Why can taking a cold shower be bad for your heart health?

Cold showers have incredible health benefits as they help reduce pain and inflammation, boost immunity levels, reduce stress, and heal wounds and fatigue. Studies also say that when the cold spray of water hits your body, you may feel a slight shock, which helps increase your oxygen intake, heart rate, and alertness. However, cold showers can also lead to potentially dangerous health problems – heart attack or stroke which can be fatal.

Doctors say a heart attack or stroke occurs when blood flow to the heart is severely blocked or reduced due to a lack of blood or a clot. According to research, the incidence of heart attacks may increase by 31-33 percent and deaths from all causes increase by 0.49 percent with every 1 degree Celsius drop in temperature.

Though many other factors also lead to heart problems like age, family history, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc., some external or lifestyle factors also contribute to the health hazard. One such factor can be in the shower, especially during the cold months.

 

Doctors say that the shock of cold water causes the blood vessels in the skin to close, which increases resistance to blood flow and heart rate. As a result, your heart works harder and your blood pressure rises. And so, the heart starts beating faster to be able to pump blood around the body. When the body temperature drops below 95 degrees, hypothermia can damage your heart muscle.

 

So cold water shock can cause a heart attack, even in relatively young and healthy people.

 

Other factors that can cause chest pain include changes in barometric pressure, low humidity and wind. These conditions can trigger your body to respond negatively by increasing nervous system activity, narrowing blood vessels, constricting lung muscles and even thickening blood, which puts pressure on the heart.

 

Signs and symptoms of a heart attack

 

According to doctors, the symptoms of a heart attack vary, as some people may have mild symptoms while others have only severe symptoms. While some people do not show any symptoms at all. Some signs you should be aware of are:

 

• Chest pain that feels like pressure, tightness, aching, pressing, or soreness
• Pain or discomfort in the shoulders, arms, back, neck, jaw, teeth, or even the upper abdomen
• Breaking out in cold sweats
• Fatigue and restlessness
• Heartburn and indigestion
• dizziness or lightheadedness
• Nausea and fatigue
• Shortness of breath often occurs with chest discomfort, but shortness of breath may also occur before chest discomfort

Doctors say that the symptoms in women are slightly different than in men as they may feel mild or sharp pain in the neck, arm or back. Sometimes, the first symptom of a heart attack is sudden cardiac arrest.

 

Ways to reduce the incidence of heart attack or stroke

Some ways you can protect your heart from an increased risk of heart attack or stroke include taking certain precautions:

 

Bathing in cold water is not allowed

Take a bath every day in hot, lukewarm, or warm water

 

keep yourself warm

If you are prone to falling ill in changing weather, cover yourself with adequate clothing

 

Be physically active

Exercise for at least 30 minutes a day by running, jogging, or walking

don’t work too hard

If you have a heart disease, do not do excessive physical work or heavy or strenuous work

 

Avoid alcohol

It is better not to drink alcohol at all, especially if you have heart disease.

 

quit smoking

Smoking also causes heart problems, among other conditions.