Resuming Activity After Heart Surgery: Sex, Exercise & Driving

Driving/Riding in Your Car After Heart Surgery

There are two conditions that prohibit you from driving after heart surgery; if you're taking narcotics for pain or if you're within one month of surgery. When the sternum is cut, you may need to wait an entire month for it to heal enough to allow you to drive. However, you can always ride in a car. Keep a towel in the car to serve as a pad between your chest and the seat belt. Never ride without a seat belt.

Sex After Heart Surgery

You should get an okay from your doctor to resume sex after heart surgery. Many patients are able to resume sexual activity about a month after their procedure. Sex requires about the same amount of energy as climbing two flights of stairs. 

Judging your ability to do activities like stair climbing will help you gauge when you're ready for sex again. Avoid sexual positions that cause pain, straining, and soreness such as supporting your weight on your forearms. You may resume sexual activity after your surgery. Learn more about intimacy after heart surgery here.

Exercising After Your Procedure

 

Your ability to exercise will partially depend on whether you were physically active before surgery. The more fit you are, the faster your body will recover and be able to withstand activity again. Exercise helps to improve your energy level, decrease stress, burn calories and prevent weight gain. 

Before exercising, talk to your cardiologist about any limitations you may have. Specifically, ask about exercise intensity, frequency, and duration. If you have exercise limitations, it's better to focus on maintaining exercise frequency at the expense of intensity and duration. Frequent exercise is a natural blood pressure reducer and it helps to make physical activity a permanent fixture in your routine. 

Suggested Exercise Tool: Heart Rate Monitor

If your doctor or exercise physiologist recommend limits for your exercise intensity, you may benefit from investing in a heart rate monitor. They consist of two pieces; a wrist monitor and a chest strap that sends the electrical signal to your watch/monitor. 

Many heart rate monitors come with fairly accurate calorie-counting features to help you lose weight. You can easily program upper limits for your heart rate and set the monitor to alarm you if you exceed the limits for intensity or duration. Stop exercising if you feel dizzy, short of breath, nauseated or have chest pain. Avoid exercising in extreme temperatures or when you're tired.