Cardiological study Increased risk of heart attack through sex only in infidelity

Increased heart attack risk during sex? - Only at the side jump

People who have already had a heart attack are often advised to step in and avoid great efforts. Some also relate this to their love life and live abstemious. But according to a new study, there is no danger that sex triggers a renewed heart attack. There is one exception.

Sex does not increase the heart attack risk
While cardiac patients are usually advised by medical professionals to move regularly to prevent a renewed heart attack or stroke, they warn against overexertion. For example, health experts point out that only moderate exercise is suitable for cardiac patients. Many patients are often not sure if a physically intense love life could not be dangerous and therefore live more celibate. But sex usually does not increase the risk of a heart attack. And not even for heart patients, as German researchers have found in a long-term study.

Only a few heart patients are advised to have sex
As the researchers around Dietrich Rothenbacher from the University of Ulm in the journal "Journal of the American College of Cardiology" report, there are so far only a few data on the risks of sexual activity in patients with heart attack. However, less than half of men and less than a third of women would consult their doctor about this after a heart attack. According to a news agency dpa, the epidemiologist said, "This is an issue that is under-spoken." Over a period of ten years, the team of scientists examined 536 infarct patients aged 30 to 70 years.

Participants should first indicate the frequency of their sexual activities during the twelve months prior to their infarction. More than half had intercourse during this period at least once a week and around 15 percent were abstinent. They should also report when they last had sex before their infarction. At almost 80 percent of the intercourse was already more than 24 hours back, only three participants had in the hour before sex.

Normal sex no infarction trigger
A total of 100 people in the group suffered another heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular events in the following decade. However, the frequency of their sexual activity did not affect the risk negatively. Rothenbacher emphasized that on the basis of these data it is very unlikely that normal sex triggers infarcts.

"It is important to reassure these patients that they need not worry and resume their usual sex life," says the expert. "Sexual activity is safe and important to one's psyche and partnership. If you are unsure, you should seek advice from your doctor. "However, he limited this statement a little in terms of men: For example, if they were prescribed beta-blockers to reduce heart rate and blood pressure, this would affect their ability to erect. "That should be communicated in the regulation also," said Rothenbacher. And if men resort to potency drugs such as Viagra and take because of their heart problems in addition nitrates, threaten a sudden drop in blood pressure - to the point of unconsciousness.

Dangerous infidelities
In addition, older studies have pointed out that infidelity is more dangerous than sexual intercourse in a partnership. Lawyers of the University of Frankfurt analyzed 60 registered cases in which one partner had died during sex. 56 of the victims were men who succumbed to a heart attack. They were on average 59 years old. It was found that more than half of those affected died with lovers or prostitutes. And only one in four of the wife, as the magazine "Bild der Wissenschaft" reported. The other men had died in masturbation. About the reasons can only be speculated. Thus, a thesis says that older men make more effort at infidelity than at home. In the Frankfurt study was striking that the respective prostitute or lover was on average 20 years younger than her sexual partner. In the investigation remained open, however, whether fatal heart attacks in the case of infidelity the lawyers are better known than in sex in the marriage bed. That an infidelity can endanger the health, had also been determined by other studies. According to this, men have a higher risk of migraine and pathological arterial dilatation in the course of an affair and experience a very high stress level.

Sex is comparable to nimble walking
According to the agency message, according to the American Heart Society (AHA), sex is athletically comparable to nimble walking or climbing a few floors of stairs. Therefore, people who do this without health problems have nothing to fear. Sex is important for the quality of life of all people. Therefore, he is also recommended patients with mild angina (chest tightness). Or one to several weeks after an uncomplicated heart attack, if the patient does not get heart trouble through moderate exercise. People with severe heart problems, however, are advised to go to the doctor before sex and get treatment. From the AHA it is concluded from various studies that directly during sex the risk of heart attack of people in the 50s and 60s is increased by a factor of 2.7. Above all unsportsmanlike men are endangered. However, the absolute risk of infarction minimizes them each year due to the comparatively short time of sexual activity per year. He is the cause of less than one percent of acute heart attacks. (Ad)