This is the 'worst time of the year' for your heart, even if you're healthy, cardiologists warn

This is the 'worst time of the year' for your heart, even if you're healthy, cardiologists warn
The holidays can take a toll on the heart — even if you don’t have heart problems.

Doctors see it all the time as too much food, drink and stress turn December from festive to frightening.

“The holidays are the worst time of the year” for heart health, Dr. Marc Eisenberg, a clinical cardiologist and associate professor of medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, tells TODAY.com.

“It’s because of the salt, it’s because of travel. It’s also because alcohol can also put you into abnormal heart rhythms and can raise your blood pressure.”

What is holiday heart syndrome?

Doctors coined the term in the 1970s when they noticed people without heart disease experienced an irregular heartbeat after binge drinking and sought medical help — usually around the holidays and weekends. The episodes often involved atrial fibrillation, which can feel like the heart is beating extremely fast or skipping a beat.

“Holiday heart syndrome is a very real entity, and typically what happens is people drink more alcohol than they usually do, and it can lead to palpitations, often in the middle of the night,” Dr. Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver, tells TODAY.com.

“Sometimes it can lead to atrial fibrillation in the middle of the night, and people end up oftentimes getting hospitalized for that.”

Holiday heart syndrome can also happen after other “meal-based celebrations,” like a birthday or wedding, says Dr. Susan Cheng, a professor of cardiology and the director of public health research in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.

“But certainly the holidays are a time when we see clusters of these cases more frequently because everybody is celebrating that particular occasion at the same time of year,” she adds.

Alcohol seems to have an immediate effect on heart rhythm, and the more people drink, the higher the risk of having an episode of atrial fibrillation, according to the American College of Cardiology.

You may not think you're binge drinking, but going from an office holiday party to a private gathering with friends or family afterwards can amount to several drinks in one night.

What are the symptoms?

Atrial fibrillation, also known as AFib, is one of the most common types of arrhythmias, and can cause heart disease or worsen existing heart problems, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute notes.

It can feel like the heart is fluttering, pounding or beating too hard or fast. Patients may feel tired, lightheaded or dizzy because the heart’s upper and lower chambers don’t work together as they should, the institute explains.

AFib raises the risk of stroke because blood has the opportunity to pool in the heart, form a clot and be pumped out to the brain, according to the American Heart Association.

Holiday heart attacks

Meanwhile, heart attack deaths spike around the winter holidays, likely because of holiday stress combined with disruptions in regular eating, sleeping and exercising routines, the American Heart Association warns.

Almost 90% of U.S. adults polled by the American Psychological Association say they feel stress at this time of the year.

The risk of having a heart attack peaks on Christmas Eve and then again on New Year’s Day, one study found after analyzing 16 years of hospital admissions.

“In certain parts of the country, it might be snowing and people are outside, either playing football or shoveling or things that they wouldn’t normally do, where they have a sudden amount of exertion, especially after eating a rich meal, and people have heart attacks,” Freeman notes.

Holiday meals are often loaded with salt, leading people to eat several times the amount of sodium they should have in a day, cardiologists say.

“That can put a stress on the heart and on the entire cardiovascular system in somebody who already has pre-existing heart disease, particularly heart failure,” Cheng warns.

When people with heart failure eat too much salt, it can lead to trouble breathing because there’s extra fluid all over their body, Freeman notes.

How to avoid holiday heart problems:

Watch your alcohol intake: “I think alcohol is OK for people, but I’m just saying I don’t overdo it,” Eisenberg says. “One to two drinks is fine.”

Be mindful of your eating habits: People with heart failure or other heart problems should keep a close eye on their blood pressure and salt intake, Cheng advises.

Go for a walk: Light to moderate physical activity, such as walking, reduces the risk of atrial fibrillation, studies have found.

Relax: Try breathing exercises to ease your anxiety during stressful times or spend a bit of time in nature doing silent walking to clear your mind.