IF you have undiagnosed heart disease, hot weather could exacerbate your underlying symptoms and lead to a diagnosis. The tip comes from Dr Samantha Wild, Women’s Health Clinical Lead and GP at Bupa Health Clinics . This can happen because hot weather places your heart under more strain than usual as it tries to regulate your body’s temperature.
And Dr Wild warned: “If you have heart disease, the risk of heart attacks, arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat) and heart failure all increase when the weather is hot. “The hotter the weather, the greater the risk becomes.” So how can you spot heart disease during hot weather? Read more on the heart According to Dr Wild there are several symptoms that can occur when the weather is hot that can also be indicative of underlying heart disease: Light-headedness: The sensation that your surroundings are spinning, or dizziness Sweating: Feeling sweatier than usual, even when you’ve not been exercising Chest pain: A tight, squeezed or heavy sensation in your chest that may go up into your neck, jaw, shoulder, upper back and down your arms, especially the left arm Most read in Health Fatigue : Feeling tired and having no energy without any obvious reason Breathlessness : Finding it difficult to breath comfortably or steadily Changes to your heartbeat: Feeling your heart is beating faster or more slowly than usual Nausea: Feeling like you might be sick Swelling in your ankles or legs: This may be better in the morning and get progress.