This isn’t to say you can’t enjoy your holiday season and the food- and drink-based traditions that come along with it. AdvertisementBelow, doctors share the overlooked cardiovascular dangers of the holiday season along with ways to enjoy this time safely. Drinking too much alcohol can cause ‘holiday heart syndrome.’“Holiday heart syndrome refers to a cardiac rhythm disturbance, an arrhythmia,” said Dr. Ahmed Tawakol, the co-director of the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. AdvertisementSome people who experience holiday heart syndrome report a rapid or irregular heartbeat while others feel a sense of anxiety, Tawakol said. Advertisement“The exact mechanism behind this phenomenon isn’t fully understood, but alcohol can affect the electrical signals in the heart,” Shetty explained.

Source: Huffington Post December 06, 2025 17:54 UTC