Sex is completely safe for most heart patients – and should even be encouraged, doctors say
From quitting smoking to cutting back on alcohol, there are many lifestyle changes heart attack victims are forced to make.
But one thing they should definitely not give up is sex, a leading cardiologist has claimed.
In fact, it is completely safe for most heart patients – and should even be encouraged.
Professor Claudio Gil Soares de Araújo, of Instituto do Coração Edson Saad, Rio de Janeiro, reviewed the all the latest evidence on the topic to assess the risk.
Comparing sex to a ‘a brisk walk’, he has compiled practical recommendations to help couples begin to be intimate again.
He said his team’s extensive literature review, which looked at more than 150 papers, allowed them to dismiss several myths regarding sex after a heart attack.
Overall, the risk of death during sex is very low, and ever lower for women, he told MailOnline.
In fact, sex was responsible for less than 2 per cent of heart patients who died due to exercise.
Professor Soares de Araújo told MailOnline: ‘When I see patients in my office, I say have you resumed having sex? They say “no doctor”.
‘I say well, what about kissing and touching? They say “no doctor”.
‘There’s no reason for that. Heart patients are usually weak and depressed. Sexual activity can help them resume normal way of life.’
WHAT CAN HEART PATIENTS DO?
Professor Soares de Araújo and his team said it is critical heart patients are correctly counselled on resuming having sex.
They said sex encompasses several behaviours including (Ki), touching (T), oral (O), masturbation (M) and vaginal/anal intercourse (I).
They therefore coined the acronym KiTOMI to represent all the behaviours covered in sex.
Then, the equated the various acitivities with walking at different speeds.
For example, kissing and touching is like a slow walk, while oral sex and masturbation is akin to walking at a regular pace.
The middle phases of intercourse are like walking quickly and orgasm is the equivalent to running across the street, researchers said.
Professor Soares de Araújo said being able to compare stages of sex to recognisable activities should reassure patients.
‘Sex is exercise, but people aren’t going to get fit from having sex three times a week’, he said.
In fact, the average session of sexual activity lasts six minutes and uses up a paltry 21 calories, according to a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2013.
One cardiologist compares sex to a ‘a brisk walk’ – and has compiled practical recommendations to help couples begin to be intimate again after a heart attack
HOW SOON CAN THEY START HAVING SEX?
Patients should be assessed by a doctors to see if having sex is risky.
For most patients whose heart disease is stable, there is no risk, Professor Soares de Araújo said.
These low risk patients can resume activity immediately.
On the day after the heart attack, couples can touch and kiss.
‘A few days later you can have oral sex, after a week you can start masturbating and have intercourse’, Professor Soares de Araújo added.
CAN HEART PATIENTS STILL TAKE VIAGRA?
Viagra can actually help heart patients, as it reduces their anxiety about performing in the bedroom, which means there is less stress on the heart muscle
Professor Soares de Araújo told MailOnline: ‘They can perform better, they require less energy, they put less stress on the heart. So it’s beneficial, it reduces the anxiety to perform well.’
However, this would only be offered for men with impotence, and not as the first option.
He added the only drawback is that it can interfere with nitrates, a type of drug prescribed to some patients with heart problems.
Both Viagra and nitrates cause the muscles control blood vessels to relax, affecting blood pressure.
‘So we may tell them to avoid nitrates or be very careful,’ Professor Soares de Araújo concluded.