Cold Weather vs. Warm Heart

     Good evening, Fam...  In light of ALL the crazy cold weather we have been having and the fact that February is National Heart Health month, I thought we should talk about the cold weather and how it can affect your health.  Yes, cold weather can hurt you if you are not careful.  How?  Well, let's start with the fact that many of us do not dress appropriately for the cold weather and then there are those of us who go out and shovel that cold, wet, heavy snow like we do it everyday...  TAKE HEED...

     Admit it, most of us are not in shape or should I say, "conditioned" enough to go out and tackle the cold weather or its activities.   I remember, 'back in a day' you could count on the neighborhood boys to knock on the door and offer to shovel your snow.  For a few dollars, you could get a clean and clear sidewalk.  Not in these days and times.  So here we are, people of a certain age, outside shoveling like crazy, not even thinking about the possibility of heart attack.  Cold weather vs. warm heart...  How is that possible???

     The fact is, most people who go out and shovel, don't do much exercise.  Now, it has snowed and those same non-exercising folks are out throwing around hundreds of pounds of snow.  According to the Harvard Health Publication, this puts a strain on your heart and the "cold" can raise your blood pressure, interrupt blood flow to part of the heart, and make blood more likely to clot".  DISASTER...

     The signs of a heart attack, in this case many times are ignored because people think the pains in the arm and the lower back are just from using muscles they haven't used and the feeling of fatigue is blamed on "just being tired" from all that work.  MAYBE NOT...

     Another issue with the cold weather is keeping warm.  Cold temperatures, wetness (rain or snow), and high winds suck the heat right from your body.  According to Heart.org, the wind is the worst because it removes a layer of heated air from around your body.  A cold, wet, rainy day can cause the body to lose heat faster than if the air was cold and dry.  How do you deal with it?  Layer up.  There is something to be said for all the times my mother insisted we wear an undershirt, a shirt, sweater, scarf, and a hat to cover our head and ears in addition to our jacket and gloves on cold windy days.    Hypothermia is the last thing you want to happen.  Hypothermia means that your body temp has fallen below 95 degrees (98.6 is the norm) and cannot produce enough heat to bring it back to norm.  When that happens, your organs, nervous system and heart don't work as they should.  If you do not get treatment, your heart and lungs can fail and this could lead to death.  

     All I can say, is STAY WARM and BE CAREFUL...  Some of us have to shovel because there are no neighborhood 'shovelers' knocking at the door.  If you do have to get rid of that extra snow, layer up before you go out, make sure you take a break every 10-15 minutes, drink lots of water, and if you start feeling bad, go inside and relax.  If you do not feel any better, please do NOT hesitate to call 911.  Better safe than....  
SMOOCHES...