Bill Clinton Returns to Work After Heart Procedure

Bill Clinton said stress and lack of sleep were to blame for his trip to the hospital last week for a heart procedure.

The former president spoke Wednesday in New York at an event to campaign against childhood obesity. He said his schedule had been harried ever since he started working to help victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

"Once the Haiti earthquake happened I didn't sleep much for a month and that probably accelerated what was already going on with this failing vein," Clinton said, according to Reuters. "What happened to me wasn't all that rare, but what I have to conclude is I'm not going to do any more weeks where I do three overnight flights because I am going to have to help Haiti for several years. I can't get it all done in a week."

Clinton, 63, who had quadruple bypass surgery six years ago, underwent a procedure last Thursday to reopen a blocked bypass graft in an artery with the use of two metal stents.

Clinton promised to continue working but said he plans to exercise, get more rest, and eat a healthier diet. He said poor eating habits since childhood had caused his heart problems.

"The root causes were the habits I acquired in my childhood, mostly the way I ate and the way it interacted with my own biology and propensity to produce bad cholesterol," Clinton told The New York Times. "I ate too much fried food, too much ice cream, too much everything."