Preventing Chest Pain on Vacation

Sometimes when people get on vacation especially on a beautiful sunny beach people began to feel great and jump into exercise! This is good and expected because the fact is that now you are relaxing and letting go of your physical and mental stress! Sunshine is a great motivator and our God given source of the ever so critical vitamin D which improves your mental health and it runs all your metabolic functions.Walking barefoot is another rejuvenating benefit from the beach as it wakes up those nerve endings in your feet as the sand stimulates and provides a therapeutic foot massage!

Many of us know people who have come back from a vacation in Israel and reported their Arthritis symptoms were reduced while soaking in the Dead Sea! Salt Water is very good for RA or any other form of pain or arthritis, however use extreme caution in the waves if you are a spine pain patient as the tossing can trigger increased inflammation and pain. A benefit of vacation is serotonin levels increase! Most people have bad guts so low serotonin is always a concern if your gut is not healthy and lots of sunshine will raise serotonin which not only makes you feel happy, rested and relaxed but it makes you have the "drive" to exercise! 


So a trip to the ocean is the best thing you can do for your health BUT remember do not exercise during peak hours. Exercise is best done early mornings or early evenings. 

One area of extreme concern for patients with medical conditions is beach temperatures. High temperatures stress the heart to pump harder as the body demands blood to be shunted to the skin to cool you off. Your heart is going to try and beat faster as you get hotter. Typical is 10 beats per minute for every internal degree! A heart working too hard, increased temperatures, dehydration, and an un-diagnosed mineral deficiencies coupled with a RUN down the beach at the wrong time of day can be a formula for chest discomfort.


 Electrolytes and dehydration are always a concern for any person who has any medical diagnosis, but especially heart patients. Be smart on vacation and keep aware of temperatures, nutrition, hydration, and of course exercise within your fitness range! Take some coconut water along with you to the beach! I lived on coconut water when I was in Honduras this summer! It was so hot and we were so active that if it wasn't for this life-giving nutrition of God's healing trees with the beautiful coconuts we wouldn't have been able to play in the sun all day! 


Should you visit where I live we have a one of best hospitals in the South located in Myrtle Beach.  A national study ranked Grand Strand Medical Center number one in South Carolina out of 16 programs for cardiac surgery with four consecutive years (2010-2013) by Healthgrades. The medical center was also ranked number two for overall cardiac services. In 2012, Grand Strand Medical Center received a Top Performer rating in heart attack and heart failure quality measures by The Joint Commission.