Snow shoveling can put your heart at risk
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My husband is 59 and overweight. Where we live, it snows and snows and snows. My husband insists on shoveling our snow. I think it’s dangerous for him, but he says he can handle it. How big a danger is shoveling snow for someone like my husband? — K.L.
ANSWER: After snowstorms, emergency departments always fill with people who have had heart attacks from shoveling snow. Your husband is typical of those who have heart attacks from ill-advised shoveling. He is middle-aged, overweight and probably out of condition and unused to exercise.
The energy cost of snow shoveling is enormous. Shoveling heavy, wet snow requires an energy expenditure equivalent to running 9 miles in an hour or playing an entire game of high-intensity basketball. Am I wrong in thinking your husband wouldn’t think of doing either?
Snow shoveling has unique features that add to its demands. It uses muscles in the arms and back that are not well-conditioned in anyone but a dedicated athlete. Arm-muscle exercise is much more demanding than leg-muscle exercise. It raises the heart rate and blood pressure to levels far higher than does leg exercise. The nature of the work, therefore, greatly taxes the heart.
Inhaling cold air puts another stress on the heart. It has to pump blood faster and harder to keep the body warm.
Unless a person has gotten professional assurance that such physically demanding labor is not a hazard to his or her heart, snow shoveling is something that should be watched rather than engaged in.
Even people who are fit to shovel should do so sensibly. They should use a shovel with a small scoop so they aren’t trying to heave herculean mounds of snow off the ground. They need to take frequent breaks while shoveling. And they should push snow, not lift it.
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DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My daughter, who is 7, is allergic to peanuts. Can you tell me if she will ever outgrow this allergy? It is hard for her to cope with it. — J.S.
ANSWER: Since 1980, there has been an increase in the number of children with food allergies. The reason for that isn’t evident. But now close to 6 percent of children suffer from food allergies.
Many children allergic to milk and eggs — two of the most common food allergies — lose their allergies as they grow older.
That’s not the case for children with allergies to peanuts, other nuts or seafood. Only about 20 percent of those children outgrow their allergies.
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DEAR DR. DONOHUE: About a month ago my husband was diagnosed as having diabetes. He is 89. They drew several vials of blood, and that is what determined the diagnosis. Can diabetes be determined by blood alone? — Anon.
ANSWER: Checking blood sugar on two separate occasions after an overnight fast is the accepted way of diagnosing diabetes.
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