Brian May says cycling "saved" him after his heart attack.
Brian May
The 73-year-old rocker endured a “small heart attack” back last May, and the Queen guitar hero has revealed getting out and about on his bike not only got him through the pain but has lifted his spirits amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brian told Kerry Ellis on the 'Keep Calm and Kerry On' podcast: “It really saved me. When I’m in pain, which I was a lot, getting on the bike makes you feel human again.
“I’m finding life hard right now, this whole lockdown thing – I find the physical stuff is what gets me through.”
The 'Bicycle Race' hitmaker recently revealed how tending to his garden helped him through the "naturally depressive" period.
He said: “I’m so lucky to have greenery around me – without it I think my brain would explode. It helps me balance.
“I’m naturally a depressive, gardening is such a help, it’s one of life’s great therapies.”
Brian previously revealed he thinks his heart attack may have been caused by coronavirus.
The 'We Will Rock You' hitmaker was puzzled as to how the attack could have happened, because he is a “healthy guy” with “good blood pressure”.
And Brian believes he could have picked up coronavirus at the beginning of the year when his band Queen were still touring.
He said: “I think it’s possible that I had the COVID virus early on in the tour of Korea, Japan and Australia in January, and got through it, but it’s thickened the blood, which apparently it does, and that could have been the trigger that gave me the heart attack.
“I thought it was too early to get [COVID] but the evidence now seems to be that the virus was around.”
Brian previously said his heart attack lasted for “40 minutes”, and although he claimed he only experienced mild chest pain, he needed three tubes fitted into his arteries to help his blood flow.
Following his operation, Brian said it was his wife Anita who became his saving grace, as she helped nurse him back to health.
He added: "She was incredible. She totally saved my life because I couldn't do anything and she just kind of nursed me, so I will forever be in her debt. She did an incredible job on me.”
Brian’s heart attack was made worse by an unrelated gardening incident which occurred just days before, in which he suffered a torn muscle, and a compressed sciatic nerve.
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