{"id":623,"date":"2018-04-05T08:43:25","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T08:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/besthealth.guide\/?p=623"},"modified":"2021-10-04T12:03:02","modified_gmt":"2021-10-04T12:03:02","slug":"12-heart-palpitations-causes-messing-with-your-heartbeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/besthealth.guide\/12-heart-palpitations-causes-messing-with-your-heartbeat\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Heart Palpitations Causes Messing With Your Heartbeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Have you ever felt how your heart was pounding inside your chest? Maybe you have felt palpitations in your neck or throat, or perhaps felt like your heart was skipping a beat or beating too fast. If this is the case, then you have experienced heart palpitations.<\/p>\n

Your heart beats around 80 times a minute \u2013 less if you are an athlete or very fit \u2013 impulsing your blood all throughout your body. When you require a higher blood flow, for example, if you are exercising or are afraid and might need to fight or run away very quickly, your heart will beat faster and, sometimes, more strongly against the walls of your torax. In most cases, heart palpitations are normal and require no medical attention; you might get scared and fear that something is wrong with your body, but palpitations often go away in a matter of seconds or minutes. Here are some of the most common causes of heart palpitations.<\/p>\n

1. Anxiety and stress<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Our heart beats faster when we feel afraid. This is a natural response and, originally, it is meant to help us face the threats and difficult situations we come across. Before our culture became complex and transformed our lives, our existence as a species was very simple and our problems were more physical than mental: run away from predators, hide from avalanches, fight a rival; and for this, we needed increased blood flow to carry to our muscles the extra glucose<\/a> we needed.<\/p>\n

Anxiety and stress are modern evolutions of our primal responses of fear. Episodes of acute anxiety such as panic attacks are known for causing strong palpitations. Unless there is a very specific underlying heart condition, these palpitations are completely harmless and go away as soon as we calm down. You can ease your heartbeat with breathing exercises, exhaling more slowly than you inhale to decrease your heart rate.<\/p>\n

\"\"2. Depression<\/h3>\n

The connection between depression and palpitations isn’t as intuitive as the connection between anxiety and palpitations. We all know that our heart beats faster when we are afraid, but rarely think sadness or demotivation has the same effect on us. However, depression can sometimes cause palpitations<\/a> and chest discomfort, even if we are resting or lying down.<\/p>\n

Depression and anxiety, like mental disorders, share many neural mechanisms and are even treated with the same medication in most times. Modern diagnosis manuals even include them together in a spectrum instead of considering them two separate illnesses.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, people who experience heart palpitations during rest or inactivity get scared because they don’t understand why their heart is beating like that and fear they might be sick or even in danger, but the truth is their heart is controlled by their brain stem, and mental disorders can influence the top-down system that regulates your heart rate.<\/p>\n

\"\"3. Exercise<\/h3>\n

The main reason why your heart beats faster or more strongly is that your body needs more blood; specifically, your muscles, and more rarely, your brain. When you do moderate or intense exercise, it is normal that your heart rate increases, and even surpass a hundred beats per minute mark.<\/p>\n

In some cases, you can feel palpitations while performing your exercises, or right after you finished them. These are normal palpitations and are no sign of alarm unless they are too strong for the level of effort performed or last for too long after your exercises are over.<\/p>\n

If you have any doubts about your heartbeats when performing the exercise, ask your trainer or physical education teacher, or consult a doctor if you do your exercises on your own. You might be training too hard or lack the appropriate cardiovascular<\/a> resistance for your exercise program, or there might even be an underlying cause affecting your heart.<\/p>\n

\"\"4. Stimulants<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There is a wide variety of substances that we consume, sometimes daily, that accelerate our heart. They do so by directly acting on the receptors of our cardiac muscles, telling our heart to go faster or beat more strongly; or, in most cases, by going to our brain stem and stimulating our heart rate, as well as our breath rate and other signs of physical acceleration.<\/p>\n

Among these substances, there is some common use, such as caffeine<\/a> or nicotine. Stronger drugs like cocaine and amphetamines also have this effect on our heart and may cause palpitations. Even some unsuspected products can increase our heart rate.<\/p>\n

For example, some cough medicines have stimulant substances called pseudoephedrines; if you are taking cough medication and notice palpitations on your chest or neck, check the label of your medication. Although palpitations aren’t dangerous, they can be uncomfortable, so you can try a different medicine.<\/p>\n

\"\"5. Fever<\/h3>\n

When your body has an infection, one of the most common reactions is fever. This is a complex biological response that does not only increases your body temperature but also causes a series of metabolic and physiological changes aimed to better fight and eventually defeat the infection.<\/p>\n

As a consequence of the febrile state, your heart can beat faster, and you can experience heart palpitations. In other words, if you have a fever and you start feeling palpitations, normally it doesn’t mean that your illness is getting worse, but rather it’s just part of the same febrile reaction that affects the rest of your body.<\/p>\n

These palpitations can even affect you if you are resting or sleeping, and could happen along with other normal manifestations of fever such as increased sweating and muscular pain. If you have a fever, remember to stay hydrated, because dehydration<\/a> can make your heart palpitations last for longer.<\/p>\n

\"\"6. Hormones<\/h3>\n

In some cases, unusual levels of certain hormones<\/a> in your blood can make your heart beat faster because they have a general effect on your body, provoking many changes and sometimes unbalance some of your vital signs, including your pulse.<\/p>\n

