A word of warning before you set out to shovel all that heavy snow that fell overnight - or the numerous times it is sure to fall across Minnesota and the Upper Midwest still this winter.
With the heavy snow, and temperatures dropping on Monday, the risk of heart attack is greater for some people, according to Health Partners cardiologist, Dr. Michael Ellerman.
"So when you go out in the cold to shovel, your body constricts its blood vessels, so it narrows those blood vessels down," Ellerman explains. "And it's a way that our bodies try to preserve heat by shunting our blood flow to our internal organs so we lose less heat in the cold."
Dr. Ellerman says that process can increase your blood pressure and put more stress on your heart. That's not the only risk, however.
"If you're used to living a sedentary lifestyle, and then you go out in the cold, and you start doing a really heavy exertional activity like shoveling snow when you're not in good shape, that also puts you at risk," he adds.
That combination can make shoveling especially hard on your heart.
"Oftentimes there are people that shovel snow, which is a really a heavy exertion activity, it's equivalent to kind of our peak stress testing that we do," Elleman told WCCO's Health Radio with Susie Jones.
He does say that patients that exercise typically, and those that have been doing that for a while and they're conditioned, are at far less risk.