Why Your Heart Pounds Fast After Eating
With the winter holidays over, its time to get back to healthy eating and, for some residents, cold weather workouts. The holidays for many folks mean time spent with friends and family. It also means heavier meals and more opportunities to eat a few too many sweets. Whether you change your eating patterns at this time of year, or you stay consistent year-round, you may have noticed something unusual after you finished eating. In this post, we examine why some people experience a pounding heart after finishing a meal.
Heart Palpitations After Eating
Some people experience heart palpitations after eating. These palpitations will typically start soon after the meal and may last for minutes or hours depending on the severity of the palpitations and the underlying cause.
In most cases, the heart palpitations themselves are not dangerous. However, if you are experiencing heart palpitations for the first time you should discuss these symptoms with your doctor. If you experience symptoms similar to a heart attack including pain in your arm, a feeling of pain or pressure in your chest, dizziness or trouble breathing, seek immediate medical treatment.
Heart palpitations can be caused by eating too much
Heart palpitations after eating can be caused by consuming large meals. Following the consumption of food, the body directs blood flow to the digestive tract in order to assist with digestion. The amount of blood flow to the abdomen increases based on the size of the meal consumed. This increased blood flow reaches its peak approximately 25 to 40 minutes after eating and can last for 1 to 2 hours following a meal. In order to compensate for this change in blood flow, the heart must work harder. This can lead to a faster heart rate and heart palpitations.
If you notice that your heart palpitations tend to happen after large meals, try eating smaller meals throughout the day. As a bonus, this may also help with other digestive complaints.
Specific foods act as palpitation triggers
The stomach and the vagus nerve
Causes Of High Heart Rate
The most common causes of high heart rate are hypertension and coronary artery disease both of which can be controlled by lifestyle factors. In particular, things like chronic stress and excessive use of caffeine are all modern factors that contribute to high heart rate.
Additional risk factors that elevate resting heart rate include excessive alcohol consumption and alcoholism, taking certain medications, smoking cigarettes, and taking recreational drugs. High blood pressure is another common cause of high heart rate.
Medical professionals have understood the correlation between lifestyle and heart health for quite some time, but recent research shows that high heart rate can be caused by a variety of genetic factors.
For example, a heart study led by cardiologist Pim van der Harst found 64 gene locations that influence heart rate, suggesting that genes and gene location influence both heart rate and life expectancy more than previously thought. Congenital heart defects, which can be caused at birth or after heart surgery, can also cause the heart to beat irregularly.
Diet plays a significant role in high heart rate because the foods we eat affect our blood pressure. Alcohol and stimulants are especially hard on the heart because they cause dehydration and are considered toxic to the body. This means the heart has to work harder to remove them leading to an increase in heart rate.
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Food Allergies And Heart Palpitations
Many people today live with food allergies and food sensitivity. While milk products cause reactions in some individuals, others cant tolerate nuts, certain fruits, or shellfish. Regardless of which specific food triggers the physical symptoms of a food allergy, heart palpitations are common during an allergic reaction.
Experiencing a pounding heart after eating a meal can feel uncomfortable. Most heart palpitations resolve themselves without medical intervention. If you notice heart palpitations after meals and want to talk to a health care professional about it, contact Peconic Bay Medical Center at and schedule an appointment.
Other Ways To Increase Heart Rate
Now that you know about foods that increase heart rate, it’s time to equip yourself with knowledge that goes beyond your diet. Some of these methods provide immediate relief while others provide long term benefits. Either way, incorporating them in your life will bring about a vast improvement:
- Exercise regularly. Whether or not you’re fat, you have to incorporate some form of physical exercise in your daily routine. Several researches have shown that exercising regularly considerably increases your heart rate.
- Focus on resistance training. The more weights you lift, the more your muscles require oxygenated blood. This in turn will increase your heart rate.
- Have lots of sex!
- Eat spicy food. It increases your body’s temperature, thus increasing your blood flow and getting your heart pumping.
- Increase the room’s temperature. High temperatures have a direct correlation with high heart rates.
- Wear several layers of clothes. This will constantly keep your body temperature higher than normal.
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Some Symptoms For The Same Are
- Dizziness
- Fainting
- Chest pain
That said, many patients who come in with complaints of heart palpitations often tend to blame the problem on the food they eat. However, does food cause heart palipitations? They certainly do.
Palpitations after eating food is a common occurrence, and its a result of your bodys response to specific food or drinks, that results in jolting the hearts electrical system and thus castigate sensations like skipped beats or a fast heart rate. Caffeine is one of the most common causes of this feeling.
Foods High In Carbohydrates And Sugar
If you have low blood sugar , foods high in processed sugars and carbohydrates can trigger heart palpitations. These foods can force your blood sugar levels to spike, and wild swings in your blood sugar levels may increase the likelihood of experiencing palpitations. For this reason, its important to be mindful of your carb and sugar consumption if youre hypoglycemic.
