ST. LOUIS (KMOX) — Did you think you were going to have a heart attack watching Tuesday night's Blues double overtime win against the Dallas Stars? There's evidence avid sports fans may be putting their heart at risk if they get too caught up in the game.
"Turns out there have been studies put together to look at this risk," said SLU Care cardiologist Dr. Michael Lim at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital. "The biggest study and the most pronounced one was in Europe where people had a much higher rate of heart attacks during the World Cup as they followed their beloved national soccer team trying to win the World Cup trophy. But this has also been seen in Super Bowls and other playoff games, in the NCAA tournament, in college and NFL football playoffs. So it's really true that sports can raise those emotions and those emotional highs and lows can trigger heart attacks."
But Dr. Lim says a direct cause and effect between the two has not been established.
"There's a long list of things that can cause or lead to a heart attack but that's definitely known to be one of them."
So how does that happen?
"The adrenaline that surges through your body with either immense angst if the Blues get scored upon or tremendous joy as Pat Maroon puts the final goal into the net to win the series -- that does trigger an effect of cortisol or adrenaline that increases your heart rate and blood pressure and can be one of those things that causes the plaque in a coronary artery to rupture leading to a heart attack," Dr. Lim told KMOX.
His advice to sports fans?
"The best thing to do is to try to pay attention to your body. So if all of a sudden during a sporting event, or during the next round of the playoffs, you experience chest pressure or pain or you're sick to your stomach or can't breathe, those are things you need to pay attention to," said Dr. Lim. "It's possible you could be experiencing a heart attack. In that case, you need to get to your local hospital as fast as possible. And the best way to do that is call 911. We have great caregivers in those ambulances that will get you to the proper place as fast as they can so you will be able to see the rest of the playoff run and hopefully the Blues going to the Stanley Cup."
Dr. Lim says it is also critical for sports fans to address any modifiable risk factors for coronary disease.
"If you find yourself watching the Blues with a cigarette in your hand, that's probably not the best thing for you," said Dr. Lim. "You need to find a way to avoid or resist that temptation to fight off the stress that might be coinciding with the game at that time. Also, try to exercise regularly and try not to eat all the food at that big Blues watch party. Plus, try eating a better heart healthy diet -- those things would all be good."
According to Dr. Lim, it's also good to go see your doctor to find out what your risk is for having a heart attack.
"We can look at blood pressure and cholesterol numbers and your family history — as well as some of your risk factors — and be able to estimate the potential risk for having a heart attack or stroke over the next ten years," said Dr. Lim. "That's pretty easily done right now and then we can look and see if that risk is higher than we would like. If it is, we can look for ways to lower or modify that risk."