Thanks to advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular problems, the number of people surviving a heart attack is increasing. The return to work, to the routine, is done in a few weeks but … what about sexual intercourse? Despite the fact that international cardiology guidelines guarantee that in a week or two it is possible to have sex again safely , there are not a few people who, out of fear, do not dare to resume the practice of sex with their partner.
A recent study led by Yale University (USA) and coordinated by Héctor Bueno, a cardiologist at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid (Spain), has investigated the characteristics of young women who have suffered a heart attack and how it affects their life compared to men of the same age .
The study involved 3,500 men and women between the ages of 18 and 55 with myocardial infarction . The results showed that limiting the sexual activity of the infarcted in some way is completely wrong since, on average and in general, the metabolic effort required by the sexual act is not much greater than that required to climb two floors of stairs , for example.
Eliminating or reducing sexual practices after a heart attack would only be indicated in the case of complicated heart attacks in cases in which patients continue to have symptoms after having suffered the myocardial infarction.
Thus, the study revealed that more than 90% of Spanish patients had an active sexual life before suffering the heart attack , so that “maintaining a satisfactory sexual activity is an essential factor in the patient’s recovery”, explains Bueno, co-author of the study published in the journal Circulation .
