The holidays are a time for excess, and that’s not so good for your heart.
Whether at parties or visiting with family, opportunities that test your resolve around food and alcohol are plentiful. While it’s fine to indulge a little bit, all that excess can have an effect on your health.
Holiday heart syndrome, the occurrence of heart arrhythmia, most frequently atrial fibrillation, after bouts of binge drinking, is known to occur even in healthy individuals.“Episodes usually followed heavy weekend or holiday sprees, resulting in hospitalization between Sunday and Tuesday or in proximity to the year-end holidays, a relationship not observed in other alcohol-associated illnesses,” the study authors wrote.
Just this month, another study found that heart attack risk spiked 15 percent on during the Christmas/New Year holiday. The risk also increased after New Year’s Eve and other midsummer holidays.
Fortunately, holiday heart syndrome tends to be acute after bouts of drinking. When individuals stop drinking, it tends to resolve on its own. So, if you notice a faster than normal or fluttering heart rate while drinking, it could likely mean you need to lay off the mulled wine.
“It’s an illustration that anything to excess is not a good thing. So, the advice that we give our patients for everything from alcohol to caffeine to supplemental vitamins to exercise is ‘everything in moderation’ is a good rule to follow. You can overdo it.
Holiday heart syndrome is something that illustrates that very well,” Dr. Nicholas Skipitaris, Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology at Lenox Hill Heart and Lung, told Healthline.