Sudden physical exertion and intense emotions triple the risk of a heart attack within an hour.
Physical exertion and strong emotions activate the body’s stress response, triggering the release of hormones that restrict blood flow to the body’s tissues, including the heart. A 2016 study found that these stressors increase the risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack).
Researchers conducted a case-control study involving more than 12,000 cases of acute MI among people living in 52 countries. They asked the participants about their physical activities and emotional state in the hours before the onset of symptoms. They estimated the odds of acute MI within one hour of triggers.
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They found that 28 percent of those who experienced an acute MI had engaged in physical activity or were emotionally upset one hour before symptom onset. The likelihood of experiencing an acute MI was 2.31 times higher after physical exertion and 2.44 times higher after emotional upset. However, those who reported both physical exertion and emotional upset were 3.05 times more likely to experience an acute MI within one hour. The increased risk was consistent regardless of the participants' geographical location, sex, baseline physical activity, or age.
These findings suggest that sudden physical exertion and emotional upset increase the risk of acute MI. However, robust evidence demonstrates that regular physical activity is crucial for preventing cardiovascular disease, including acute MI, especially among inactive people. The authors of this report recommended that clinicians continue to advocate for regular physical exercise and caution patients that intense physical activities could trigger an acute MI in those at risk.