Is Your Heart Skipping A Beat? Know More About Heart Arrhythmia

It is quite common for everyone to feel racing heart or skipping heart beat when you hear or see something surprising or beyond your expectations.

But, can you believe that irregular heart beat, termed as heart arrhythmia, can be a serious health condition that can put your life at risk?

When electrical impulses coordinated with your heart beat fail to function properly it results in irregular heart beat that can be either too fast or too slow.

More often heart arrhythmias are fairly harmless and most of you will feel irregular heartbeats at certain situation in life.

Is heart arrhythmia serious?

As already mentioned, heart arrhythmias are minor and quite harmless. However, very few of you can have heart arrhythmias that are serious and certainly requires treatment.

If you have any heart problems, arrhythmias can be more serious. Arrhythmia that starts in the lower chamber of the heart are even more life threatening when compared to those developed in the upper chambers.

Some heart arrhythmias also increase your risk of developing serious heart disease. Few of those include:

Congestive heart failure: Ineffective pumping of blood for prolonged period due to atrial fibrillation can result in congestive heart failure.

At times, controlling the rate of irregular heart beats that is caused due to congestive heart failure can help to improve heart function.

Strokes: This particular condition is also linked with ineffective pumping of blood. Stagnant blood present in arteries forms blood clots [Brain aneurysm] and when these blood clots break, it travels and obstructs the brain’s arteries thereby causing stroke.

How to prevent complications of heart arrhythmias?

More often arrhythmias are blamed on underlying heart disease. So, health experts believe that maintaining good heart health can prevent complications of heart arrhythmia.

Here are few lifestyle changes recommended by health experts that you can consider to get a good heart health.

  1. Prefer heart healthy foods in your regular diet. Foods that include healthy fat and rich sources of carbohydrates are good for your heart.
  2. Incorporate regular exercises which are helpful in preventing serious heart problems and try to increase your physical activity routine.
  3. Explore different ways to eliminate stress in your everyday schedule because stress can cause adverse health effects.
  4. Restrict intake of over-the-counter medications for cold and nasal congestion. If you have any underlying heart problem, consider talking to your doctor first before taking stimulant medications.
  5. Limit the intake of caffeine and also quit smoking. It is even highly recommended for people with heart diseases to avoid drinking excessive alcohol.