Heart attack triggers

Both my parents died of heart attacks; my father at age 79, my mother at 85. Both deaths were sudden. The other day, I came across an article in the Harvard Medical School newsletter about factors that trigger heart attacks. According to the newsletter, sudden stress is the primary culprit. Stress activates the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the body’s fight-or-flight response. The sympathetic nervous system sends hormones into the bloodstream that can cause a sudden surge in blood pressure or make the heart beat faster and harder. The hormones may also cause the sudden formation of a blood clot, a tear in a blood vessel, or a wild heart rhythm.

According to research, the most important triggers include heavy physical exertion, severe weather, anger, natural disasters, war, sexual activity, air pollution, and infection. Some of these triggers are not surprising. As to disasters, researchers in New Jersey found a 49 percent increase in heart attacks within a 50-mile radius of the World Trade Center immediately after 9/11. But here’s a surprising trigger listed as the top one in the newsletter: waking from sleep. Before waking up your body prepares for a new day by trickling stress hormones into your bloodstream, making your small blood vessels constrict, your heart beat faster, and your blood pressure rise.

As it happens, my father died after getting up to go to the bathroom. My mother died after she finished giving a speech—a stressful activity, I presume.  I’m 83 as I write this. Like you, I’ve experienced plenty of these triggers, including shoveling snow, earthquakes, smog, and all the rest (although not anger so much). I can avoid most of these triggers, but I do plan to continue getting up in the morning. Living dangerously!

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