Shoveling snow can be dangerous. Here's how to protect yourself

Ahead of another winter storm, Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep talks with a cardiologist about how to stay safe while shoveling. Listen to our episode about how to keep your house safe during a winter weather disaster here https://www.npr.org/2026/01/22/nx-s1-5684364/a-snowstorm-is-on-the-way-heres-what-to-do. Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekit https://www.instagram.com/nprlifekit/?hl=en Sign up for our newsletter here. https://www.npr.org/newsletter/life-kit Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at [email protected] mailto:[email protected] Support the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekit http://plus.npr.org/lifekit See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:17Marielle Segarra?

  This is NPR's Life Kit. I'm Marielle Segarra.

• 0:23Marielle Segarra?

  Hey, it's Marielle. In many states across the country, people are still digging out of last week's winter storm. And it turns out, there is another storm coming this weekend. More snow on the ground means more snow to shovel. So we're bringing you some tips about how to stay safe while you're shoveling snow. You'll hear from Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep after the break.

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• 2:08Speaker 03

  This past weekend's winter storms sent a lot of people outside with shovels or ice scrapers. Here in Washington DC, wet snow turned to sleet. National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Mosili says sleet and the resulting ice weigh a lot more.

• 2:24Speaker 04

  When there are greater amounts of water in the snow, you get that dense, heavy, wet snow that's harder to shovel and is a health risk.

• 2:31Speaker 03

  Yeah, this matters when you're trying to move all that stuff. Dr. John Osborne is a cardiologist and volunteer expert with the American Heart Association, and he is offering some health advice. This story is close to my heart because I've been out shoveling. So what should I think about when I go out to shovel, especially really heavy snow?

• 2:49Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's amazing how much physical exertion shoveling snow takes. If we're shoveling snow for just 10 minutes, in most people, we'll reach about 97% of our maximal predicted heart rate.

• 3:03Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 3:03Speaker 05

  And if you have a prior history of heart disease, if you have diabetes, if you've had stents, balloons, bypass surgery, any of those things, I think everybody should be very cautious if you have a prior history of that. We'll also throw in high blood pressure as well. So it is a major stress test when you go out there and shovel snow.

• 3:22Speaker 03

  I'm thinking about the reasons why, and one of them is just the weight, right? This can be hundreds and hundreds of pounds of snow if you shovel a large area.

• 3:29Speaker 05

  Absolutely. So huge amount of weight, and depending upon the snow, the fluffy stuff versus the wet stuff. And a lot of that work is being done with our upper arms, right? That's not where most of our muscles are, it's the lower extremities. So we're really testing our upper extremity strength dramatically. And so if you're older, if you're above 65, some people say even above 45, be cautious and please ask for help.

• 3:56Speaker 03

  And does the cold multiply the danger?

• 3:59Speaker 05

  Absolutely. So, you know, first of all, if you're deconditioned, you're not doing this kind of work on a regular basis, and you go out, it's cold, you get vasoconstricted, right? And on top of that, then when you start shoveling all that snow, it drives up the heart rate, it drives up the blood pressure. All of those factors put a major stress or load on the heart. And if you're not ready for it, it could be cardiovascularly disastrous.

• 4:26Speaker 03

  I'm thinking of a couple of things that I did in the last day or two, and you can tell me if they were the right or the wrong thing. Every once in a while, I would just stop and stand there for a minute and catch my breath. Was that a good thing to do?

• 4:37Speaker 05

  Absolutely. Thumbs way up. So, take it easy, go slow. We don't have to take care of the entire driveway in one fell swoop.

• 4:44Speaker 03

  I also realized, compared to past years, that I can dress more lightly and just sweat less because my body produces a lot of heat. Was that helpful?

• 4:54Speaker 05

  Sure. I would say, dress appropriate to the weather, and layer, and if you get hot, you can begin to take off those layers. So, absolutely.

• 5:03Speaker 03

  Okay. I want to ask about another thing that may stress people, which I know that you guys have warned about. I went out to the park with one of my daughters, who wanted to do some sledding, which meant we were going up and down steep hills in really thick snow that did not hold our weight. Is that hazardous?

• 5:20Speaker 05

  Absolutely. Again, you're out there burning off, I mean, good news is, you're burning off a lot of calories. That's great. But, again, if your body's not ready for that, not prepped for that, if you're not conditioned for that, it can be a lot of stress added to the heart.

• 5:36Speaker 03

  Dr. John Osborne, pleasure to talk with you. Thank you so much.

• 5:39Speaker 05

  My pleasure. Such an honor, Steve.

• 5:43Marielle Segarra?

  If you're anticipating more wintry weather this weekend, or if you just want to stay ahead of any more storms coming your way, check out our episode on how to keep your house safe during a winter weather disaster. We'll link to it in our show notes. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Mika Ellison. Our visuals editor is Beck Harlan, and our digital editor is Malika Gharib. Megan Cain is our senior supervising editor, and Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagel, Claire Marie Schneider, Margaret Serino, and Sylvie Douglas. Engineering support comes from Zoe Vangenhoven. I'm Marielle Segarra. Thanks for listening.