HEART ATTACK RATES GO UP OVER CHRISTMAS

It’s time for the annual Heart Attacks at Christmas story. Scientists say there is a definite spike in heart attacks brought about by the pressures of Christmas, seasonal sadness and over-indulgence. Scientists from the Lund University in Sweden analyzed 283,000 heart attacks recorded in Swedish medical records over a 16-year period from 1998 to 2013 to find out what days could present the biggest heart attack risk. The study, published in the BMJ (* The Bowel Movement Journal? Is that when you read it?), revealed that 50 heart attacks were recorded on an average day, but on Christmas Eve that figure jumped to 69, which equates to a 37% increase. In fact, researchers have pinpointed a time that heart attacks are most likely to happen: at 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
* 10 p.m. is just about when you’re trying to put together that new bicycle and realize you don’t have a 5/8’ths Allen wrench.
* The solution here is to not go to Sweden for Christmas.
* Or take a short nap between 9:45 p.m. and 10:15.
* And that’s a big “Happy Holidays, Everybody!” from the Lund University in Sweden.