Holiday Heart Syndrome: What you need to know!

Your heart attack risk can peak during the holidays.

As it turns out – the holidays are a time for excess, and that’s not so good for your heart.

Whether at parties or visiting with family, opportunities that test your resolve around food and alcohol are plentiful. While it’s fine to indulge a little bit, all that excess can have an effect on your health.

The combination can create what doctors call “holiday heart syndrome.” It’s a term coined in 1978 to describe the sudden increase of patients in emergency rooms during the holidays complaining of irregular heart rhythms known as atrial fibrillation of AFib.

AFib is a racing or irregular heartbeat that often feels like a “flutter or quiver” in the chest. The feeling can be accompanied by lightheadedness, shortness of breath, fatigue and even chest pain. Left untreated over the long term, Afib can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications.

While having existing heart disease makes one more vulnerable to holiday heart syndrome, the sudden onset of atrial fibrillation mostly strikes perfectly healthy people with no existing heart issues.

SOURCE: Holiday Heart Syndrome