Sex and heart disease

According to the British Heart Foundation, sex in a long-standing relationship does not put undue stress on the heart and if you can climb up and down two flights of stairs briskly without symptoms (such as chest pain or breathlessness) you are unlikely to have any problems during sex. Sex is no more strenuous on the heart than many ordinary daily activities.

After a heart attack, you can usually resume sexual activity after 2 - 3 weeks (but check with your doctor).

If you get chest pain during sex, tell your doctor. He or she will be able to prescribe nitrates for you to keep by the bedside, which should help. If the pain is really troublesome you may need coronary surgery.

If you have a heart condition, don't have sex within 2 hours of a heavy meal or after a hot bath.

You are very, very unlikely to die during sex with a regular partner. In almost all the cases where this has happened the man was having sex with an unfamiliar partner (like Faure, President of France, who died in 1899 while having sex in a brothel).