Are you able to exercise with a heart condition?

After having a heart attack, many patients want to know if it's safe to exert themselves, either by exercising or being intimate.

• No, not if you are used to exercising regularly. It is only sudden, infrequent exertion that poses the greatest hazard to health.
• And that fact appears to hold true even if you already have heart disease. According to a study of patients who had had a heart attack and later took part in a cardiac rehabilitation program, there was no significant difference in the rate of complications whether the patients exercised at 7:30 in the morning or three o'clock in the afternoon.
• The patients always followed a stretching and warm-up routine before doing exercise, with a cool-down period afterwards — following a golden rule for anyone who exercises.

• After you have been given the all-clear to engage in moderate exercise — which your doctors will probably recommend anyway — then having sex is as safe as, say, running up the stairs:
• Both activities will increase your heart rate to around 130 beats per minute (your heart rate at rest is around 70 beats per minute).
• Fewer than one per cent of heart attacks are caused by intercourse, and the risk is no greater for someone with a history of heart attacks or angina than for anyone else.
• Most people are able to start having sex again within two to three weeks of having a heart attack. But check with your doctor first if you are still getting chest pains or if you have very high blood pressure or heart rhythm disturbances (which may be signalled by palpitations).
• Physically fit people are able to enjoy sex with no increased risk.
• The vital thing is to keep active and to take regular exercise, so your heart gets used to a gentle workout. The more you exercise, the safer sex becomes.