By Karen Stokes
Winter in Wisconsin is officially here and every year many of us are burdened with the flu or a bad cold. The American Heart Association has some important information about how to get healthy and stay healthy this winter.
“There’s actually some advantages to working out in cold weather– with no heat and humidity to deal with you may be able to work out longer in cold weather which means you can burn even more calories. It’s also a great way to get much needed vitamin D from the sunlight, which can help elevate your mood,” said John A. Osborne, M.D., Ph.D., FACC, FNLA, Founder and Director State of the Heart Cardiology, Metroplex Cardiology. “Research shows that exercise also boosts your immunity during the cold and flu season.
(American Heart Association)
Here are some tips to keep your heart in check during the winter season:
1. Stay active safely: Make sure you wear layers to keep warm while exercising outdoors to avoid cold weather hazards like hypothermia and frostbite and take breaks. It’s important to stay active year-round but make sure you’re not overexerting yourself in winter months. When in doubt, ask your doctor. Here are some tips on how to stay active in cold weather.
2. Stay hydrated: Just because it’s cold and you may not feel thirsty, it’s just as important to drink water as you would during a warm weather workout. Thirst isn’t the best indicator that you need to drink, even if you aren’t sweating as much you still need to hydrate.
3. Watch out for the added calories in cold weather drinks: Comforting drinks like pumpkin spiced lattes and hot chocolate can be loaded with unwanted sugar and fat.
4. Get vaccinated: COVID-19 and the flu are especially dangerous for people with cardiovascular disease.
5. Learn CPR: EMS response times can be slower with inclement weather. More than 350,000 cardiac arrests happen outside of a hospital each year. If administered immediately after cardiac arrest, CPR can double or triple a person’s chance of survival.
Osborne reminds us that strenuous activities such as walking through heavy snow or snow shoveling can add stressors to the heart that people aren’t normally used to. Our hearts also have to work extra hard in cold weather to keep a healthy body temperature.”