Festive Heart Syndrome: when excessive drinking speeds up your heartbeat

• Every gram of alcohol that enters the body is harmful, that is, that the minimum amount we can consume without prejudice to health is zero

Moderation. What a little word. In case we didn't have enough to listen to it thousands of times a year, about to end 2019 and when you prepare to "give it all" these holidays, once again we are advised to be cautious and not fall into excesses .

We know that the recommendation "the key is not to pass" cuts the roll a lot, but also delivered without restraint to the ethyl compound. Exceeding with the glasses has consequences even for the youngest and healthiest heart, even for those who spend these days, but during the rest of the year they are delivered with devotion to fitness and free alcohol.

MINIMUM RECOMMENDED CONSUMPTION: ZERO

Start with some rods, continue with a good wine in the food - of course, without rejecting the digestive shot on behalf of the house - and make a good desktop accompanied by some cubatas is not something anecdotal or minority in the celebrations that take place in our country, especially during the month of December, in which 73% of the population makes an average of one to four lunches or dinners with family and friends (according to data from the Center for Research on Phytotherapy (INFITO) and the Spanish Society of Dietetics and Food Sciences (SEDCA).

It is true that in other countries it is even worse, because they do not have 'made in Spain' meats to accompany the birdseed - it is already known that having a full stomach, especially full of fatty foods, makes alcohol reach the blood more slowly, that is to say we get less fart - but the point is that we must recognize that, with so much euphoria and exaltation of friendship, we exceed ourselves, and much.

For example, a single Christmas dinner can perfectly have 1,400 calories , to which we must add those provided by the broths with which the appetizer and food are irrigated ( a glass of wine has about 75 lime and 10, 4 grams of pure alcohol ).

That is, in addition to tripling the recommended amount of calories, nothing you drink three glasses of red wine (and in terms of health no matter what is called Don Simón or Vega Sicilia, by the way) you have ingested 225 calories and 31, 2 grams of pure alcohol.

Now more than one will say that: "Yes man, I'm going to count calories and grams of alcohol at Christmas." Nor should we reach that point, it is true, but be aware that every gram of alcohol that enters the body is harmful , that is to say that the minimum amount that we can consume without harm to health is zero (as the major concluded study published to date on the effects of alcohol: 'Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2016'), something that the WHO confirms that, since 2008, no longer establishes a minimum recommended consumption of alcohol .

There is precisely a syndrome that has a preference for vacations, a symptomatology known as Festive Heart Syndrome and that appears when our heart goes out for drinks and returns home as if nothing had happened. And yes it happens.

PALPITATIONS AND SWEATING

The excess of alcoholic beverages causes changes in our heart rate, that is abnormal abnormalities in the heartbeat. " When alcohol is abused, supraventricular arrhythmias occur, more specifically episodes of atrial fibrillation (which is the most frequent cardiac arrhythmia) in young and healthy people, without a previous cardiac history. The most common symptoms of these arrhythmias, which usually calm down at the time of having stopped drinking, they are an accelerated heartbeat, palpitations and a feeling of having the heart ripped out, although other times they can produce in the person a sensation as if the heart gave a turn, or even, it can take without symptoms for other patients, "explains Pablo García García, clinical cardiologist at the Don Benito Villanueva Hospital in Extremadura.

The truth is that there are people who happen and do not know, but there are others who have come to the emergency because they have been scared. "It is true that sometimes the heart rate is persistently accelerating, above about 120 beats per minute (it is normal to have between 60 and 100 at rest). The usual thing in these cases is to ask for medical help, especially for the nervousness that it causes the person to feel those intense palpitations and a certain tightness in the chest, "says the specialist.

The term is curious, but it has its explanation. It was coined in 1978 in an article published by cardiologist Philip Ettinger. This doctor, together with his collaborators, described the appearance of cardiac arrhythmias in a group of 24 patients, most of them with a regular habit of alcohol intake , but whose hospital admission always coincided with a previous binge, which used to coincide with a Weekend or a holiday, such as New Year's Eve or Christmas.

The mechanisms that cause this arrhythmia are not yet clearly defined, but it is thought that it may be due to the release of the stress hormones (adrenaline and norepinephrine) that generates the intake of high amounts of alcohol in a short period of time . "Also substances such as aldehydes, toxic that are produced during the metabolism of alcohol in the liver, could contribute to this acceleration of the heart rate," says Pablo García.

PASSENGER AND BENIGNO BUT NOT FOR ALL

Although these arrhythmias are related to the stroke and there have been episodes of sudden cardiac death in alcoholics to whom this syndrome has been attributed, the truth is that the complication rate is low, so it can be considered a passing condition and Benign, that leaves no sequels . Though not always. "It will not be as benign if it occurs, for example, in people with a basic heart disease, since it can cause them to decompensate for this heart disease," qualifies the cardiologist.

The truth is that the association of copious meals, the high consumption of alcohol, a greater emotional tension and the reduction in the hours of sleep that occurs during the Christmas holidays, causes that the infarctions increase . Many conditions are combined, but there are several international studies that have registered a higher incidence of myocardial infarction precisely on Christmas day and New Year's day. Therefore, and although it sounds spoilers: Moderation!

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