According to Dr Maurice Pye, consultant cardiologist at York Hospital, ‘Temperature changes can affect the circulation quite dramatically,’if you go from hot to cold, that can increase your blood pressure in a way that can affect blood supply to the heart. It causes a reflex that narrows the arteries, which reduces the blood supply to the heart muscle. This can cause angina, heart attacks or changes in heart rhythm.
‘We have angina patients who say they’re fine in most rooms, but as soon as they go upstairs to the bedroom, where it’s perhaps cooler, they get chest pain.’
Aim for a ‘reasonable temperature’ – above 18c – in all rooms you use regularly, he says.
Whether it’s fiddling with the central heating, plugging in an air freshener or using a dehumidifier, we’re forever tinkering with the air in our homes. But are you aware that you could also be playing with your health? As winter approaches and the cold, icy and snowy weather returns, be weary of how you you use heating in your homes especially if you’ve got children and elderly ones, a dramatic change in temperature from hot to cold or too hot heating can affect sore throat, breathing and the lungs.
