Why are there more heart attack patients during the Chinese New Year than usual? Playing in moderation can effectively prevent heart attacks

The Spring Festival is approaching, and every household is busy buying new clothes and preparing for the New Year. As far as everyone can see, shopping malls and markets are very lively. But outside everyone's sight, there is another place that is also very "busy", that is, the hospital. During the New Year, the emergency room of the hospital is also busy, and the number of patients with myocardial infarction will be much higher than usual. The reason is that various activities during the New Year are easy to induce myocardial infarction.

1. Why do people suffer from myocardial infarction? Myocardial infarction is an extremely dangerous disease, which refers to the blockage of the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart. Myocardial cells lose blood supply and die due to ischemia and hypoxia. Myocardial cells have no regenerative ability. Once they die, the function of these myocardial cells will be lost, which will have a permanent impact on heart function.

The main causes of coronary artery occlusion are high blood pressure, high blood lipids, high blood sugar, and other factors, such as smoking, which lead to atherosclerosis of the coronary artery. Unstable atherosclerotic plaques rupture, inducing platelet aggregation to form thrombi. In a small number of people, myocardial infarction can also occur because of severe spasm of the coronary artery, which leads to vascular contraction and occlusion.

2. Conditions for plaque rupture In everyone's impression, the more severe the degree of coronary artery stenosis, the higher the probability of myocardial infarction. But in fact, the probability of myocardial infarction is not proportional to the degree of coronary artery stenosis. It is often seen that many elderly people with 70% to 80% coronary artery stenosis often suffer from angina pectoris, but they may not have major problems for ten or twenty years. And some middle-aged people who usually look healthy and have no symptoms suddenly suffer from myocardial infarction.

Plaques in the coronary arteries are not easily broken. Many people have plaques in their coronary arteries, and these plaques beat more than 100,000 times a day with the heart, but only a very small number of them have accidents. There are two key conditions for plaques to break:

First, the plaque itself is unstable;

Second, the coronary arteries experience severe contraction or spasm.

3. How to prevent myocardial infarction

1. Increase the stability of plaques: Poor control of the "three highs" and excessive smoking will cause the plaques to progress rapidly and easily grow into unstable plaques with "thin skin and large fillings". Therefore, it is necessary to control the "three highs" and quit smoking to delay the progression of plaques. Statins can also be used to improve the stability of plaques and make them less likely to rupture. Take antiplatelet drugs to inhibit platelet aggregation and prevent the formation of blood clots.

2. Avoid factors that cause coronary artery spasm and contraction: The contraction of coronary arteries requires the stimulation of vasoconstriction substances such as adrenaline and norepinephrine. The release of these substances is related to the excitement of the sympathetic nerves. For example, factors such as strenuous activities, excessive fatigue, overeating, mood swings, sudden changes in ambient temperature, and sudden exertion can cause sympathetic nerve excitement, causing coronary artery contraction and spasm, and increasing the risk of myocardial infarction, so these factors should be avoided.

4. Have fun during the Chinese New Year. During the Chinese New Year, people visit relatives and friends, and their activities increase. They also have various gatherings with relatives and friends, drink more, and eat more. They also stay up late to play cards, mahjong, take a bath, and other entertainment activities. This will keep the human body's sympathetic nervous system in an excited state. The probability of coronary artery spasm and contraction is higher than usual, so during the Chinese New Year, the number of patients with cardiovascular accidents is much higher than usual.

Therefore, when having fun during the Chinese New Year, everyone should master the "measure" and not exceed their own limits. Especially those with "three highs" should take medicine to control the corresponding indicators, protect their bodies, and stay away from cardiovascular accidents.

To sum up, during the Chinese New Year, people with "three highs" chronic diseases are prone to cardiovascular accidents if they indulge in fun. We must know how to be moderate, eat well, play well, sleep well, rest well, protect our health, and never go to the hospital to "join in the fun." I am pharmacist Huazi, welcome to follow me and share more health knowledge.