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Cardio-vascular Health

Hear Attack, Sexual Activity

The Odds Are Better With Sex Than at Las Vegas

By Dr. W. Gifford Jones

August 25, 1996

Every year 1.5 million North Americans suffer a heart attack and 1.2 million survive. Should this brush death affect their sex lives? Is it safe for them to continue a normal sexual life after a coronary? Or is it prudent to toss in the towel and play backgammon instead?

Heart attack patients share several fears. One is that the increased heart rate accompanying sexual activity will put too much stress on a damaged heart.

Some physicians are reluctant to tell them otherwise. One patient told me, "The doctor said I was lucky to be alive so why worry about sex?"

But few coronary patients are willing to give up. A cardiologist recently told of walking into a private room the day after his patient had suffered a coronary attack. To his surprise, the patient was enjoying sexual intercourse!

But most patients are not that adventuresome. They become depressed after a coronary. Some fear sudden death during intercourse. And occasionally couples stop sexual activity.

Neither of these two extremes make sense. Cardiologists have long maintained that after a coronary sexual intercourse in familiar surroundings is safe. That it puts no more stress on the heart than climbing a flight of stairs. Or walking briskly for two or three blocks.

So what is the risk of heart attack during sex? A study of 5559 heart attack deaths 30 years ago showed that only 18 were related to sexual activity. And 14 of these involved extramarital relations! And they had occurred after heavy eating and drinking.

Dr. James E Muller at The Harvard Medical School and his associates have further evidence to back up this result. It's good news for those who have survived a heart attack. Or for the 11 million North Americans with heart disease.

The study involved 858 men and women who had survived a heart attack. Its conclusion? Patients have two chances in a million that sex will trigger a heart attack during the two hours following intercourse. That's a lot better than the odds in Las Vegas!

Moreover it's estimated that during any two hour period the risk of heart attack is one in a million. Adding sex only doubles a very small risk.

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If everything in the world was that safe we wouldn't have many problems. And I suspect that no prudent person would give up sex when its risk is only two in a million.

Dr. Muller claims that walking briskly up a slight hill for 30 minutes a day is all that is needed to make sex as safe for heart patients as those without cardiac problems.

Dr. Robert DeBush, a cardiologist at Stanford University School of Medicine, in Palo Alto, California, suggests slow jogging after a coronary. Or cycling at about 11 miles an hour every day for middle©aged patients.

Dr. DeBush explains that people who exercise regularly develop muscles that are more efficient in removing oxygen from the blood. The end result is the heart does not have to work as hard to supply oxygen to the tissues.

Dr. DeBush also stresses that physically active people have heart rates and blood pressures that are lower during exertion or sexual intercourse than they are in sedentary people.

This means that if you've always kept your body in good shape there's little or no added risk from sexual intercourse.

So how should you prepare for sex after a coronary? The best advice is to be patient with your heart. A bruised heart needs rest like a sprained ankle or broken bone. So try the stairs before climbing into the bed.

Some post©coronary patients experience anginal pain during sex. This happens when coronary arteries are unable to supply sufficient blood to the heart muscle. If this happens you may have to use a less vigorous approach. Or the doctor may advise a tablet of nitroglycerine prior to sexual activity.

Go back to sex with an empty stomach. Celebrating the event with a 7 course dinner can trigger trouble. A full stomach draws oxygen away from the heart and may result in anginal pain.

70 and 80 year old patients often ask me, "When should I stop having sex?" I tell them to stop next year. Or the next year. Or the next! That's the same advice I give to patients who have had a heart attack. Meed I say more?

As Dr. DeBush points out , "After all, patients are interested not only in the years in their life, but also in the liveliness of their years."

Besides sex has medicinal value whether or not you've had a heart attack. It helps to relieve tensions in an increasingly uptight world.


W. Gifford-Jones M.D is the pen name of Dr. Ken Walker graduate of Harvard. Dr. Walker's website is: Docgiff.com

My book, �90 + How I Got There� can be obtained by sending $19.95 to:

Giff Holdings, 525 Balliol St, Unit # 6,Toronto, Ontario, M4S 1E1

Pre-2008 articles by Gifford Jones
Canada Free Press, CFP Editor Judi McLeod