Pushed to the max in stressful situations, firefighters face a risk of sudden cardiac death that is three times higher than the rest of the population.
To reduce the danger, researchers have learned that sometimes, you must fight fire with fire.
, an exercise physiologist at Colorado State University, intentionally puts stress on the hearts of firefighters by running them on treadmills. The idea is to mimic the intense conditions firefighters would normally only encounter in the worst moments of battling a blaze.
Together with blood work and an used to calculate the percentage of body fat, these stress tests can reveal if there are any problems, and point to things firefighters can do to reduce the risk of a heart attack.
鈥淣ever judge a book by its cover,鈥� Lipsey warns. In her decade of , she鈥檚 learned that hearts often aren鈥檛 as strong as they may appear.
鈥淎s much as we like them to be viewed as heroes, they鈥檙e still people, like the rest of us. They鈥檙e still Americans. And most Americans die from heart disease.鈥�
Lipsey says heart disease accounts for about half of all on-duty firefighter deaths.
Only several hundred firefighters have access to the expertise at the , but Lipsey encourages anyone going out to battle flames to be aware of their heart health numbers.
鈥淒o I need to be exercising more or less, do I need to do something about my diet because my cholesterol is crazy, or my blood pressure is crazy? If they don鈥檛 know their numbers,鈥� says Lipsey, 鈥渢hen they don鈥檛 know they need to do something.鈥�
With for all firefighters soon, keeping tabs on cardiovascular health should become easier to do.
