Many heart attack survivors shy away from sex because they think it will trigger another attack; however, sexual activity does not usually cause a heart attack and is safe even for those who have had a previous heart attack, ABC News reports.
To determine if sexual activity is associated with heart attack and if it increases the risk of future heart attacks, German researchers studied 536 heart attack survivors ages 30 to 70. They found that only 0.7 percent of them said they engaged in sexual activity an hour before a myocardial infarction or heart attack, while 80 percent said they had sex 24 hours before the cardiac event.
For a period of 10 years, the researchers closely followed the study participants, noting succeeding heart attacks and other cardiovascular episodes. They found that sex had nothing to do with the succeeding heart attacks and did not cause or trigger them.
The researchers concluded that sex after a heart attack is safe, as the activity can be likened to mild forms of exercise like brisk walking and climbing the stairs. However, they advised those who feel chest pain or discomfort with mild exercise, as well as those who take nitrates to treat chest pain, to practice caution and to talk to their doctor.
"The clear result that sexual activity [after a heart attack] is safe and even beneficial surprised me," Dietrich Rothenbacher, lead study author and chair of the Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry at Ulm University, told The Washington Post.
So where did the myth that sexual activity can trigger a heart attack come from? Dr. Maryann McLaughlin, an associate professor of cardiology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, said the idea may have stemmed from the lack of discussion between doctors and patients regarding the topic.
"When someone has intercourse and then has a heart attack after, it's really traumatic and so everyone hears about it," she told Newsweek, adding that incidents like this make patients feel uncomfortable to talk about the subject.
The study was published in the September issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
