Eamonn Kilbride, Middle-Aged Dad, Dies After Dancing 'Gangnam Style' In UK

Dad Dies After Dancing 'Gangnam Style'
In this Sept. 25, 2012 photo, South Korean rapper PSY, who sings the popular "Gangnam Style" song, performs during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea. As "Gangnam Style" gallops toward 1 billion views on YouTube, the first Asian pop artist to capture a massive global audience has gotten richer click by click. So too has his agent and his grandmother. But the money from music sales isn't flowing in from the rapper's homeland South Korea or elsewhere in Asia. With one song, 34-year-old Park Jae-sang better known as PSY is set to become a millionaire from YouTube ads and iTunes downloads, underlining a shift in how money is being made in the music business. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
In this Sept. 25, 2012 photo, South Korean rapper PSY, who sings the popular "Gangnam Style" song, performs during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea. As "Gangnam Style" gallops toward 1 billion views on YouTube, the first Asian pop artist to capture a massive global audience has gotten richer click by click. So too has his agent and his grandmother. But the money from music sales isn't flowing in from the rapper's homeland South Korea or elsewhere in Asia. With one song, 34-year-old Park Jae-sang better known as PSY is set to become a millionaire from YouTube ads and iTunes downloads, underlining a shift in how money is being made in the music business. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

There are certain things that middle-aged men should probably steer clear of: buying a flashy sports car, dating a barely-legal hottie, succumbing to the allure of hair-in-a-can.

However, this week, after the death of a dad in Britain, experts now warn that dancing "Gangnam Style" may be yet another middle age no-no.

As the Sun notes, 46-year-old Eamonn Kilbride was performing the energetic dance -- made wildly famous by Korean pop star Psy -- at his office Christmas party over the weekend when he suddenly collapsed and died.

It is believed that the father of three suffered from a heart attack.

“We were having a fantastic time at the Christmas party and Eamonn had just finished dancing to Gangnam Style. He was up on stage and entertaining everybody. He said he had a bit of a pain and just collapsed," his wife, Julie, said, according to the Telegraph.

In the wake of Kilbride's death, Professor Bernard Keavney, a consultant cardiologist at Newcastle University, has warned men to be "measured at Christmas parties and...[to not] stray outside your comfort zone."

“The chance that you’ll come to grief is very small. But as with any form of untypical exercise…be somewhat measured. Let the lady dance around you,” he told the Telegraph. "I certainly wouldn't say that people need to avoid Gangnam Style over the holidays. [But] if you're unused to taking vigorous physical exercise, you shouldn't throw yourself into violent exertion without due preparation."

Kilbride, who reportedly moved to England from Ireland in the 1980s, lived in Lancashire with his wife, the Irish Independent reports.

This isn't the first time that a man has died from dancing. According to a 2007 Associated Press report, 48-year-old Robert Stitt died during a dance-off in a parking lot.

Over the last few months, a great number of public figures, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, boxer Manny Pacquiao and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, have all jumped on the "Gangnam Style" bandwagon. The viral pop sensation, which has racked up more than 900 million views on YouTube, took the world by storm after its release earlier this year.

While the trigger of Kilbride's death may be considered bizarre by some, cardiovascular disease is not a light-hearted matter. According to 2009 statistics on the website of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Moreover, in 2010, more than 27 million "uninstitutionalized adults" had reportedly been diagnosed with heart disease.

To read about how to improve your heart without vigorous exercise, click here.

Clarification: Eamonn Kilbride was identified as British in an earlier post. Though the man's citizenship at the time of his death is as yet unclear, the Irish Independent reports that Kilbride was an Irishman who moved to England in the 1980s. The man "is understood to be from Dublin," the paper notes.

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