Heart Disease

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Cold Winter Weather

2.81 Cold weather in winter is known to double the risk of heart attack and related problems for heart patients to that in the summer – and the winter attack is also more likely to be fatal. This is especially true for those who have one or more risk factors of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, smoking etc. There is a combination of factors that increase the heart attack risk in winter: –

• Spasm of Arteries – When a person gets exposed to cold weather, the body’s automatic response is to narrow the blood vessels to the skin so that heat is retained. The low temperatures, thus, lead to tightening or constriction of blood vessels. This reduces the blood supply to the heart. This can aggravate angina and blockage of an artery leading to heart attack.
• Thicker Blood – In cold weather, blood platelets appear to be more active and stickier and, therefore, more likely to clot. In fact, even the levels of cholesterol rise during winter.
• Increased Blood Pressure – The early morning surge of blood pressure in winters is an important reason for heart attacks being more common in the morning. In winter because of shorter day light hours, people often have a tendency to do outdoor work in the day. The combination of cold and hard work leads to higher blood pressure.
• Surge in Oxygen Demand – The oxygen demand of the heart in winters increases because the heart has to work harder to keep the body warm.
• Higher Stress Hormones – During the winter months, there is a change in the ratio of daylight hours to dark hours, which causes an increase of stress hormones such as cortisol. This is one of the possible reasons for increase in heart attacks.
• Depression and Deficiency of Vitamin D – Depression is not uncommon in winters. Loss of sunlight in winters not only adds to depression but also lowers levels of vitamin D (which comes from sunlight falling on the skin) – this by itself has been linked to heart attacks. Seasonal affective disorder or SAD is caused by the lack of exposure to sunlight during the winter months.
• Influenza (Flu) – Winter also raises your chances of getting the influenza due to low humidity and indoor heating. Flu and other respiratory diseases in winter cause inflammation which in turn makes the plaque in the arteries less stable and may dislodge it to form a clot leading to heart attack.
• Holiday Feasting –People tend to eat and drink more and gain more weight during the holiday season and winter months – all of which are hard on the ticker.