Traffic and Your Heart
Posted by proforma on September 22, 2010 | No Comments
This news item in the University of Texas Health Science Center Health Leader offers such useful information that we repeat it in its entirety to avoid any problems with clicking through to their e-newsletter.
Traffic and Your Heart
City traffic is tough on the nerves. It could also be hard on the heart.
In a recent study, nearly 1,500 heart attack survivors were asked about what they had been doing in the four days before their heart attacks. About 8% said they had been stuck in traffic a few hours prior to the attack. The lingering effects of traffic seemed to be worse in women and those with the chest pain known as angina (American Heart Association epidemiology meeting, March 2009).
So what’s the connection between heart attacks and traffic? Researchers have developed two leading theories involve anger or stress, and air pollution. Navigating through heavy traffic makes some people mad, especially if they are surrounded by drivers cutting in and weaving out (think I-45 North at 4:30 p.m.) Others get stressed. Anger and stress have been linked to spasms of coronary arteries, the sudden disruption of cholesterol-filled plaque, and the initiation of unstable heart rhythms, any of which can trigger a heart attack.
Air pollution is the other primary suspect. Billions of tiny exhaust particles spew from car and truck tailpipes every day. In heavy traffic we breathe in these microscopic motes by the million. Once we do, they can cause inflammation, promote the formation of blood clots, destabilize cholesterol-filled plaques, and contribute to heart-rhythm abnormalities.
In Houston, traffic is an inevitable part of travel. But the odds that being stuck on the Southwest Freeway at 5 p.m. will provoke a heart attack are really quite low, so this study shouldn’t be cause for alarm. But it does suggest that playing relaxing music while in heavy traffic might not be a bad idea, and that it’s wise to pay attention to chest pain if you’ve recently done battle on Houston’s highways at rush hour.
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