Most Heart Attacks Happen on Monday, and Experts Have Various Explanations

If you have heart problems or high blood pressure, try to take Mondays easy. You could avoid a disappointment.

A study presented at the British Cardiovascular Society Conference reveals something that was already known: most heart attacks occur on mondays. Although on Sunday more than expected are registered. What is interesting is the explanation of why it is so.

He studyconducted by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, analyzed data from 10,528 patients from across Ireland who had been admitted to hospital with a STEMI, between 2013 and 2018, according to New Atlas.

A STEMIor its acronym in English, STEMIit’s a myocardial infarction with ST segment elevation. It is one of the most dangerous, difficult to recover.

Why are there more heart attacks on Mondays?

The study reveals a significant increase in heart attacks on the first day of the week. This is data that coincides with other similar studies. There’s also a peak on sundayscompared to the rest of the days.

In other studies, this was attributed to excessive alcohol consumption during the weekendor to the stress or depression that it generates return to work after the weekend.

But these researchers have another explanation. They think it is due to the circadian cycles of our body. Our body has a 24 hour internal clock, which does not have to coincide with the clock, or day and night. It is the one that controls when it is time to eat or sleep, for example.

During the weekend we change the routine and alter the circadian clock: we sleep more hours, we go out at night, we eat hard or later on Sunday… This causes imbalances in our body both on Sunday and, especially, on Monday, when we get up early to return to the routine.

Therefore, for reduce the chance of a heart attack on mondaytry not changing your routine too much on weekends. Especially everything that has to do with meals, and the time to go to bed.