It’s an unfortunate but predictable event: a father of school-age children dies from a heart attack while shoveling snow. These are typically not terribly out of shape men in their mid-forties to mid-fifties, who venture out to clear the walkway or tidy up the mounds left by the plow, not realizing the terrible danger.
There are a number of reasons that shoveling snow leads to sudden cardiac events. The most obvious is that snow is heavy and there is a lot of it. It doesn’t take long for the heart rate to double and the demand by the large muscles for more oxygen-rich blood increases the force of each heartbeat. This places a huge burden on the coronary arteries to deliver more blood to the laboring heart muscle. Even a small narrowing caused by plaque can leave a section of the heart muscle under-perfused. If one is lucky, this will lead to chest pain (angina) and the shoveler will stop and seek medical attention. Breathing in the cold air through the mouth (which is usual when working hard) can lead to spasm of coronary arteries (the heart is right behind the windpipe). If the spasm occurs in an already narrow part of the artery, the heart muscle might be completely without blood. A few minutes without nourishment will lead to death of heart muscle (myocardial infarction). Oxygen-starved heart muscle is irritable and may provoke an irregular beat. Cardiac arrhythmia can lead to death faster than an infarction, since the heart is unable to pump blood (ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia).
Hire a kid to shovel the snow! It’s good for the economy and may save a life.
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