The main hormones that can cause palpitations are the thyroid hormone and female hormones such as estrogens. For example, if you have a thyroid disorder such as hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, your whole body’s metabolism might be affected, and your heart could beat faster in order to compensate it or as a result of increased biological activity.<\/p>\n

Female hormones can also affect the heart after sudden changes in their blood levels, such as what happens when women get their periods, are pregnant, or go through their menopause. In the case of thyroid disorders, menstrual disorders and menopause, endocrinological therapy such as hormone replacement therapy or levothyroxine can help normalize your blood levels.<\/p>\n

\"\"7. Dehydration<\/h3>\n

We are told once and again: stay hydrated<\/a>, drink enough water, carry around a bottle of water with you if necessary. There are many good reasons why we should make sure we are properly hydrated. Water is a fundamental component in our metabolic process; to put it simply, the chemical reactions and processes that happen in our body that allow us to function wouldn’t be possible if they didn’t have a watery medium were to happen.<\/p>\n

Dehydration occurs when we don’t have as much water in our bodies as we need to properly function, and as you can imagine it has a<\/p>\n

long series of negative consequences. One of them is palpitations and\/or increased heart rate. Your heart might beat faster in order to compensate for the lack of fluid content in your blood or the loss of metabolic balance in your body. Low electrolyte levels might also influence your heart rate.<\/p>\n

\"\"8. Arrhythmia<\/h3>\n

Our heart rate can change from time to time, so it can adjust to the actual demand of blood our body has. When we are relaxed or resting, our heartbeat tends to be slower, because we don’t need that much blood flowing through our veins at that time; our cells consume less oxygen and less glucose and the overall levels of activity stay low. When we start moving or making an effort, our heart rate can increase to supply enough blood to the rest of our body.<\/p>\n

Intense physical activity raises our pulse even further. All these changes are normal, but even if the rate itself may vary, the heart should always beat at a regular pace. Short and long beats shouldn’t alternate: when they do, we have an arrhythmia. If our heartbeats irregularly we might experience palpitations or the feeling that we skip beats. Arrhythmia<\/a> could be a sign of heart problems, so you should consult your cardiologist.<\/p>\n

\"\"9. Anemia<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There are different types of cells flowing in our bloodstream, each one of them with their particular function and features. What gives our blood its characteristic red color \u2013 which, as a matter of fact, varies to a hue of violet when the blood has less oxygen in it \u2013 is our erythrocytes, commonly known as red cells. Red cells are fundamental for our health because they carry the oxygen from our lungs to the cells of our body, and when they return they take with them the carbon dioxide, which is one of the main wastes substances of metabolic reactions.<\/p>\n

Anemia<\/a> happens when we have a few red cells in our bloodstream, and the result is poor oxygenation and poor elimination of carbon dioxide. If we don’t have enough red cells, our heart might be pounding faster or more strongly in order to compensate for the lack of erythrocytes.<\/p>\n

\"\"10. Alcohol<\/strong><\/h3>\n

People sometimes report feeling palpitations when or after they drink alcohol, and to some extent, this is normal. Alcohol does have a series of effects on our body that might be linked to an increased heartbeat.<\/p>\n

For example, it alters the concentration of some substances in our blood, such as sodium, and these changes might affect how the signals from our brain stem, that tell the heart how fast and strong it should beat, reach the cardiac muscle. Also, this muscle can be weakened after prolonged exposure to alcohol, and several reports indicate that alcohol is cardiotoxic, especially in high doses.<\/p>\n

Weak cardiac muscles need to beat faster to make up for their lack of strength, and as a result, you feel palpitations, and your heart rate rises. Binge drinking, especially, can cause atrial fibrillation<\/a>, which consists in the loss of rhythm of the top half of your heart, that you feel as palpitations, discomfort, and probably dizziness.<\/p>\n

\"\"11. Low blood sugar levels<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We have briefly discussed the role of erythrocytes<\/a>, and how they transport oxygen and carbon dioxide through our bodies. Also, we have mentioned that there are other cells in our bloodstream, that have different functions as well.<\/p>\n

What we haven’t mentioned yet is that all these cells float on a fluid called blood plasma. Blood plasma is mostly water, but many chemicals are suspended or dissolved in it, and that way they travel through our body. Some of these substances are nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, and of course, sugar.<\/p>\n

We need sugar as a quick source of energy for our cells, and for this reason, low sugar levels immediately trigger a series of adaptative responses in our body aimed to compensate for the lack of light carbohydrates. One of them is increasing our heart rate, so blood flows more quickly and more sugar reaches the important organs in our body,<\/p>\n

\"\"12. Heart defects<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A series of heart defects or heart conditions can cause palpitations. Heart defects often run in families; some bloodlines have more genetic predisposition to developing a heart condition than others. Also, heart defects are usually congenital<\/a> and can be detected upon birth or even before, with proper medical checkouts.<\/p>\n

Even so, some people do have some sort of heart defect they are unaware of, and palpitations might be the first symptom they actually experience and realize. In these cases, palpitations are most commonly a result of a defect that makes the beats weaker or less efficient, so the heart needs to beat more strongly than usual to compensate.<\/p>\n

Problems with the auriculae, or top half of the heart, and the valves that connect the two halves are the most common cause of palpitations that are due to heart defects. If your palpitations happen for no apparent reason and last for several minutes or hours, you should make an appointment with your cardiologist just in case.<\/p>\n

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