How dangerous is it to push too hard when going to the toilet? Huaxi doctors: Beware of sudden death!

Recent Years

The topic of sudden death remains hot

Every year, there are endless news about sudden death.

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Death from overwork and sudden death from exercise are now widely known.

But there is another situation that is easily overlooked -

Going to the toilet may also lead to sudden death!

When people defecate, they usually hold their breath and exert force on their abdomen.

When the lungs inhale, they expand, causing the diaphragm to squeeze the abdominal cavity, which then uses the power of the abdominal muscles to transfer pressure to the pelvic cavity, thereby helping the anorectal muscles to move and facilitate the excretion of feces.

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However, there are some hidden dangers in this process. Continuously holding your breath will increase the intra-abdominal pressure, which will also cause the human heart rate to increase, blood pressure to rise, and myocardial oxygen consumption to increase, which will greatly increase the load on the heart.

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For the elderly and people with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, straining during bowel movements may induce angina pectoris, arrhythmias and acute heart failure. In severe cases, it may even lead to life-threatening conditions such as myocardial infarction and cardiovascular rupture.

Hypertensive patients

Patients with coronary heart disease

Patients with cardiomyopathy

Patients with heart failure

Patients with aortic stenosis

Patients with a history of syncope

●Patients with large vessel aneurysms or arterial dissections

●Patients with cerebrovascular accident

👉Avoid exerting too much force when defecating. If defecation is difficult, lubricants such as enema can be used to assist if necessary.

👉Don't squat or stand up too quickly when using the toilet. If there are elderly people, people with mobility problems, or patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases at home, you can consider installing handrails in the toilet.

👉 Choose a sit-down toilet. Do not read newspapers or look at your phone while sitting on the toilet to avoid distracting your attention, increasing the difficulty of defecation, and reducing the time spent squatting.

👉 Actively prevent and treat constipation. Strengthen exercise, drink more water, and pay attention to supplementing dietary fiber in your daily diet. If constipation persists for a long time, actively seek medical treatment and use appropriate medications under the doctor's advice.

In addition to the well-known risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as aging, obesity, lack of exercise, diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia, with the changes in lifestyle, more and more non-traditional factors have emerged, posing a health hazard to middle-aged and elderly people.

These factors also require vigilance👇

Mental stimulation

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Mental stimulation can affect the cerebral cortex, excite the cardiovascular center and vasoconstriction center of the medulla oblongata, leading to increased heart rate, vasoconstriction and increased blood pressure.

It may also lead to an increase in catecholamine levels in plasma, and may induce acute heart failure in patients who already have cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

Overeating

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Overeating or consuming too much high-fat food in a short period of time may lead to high blood lipid concentrations and blood stasis, which may block the already narrow blood vessels and eventually induce acute myocardial infarction.

Excessive drinking and smoking

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Long-term alcohol abuse can damage blood vessels, cause high blood pressure, and may also damage the myocardium and cause alcoholic cardiomyopathy. Clinically, it is not uncommon for excessive drinking to induce sudden death.

Smoking not only causes damage to the lungs, but whether it is passive smoking or active smoking, it will increase the probability of atherosclerosis and vascular spasm, and is one of the main culprits causing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular accidents.

Hypokalemia

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In daily life, factors such as eating an upset stomach causing vomiting and diarrhea, excessive sweating due to weather and physical labor may cause excessive loss of potassium, or insufficient potassium intake due to poor diet, all of which can lead to hypokalemia.

When hypokalemia occurs, it can easily induce fatal malignant arrhythmias such as ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. Patients with existing cardiovascular diseases have a worse tolerance to hypokalemia and should maintain blood potassium at a normal to high level.

No matter what age

You should pay more attention to your heart's feelings.

After all, it only beats once for you

Once is a lifetime

There's no chance to pause and rest.

Statement: This article is a medical-related educational popular science article. It does not involve specific treatment methods or medical behaviors and cannot replace hospital visits.

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Experts who reviewed this article

References

[1] Wang Yanqun. Four practical suggestions to avoid toilet accidents[J]. Food and Health, 2021(05):46.

[2] Zhao Zhimei, Chen Xiaosong, Yang Yijun, et al. Analysis of epidemiological characteristics of 5516 cases of sudden death after autopsy in my country[J]. Chinese Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2020, 40(02): 158-163.

[3] Chen Min. Study on clinical risk factors for sudden cardiac death in elderly patients during treatment in the cardiology department[J]. Electronic Journal of Modern Medicine and Health Research, 2022, 6(21): 114-117.

[4] Pan Chunfang, Li Jitu, Chen Haizhen. Analysis of the causes of sudden cardiac death and nursing strategies[J]. China Medical Guide, 2010, 8(13): 8-9. DOI: 10.15912/j.cnki.gocm.2010.13.045.

Content Production

Editor: Zhang Fuyao

Map: Eastern Zhou Dynasty