovel. You should not be surprised that snow removal costs are far less than a hospitalization--or worse.