after waking up to our first 'serious' snowfall of the year and even driving around this morning (under high stress) i couldnt help but reflect on a lecture from last winter term's exercise physiology course.
hot damn, that had to be my favourite course of all time.
anyhow, dr. hood touched on several concerns when shoveling heavy, wet snow. basically, it's bad for you. i can write on and on using scientific jargon to amuse and impress you but that aint my style.
in laymen's terms, shoveling is bad for you (if youre over 60 and/or if youre physically inactive).

here's an excerpt from the rodale book, "disease free at 60 plus":
How Shoveling Strains Your Heart

When you shovel snow, you tend to hold your breath as you lift, Dr. Hargarten says. That increases pressure in your chest and reduces blood flow to your heart. At the same time, cold air constricts your blood vessels. All of this pushes up your blood pressure and forces the heart to work even harder. If your heart arteries are damaged or partially blocked with plaque, these things can combine to set you up for a heart attack.

Doctors are uncertain if physical exertion like snow shoveling also contributes to the onset of a stroke, Dr. Mittleman says.

So is snow shoveling a good idea if you're older than 60? If you're exercising regularly, you're living a healthy lifestyle that includes low-fat eating, you're getting regular physical exams, and you do not have any signs of heart disease, high blood pressure, or diabetes, you can probably safely do it, Dr. Hargarten says. Otherwise, it is smarter to get someone else to do it for you. [full article available here]

i googled this article and posted it 'cause it mentions how holding in your breath (which is what most of us tend to do when exerting force over a heavy load) while shoveling increases intrathoracic pressure (i.e. internal pressure around the vital area of body). this in turn, increases your blood pressure.
increased blood pressure, if you didnt know, is bad, real bad.
back to my point, we learned that the act of holding your breath while exerting force is called the "valsalva effect". it just brought back old memories from last year, cause dr. hood, my prof, explained it so memorable. he stated that the valsalva effect often occurs during weight training, and more importantly, and i'll quote the doc, "when you're in that little room, sitting on that ceramic chair, with your elbows on your knees making "hrrmpppph" sounds "[pause, think and re-read if necesssary].

to get the full effect of his illustration of taking a dump, you really should enrol your ass into york u's kine 4010: physiology of exercise. but yea....to recap..or if you didnt get the moral of the story...

take it easy when your shoveling
breath properly, dont let your parents shovel..you shovel.

take it easy when youre lifting weights
breath properly and controlled; having the biggest biceps won't mean shit when your in a coffin

take it easy when your dropping bombs in your toilet
breath properly, eat lots of fiber so you dont have to exert so much force to push that evil turtle's head out of his shell; use eddie murphy's technique of rocking back and forth when that turd is being stubborn and doesnt wanna swim or use ancient filipino techniques such as rubbing your knee with your palm.

just some things to consider.
snow, i loathe you.