Listening to Super Bowl TV Could Be Bad for Your Heart

Whether rooting for the Dolphins or the 49ers, if you’re a heart patient who plans to watch today’s Super Bowl, you’d better turn down the sound.

That’s the advice of Dr. Meyer Friedman, a University of California-San Francisco cardiologist best known for his book, “Type A Behavior and Your Heart.”

We do not like our patients who have had heart attacks to watch televised sporting events,” Friedman said. “We’ve had two patients in our prevention program die while watching football games on TV.”

Although he has suffered a heart attack, Friedman plans to watch the matchup between San Francisco and Miami. “But you can be sure I’ll have the sound off, and the only thing on the table will be decaf coffee, period,” he said.

Friedman suggests a silent Super Bowl because “announcers’ hype” is what causes problems for cardiac patients. “That hype gets people excited . . . and that results in an increased production of noradrenalin, the struggle hormone.

“Too much nonadrenalin can produce fatal arrhythmias in people with coronary disease,” he said.

The doctor also frowns on Super Bowl snacks. “Eating diverts vital blood away from the coronary system to the digestive system,” he said.