Find out if it’s possible to have angina at rest but not during or resulting from exercise or physical activity.
You may know that it’s possible to experience angina during exercise or physical exertion, but not at rest, since cessation of the activity brings down the body’s oxygen needs, imposing less burden on the heart.
This is called stable angina.
However, unstable angina is when an episode can occur at rest, even during sleep.
“In general, if someone has angina at rest, this angina will only get worse with exertion because the heart is beating faster and needs even more oxygen which it is not getting” says Dr. Sameer Sayeed, a cardiologist at ColumbiaDoctors of Somers, NY.
“There are rare instances where angina at rest may go away with exercise, and this could only happen if the heart were to recruit more collateral blood supply with exercise that might increase blood supply.
“But in general, this is usually extremely rare and not seen.”
