This warning should be everywhere. Living in the northeast, snow is something we think little of. It comes down, gets removed and life goes on. There is an art to shoveling and life-saving information that almost no one outside of the snow belt knows about.

But those living in the southeast or places that normally don't normally get snow have no idea that innocent looking global warming can mean a white death. Not just freezing from exposure, but from a heart attack. Winter is the absolute WORST time to find out your heart can't take the strain.

Regardless of your age shoveling can result in a serious heart attack or back problem. Right after a major storm when roads are jammed a heart attack can be a killer problem for which help never comes.

In a heart attack your heart stops beating. Period. You'll know it quick because as one ER doctor describes it, "It feels like an elephant sitting on your chest." But of course there are silent heart attacks or other coronary problems. Snow shoveling is NOT the way to find out.

Within 2 to 3 minutes you will become unconscious. Even if you are a few feet from your front door you might as well be at the north pole. People never stop to help someone else for fear of getting involved. Even if someone sees you laying there they WILL drive right by your body like you don't exist. Even if they do stop to try to help, if they don't know CPR and can phone for help you will DIE right there in your driveway. 

Even if you pull out a cell phone and get your call out before passing out, it could still be too late. Don't count on your phone to save you - that's a false sense of security. After and during a storm 911 is often jammed with calls and you might even be put on hold. They are probably taking a phone call from someone else that shoveled themselves into an early grave but doesn't know it yet. It happens.

Shoveling can also create a problem called Super Ventricular Tackycardia (known as an SVT.) The heart rate shoots up to about 165 beats/minute and doesn't slow down. The result of SVT can be a clot forming in the heart which then takes off into the brain or lungs causing a stroke or death. After you've been shoveling, check your pulse rate after you get back in-doors. If after a period of time like 15 minutes or so it still hasn't slowed down, seek medical attention.

If you are elderly, have any kind of heart problem, back problem or history of bad health problems DON'T do the shoveling yourself! Pay a few bucks for someone else to do it if you don't have someone at home to do it. If you don't have the cash on hand but it's in the bank, write them a check.

Elderly people in perfect health often meet their end from a broken hip as the result of a fall. Why? A major bone break starts a chain reaction of health problems often taking a life. My grandmother fell out of a nursing home bed because the bed rail was left down by an idiot. This started a chain reaction of clots with serious problems. First one leg was amputated, then she went into a coma and the other leg was going to be amputated but she passed away. And it all started because of a broken hip. People fall all the time shoveling snow.

If you must shovel it yourself, take it VERY SLOW. Push snow whenever possible instead of lifting it.

After a big storm no businesses are open to drive to! So what's the rush to empty out the driveway? Stop for awhile after one or shovel fulls and let your blood pressure and heart rate slow down.

Snow by the street is ALWAYS the heaviest. When mixed with salt or sand snow becomes far heavier. Street plows pack snow crystals simply by pushing snow to the curb, further increasing the weight in each shovel full.

Water is heavy - a shovel full of snow can easily weigh 20 lbs. or more. Would you stand outside with a pile of 500 20lb weights and throw each one as far as you could? When you shovel out a driveway you're doing exactly that!

Don't throw or push snow any farther than needed like some kind of a super-human. The price for it isn't worth it.

It's just going to melt away sooner or later.

This essay is not meant to diagnose, treat or cure any disease. Talk to your health care professional if you don't know whether or not you should shovel snow.

Ted Twietmeyer