PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The American Heart Association says Christmas to New Year's Day is the peak week for heart complications, as more people die from heart attacks than any other time of the year.
They call it holiday heart attacks.
"I noticed that during the holidays there's all this indulgence in food, it's everywhere," Boynton Beach resident Andy Taylor said. "It's like wow there's a lot of stuff here that I don't eat on a normal basis
Add on the chaotic travel season and being with extended family, heart attack survivor Taylor knows the impact the added stress can have on a heart.
He had a heart attack four years ago, leaving him in the hospital for 27 days.
"I just fall face first on the floor in cardiac arrest. I had what they call the widow maker heart attack," Taylor said.
"They shocked me at my home, I coded again in the hospital in the elevator going to ICU. I was shocked over 20 times. They did CPR on me in the hospital for almost two hours."
Taylor says his 14-year-old son at the time had been CPR certified just months before he had the heart attack and was able to perform CPR before he was taken to the hospital.
"Without him being home to administer CPR on me I wouldn't be here," Taylor said.
His wife has since pursued a nursing career and graduated in May, and is working at JFK hospital with some of the same nurses who took care of him.
The AHA says the signs to look out for are chest pains, shortness of breath or nausea and dizziness, and that a change in diet and stress aren't the only things contributing to holiday heart attacks.
"We think in part it's because of those changes in behaviors but also because people tend to put off their medical care, they may be less likely to see their doctor for a regular visit or even to go to the emergency room if they're having symptoms," Dr. Mitch Elkind, chief clinical science officer with the AHA, said.
Elkind urges people to consider what they call "Life's essential 8," which includes eating better, being more active, quitting tobacco, getting a healthy amount of sleep, managing weight, control cholesterol, managing blood sugar and pressure.
"We really want to remind people that it's important to take care of yourself too during this time," Elkind said. "We're focused on family, we're focused on all the fun things that are out there that we can do but if things don't feel right, you still gotta check it out and make sure that you get help."
Doctors say if you feel like you're experiencing a heart attack, you need to call 911 immediately.
