Why I nixed shoveling snow

By Alex P. Vidal

 

“Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood.”—Andy Goldsworthy

 

IN 2010 and 2011, I shoveled snow in Canada during the winter season and earned extra bucks.

A man from San Jose, California who saw my post on Facebook criticized me for not wearing gloves.

My body heat needed to heat air to keep my hands warm, he reminded me. The more air, the more heat is needed, he added.

“You’re not a machine,” the man, who worked in the facility for senior citizens, chided me. “Unless you are doing it to impress us.”

He had a point.

The result is that on cold days our body heat can’t keep up with the heat loss from the glove—especially in the fingers.

This leads to cold fingertips.

I didn’t mind the unsolicited advice, nay rebuke.

He was right about the gloves as a mandatory stuff when we are exposed to the winter cold outdoor.

What I didn’t know at that time was that shoveling snow wasn’t just a fun or exercise for those who are physically fit like me. It could endanger the health of the weak.

On February 1, 2021 during the snow storm in the United States, I nixed an offer to shovel snow for a few bucks in Queens.

I learned that since shoveling snow uses arm, back and leg muscles, it increases our heart rate and burns about 300 calories in less than an hour.

 

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Whether we are physically fit or not, Conmaugh Health System reminds us we should take care shoveling and be aware of the following: Snow happens when it’s cold outside and a cold environment causes blood vessels to narrow which decreases oxygen to the heart; and

Shoveling or using a snow blower can cause a sudden increase in blood pressure and heart rate which cause clots to form and dislodge.

The following symptoms reportedly are signs of a heart attack and we should stop shoveling immediately and call 911 if we think we are having a heart attack: Squeezing chest pain; Shortness of breath; Pain down the left arm or up into the shoulder; breaking out in a cold sweat; more subtle symptoms like jaw pain, nausea or vomiting; and

the more of these symptoms we have the higher the risk.

Here are some tips before start to shovel, according to Conmaugh Health System: Warm up our muscles by stretching; cover our mouth and nose so we breathe in warmer air; shovel in light loads and take breaks if there is a lot of snow or we have a lot of area to shovel; drink water to stay hydrated; hire a teenage to shovel for us if we are not physically fit and at risk for a heart attack.

 

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Snow shoveling is a known trigger for heart attacks, warned the Harvard Medical School.

Emergency departments in the snow-belt reportedly gear up for extra cases when enough of the white stuff has fallen to force folks out of their homes armed with shovels or snow blowers.

What’s the connection?

Many people who shovel snow rarely exercise. Picking up a shovel and moving hundreds of pounds of snow, particularly after doing nothing physical for several months, can put a big strain on the heart, explained the Harvard Medical School.

“Pushing a heavy snow blower can do the same thing.

Cold weather is another contributor because it can boost blood pressure, interrupt blood flow to part of the heart, and make blood more likely to form clots,” it further explained in Harvard Health Publishing.

We learned further that when a blood clot forms inside a coronary artery (a vessel that nourishes the heart), it can completely block blood flow to part of the heart.

Cut off from their supply of life-sustaining oxygen and nutrients, heart muscle cells begin to shut down, and then die, it was learned further.

This is what doctors call a myocardial infarction or acute coronary syndrome.

The rest of us call it a heart attack.

The so-called classic signs of a heart attack are a squeezing pain in the chest, shortness of breath, pain that radiates up to the left shoulder and down the left arm, or a cold sweat, we further learned.

Other signs that are equally common include jaw pain, lower back pain, unexplained fatigue or nausea, and anxiety.

 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)