Last December 12, the American Heart Association also published a study according to which more people are victims of a heart attack or a vascular accident in December. A peak was even observed on Christmas Day, i.e. December 24. Excessive consumption of salt, fatty foods and alcohol during these festivities exposes our body to an increased risk of heart attacks.
To these risk factors can be added significant stress, which can be happy or unhappy, but also a link with the extreme cold. We think in particular of the race for gifts, the fatigue accumulated during the year and all the preparations for the festivities to come. According to experts, this increase is not major, but still remains significant.
Seniors and diabetics most at risk
If there are not a multitude of studies on the subject, cardiologists estimate that there is a risk, of the order of 10 to 15% in addition to having a heart attack during the holiday season. .
The Belgian Cardiological League reminds us that our daily behavior combined with certain small anomalies in our state of health increase the probability of being the victim of a cardiovascular problem.
And among the risk factors are smoking, high blood pressure, cholesterol, lack of exercise, obesity, diabetes and diet. “Despite undeniable progress in medicine, cardiovascular diseases remain the number one scourge in Belgium, responsible for more than a third of deaths annually. And in 10% of cases, these deaths affect subjects under 65 years old”she concludes.