Ontario Doctor Proves Shoveling Snow Can Cause Heart Attacks

Oddly, it took a doctor who moved to Canada from Argentina to finally put the pieces together.

A heart doctor from Kingston, Ont., is believed to be the first ever person to confirm the age-old suspicion that shoveling snow can cause heart attacks. Dr. Adrian Baranchuk found that there was no evidence beyond the anecdotal that the stresses incurred while shoveling snow heighten the chances of someone getting a heart attack, and that cardiology associations had warned people of the risks of snow removal without anything to back up those claims. So he took it upon himself to determine if there was a causal relation between the two. Baranchuk looked through the files of Kingston General Hospital and found that of the 500 heart attacks suffered across two winters, seven per cent – or 35 heart attacks – were suffered by people (mostly older men) shoveling snow. Baranchuk speculates that the combination of irregular, strenuous activity, the cold weather, and other underlying health problems all contribute to making the time-honoured tradition of clearing a driveway a deadly endeavour.