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(Health Day)
SUNDAY, Jan. 30, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Tempted to exercise outdoors?
“There are actually some benefits to training in cold weather – without heat or humidity, you may be able to train longer in cold weather, which means you can burn even more calories,” said the Dallas cardiologist, Dr. John Osborne. “It’s also a great way to get much-needed vitamin D from sunlight, which can help boost your mood.”
Additionally, research shows that exercise boosts your immunity during cold and flu season, which Osborne says could be important in dealing with a possible COVID infection.
But he warned that outdoor winter sports and tasks like shoveling can pose heart risks. This is because cold temperatures cause blood vessels to constrict and coronary arteries to constrict. It can raise blood pressure and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
“Strenuous activities such as walking in heavy snow or shoveling snow can add stressors to the heart that people are not normally used to,” Osborne said in a press release from the American Heart Association. “Our hearts also have to work very hard in cold weather to maintain a healthy body temperature.”
He offered a number of safety tips for outdoor activities:
- Wear layers to stay warm and prevent cold-related risks like hypothermia and frostbite.
- Don’t overwork yourself. If you have any doubts, talk to your doctor.
- Take breaks and hydrate. Even if it’s cold and you’re not thirsty, it’s important to drink water as you would during a workout in hot weather. Thirst is not the best indicator that you need to drink; even if you don’t sweat as much, you still need to hydrate.
- Avoid added calories in cold drinks. Comfort drinks like pumpkin spice lattes and hot chocolate can be loaded with unwanted sugar and fat.
- To get vaccinated. COVID-19 and the flu are particularly dangerous for people with heart disease.
- To learn CPR. Emergency response times may be slower in severe winter weather. If given immediately after cardiac arrest, CPR can double or triple a person’s chances of survival, Osborne said.
SOURCE: American Heart Association, press release, January 25, 2022
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