Doctors are urging patients to be careful during the holiday season, as it is a time when heart attacks and other cardiac issues increase.

Yale New Haven Health Cardiac specialist Dr. Steven Kunkes told News 12 lifestyle factors contribute to the issue.

“People are off their schedules," he said. "They may be drinking more, they may be eating more than they should, they may not be exercising as they had been."

He added holiday-related anxiety can lead to a dangerous rise in stress hormones called catecholamines.

“These are the things that make the heartbeat faster, they make the blood pressure rise,” Kunkes said.

Dr. Kunkes acknowledged it's important to seek medical attention if that feeling turns to chest pain or any other heart attack symptom.