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What Are Heart Palpitations After Eating Like
Heart palpitations are often described as a pounding, fluttering, or fast-beating heart. Its normal to feel this sensation during times of stress or physical exercise. Heart palpitations can also be brought on by certain medications or medical conditions.
If you experience heart palpitations after eating, whatever foods or beverages you just consumed could be responsible. It is also possible that those palpitations are due to an underlying medical condition.
Some healthcare providers blame caffeine for an increased heart rate after eating. Caffeine is a common ingredient in foods and beverages including:
- Coffee
- Energy drinks
- Chocolate
Recent research has shown that caffeine may have certain heart health benefits and is not a likely cause of palpitations after eating. This 2016 study gave test subjects a steady intake of caffeinated beverages over a 24-hour period, monitoring them for any increases in heart rate. The study couldnt find a link between caffeine and heart palpitations, but more research and longer studies are needed to get to the bottom of the results.
Is It Normal To Experience Heart Palpitations After Eating
Heart Palpitations are a common occurrence in many of us. This is a feeling in the body that may resonate a hard beating heart or possibly the heart skipping a beat etc. These indications are noticed in the chest, neck and throat area by people.
Heart Palpitations have the tendency to creep into someones mind and become a mental botheration, but beyond that, they are not harmful and usually tend to go away on their own. Some of the primary reasons that cause heart palpitations are associated with stress, anxiety, consumption of excess caffeine, nicotine or alcohol. Pregnant women also experience this issue on many occasions.
However, palpitations, sometimes in rare conditions could also be a sign of some severe heart condition, and if patients experience the same for prolonged periods, a visit to the doctor is an immediate necessity.
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Ever Notice An Increase In Heart Rate When Eating Or Swallowing
Perhaps you can feel your heart rate increase upon eating or swallowing or, maybe you accidentally discovered this by happening to take your pulse while eating.
At any rate, there is a distinct reason why heart rate can increase as a result of eating, which includes the act of swallowing. As far as a faster heart rate, eating and swallowing are one and the same.
Eating and swallowing affect the autonomic nervous system, says Teresa Caulin-Glaser, MD, a cardiologist and senior vice president with Service Lines, OhioHealth.
The autonomic nervous system has two arms that can impact the heart rate:
1) the sympathetic system, which increases the heart rate
2) the parasympathetic, that slows the heart rate. When a person is eating and swallowing, the parasympathetic nervous system, specifically the vagus nerve, is inhibited.
As a result of the inhibition of this nerve when eating and swallowing, there is a temporary increase in a persons heart rate .
So thats the reason why heart rate increases while you are eating or swallowing.
Not knowing why this occurs can be scary for some people, particularly people who have risk factors for a heart attack, or whove had cardiovascular issues in the past.
Rest assured, a faster HR while eating is nothing to worry about. What you should be more concerned with is what youre eating.
Some food items are harmful to cardiovascular health, such as trans fats, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, and saturated fats.
Hr Users: Increased Heart Rate After Eating
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A lot of times after I eat dinner I will have a heart rate around 100-105. My average rate is 71 per my dashboard. Usually between 75-90 during the day.
Anyone else notice increased heart rate after eating? Should I have any concerns about going over 100? I hear that it should always be under 100 if you are not active.
08-28-201506:24 – edited 08-28-201506:25
08-28-201506:24 – edited 08-28-201506:25
Some people report a higher heart rate after eating particularly carb heavy meals due to the extra sugar? Is it after everything you eat or certain foods in particular? Also ‘safe/normal’ heart rate is a really difficult thing to determine without consulting your GP/undergoing a lot of tests as what might be normal for you, isn’t for someone else.
08-29-201501:50 – edited 08-29-201501:50
08-29-201501:50 – edited 08-29-201501:50
I noticed that right after mail my herart rate reises to 100-105….maybe especialy after eating carbs meal…but depends of the quantity it normalises after while.
I have no concerns because 4 monthas ago my “normal” heart rate was around 100, and then start workouts and calorie counts and then it normalises arount 80-85.
Your heart pumps blood to your stomach after eating, so it lowers your blood pressure but raises your heart rate.
03-26-201711:28 – edited 07-18-201704:43
03-26-201711:28 – edited 07-18-201704:43
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The Best Food For Slowing Your Resting Heart Rate
Written By Michael Greger M.D. FACLM on February 14, 2019
Monitoring resting heart rate has strong advantages. Taking your pulse is cheap, takes little time, is understandable to people, and is something everyone can do at home to measure their progress to become an active participant in their own health management. The accumulated weight of evidence linking elevated heart rate to cardiovascular and all-cause mortalitythat is, to a shortened lifespaneven in apparently healthy individuals, makes a strong case for it to be considered in the assessment of cardiovascular risk.
If you ask most doctors, though, 90 is considered normal: The accepted limits of heart rate have long been set at 60 to 100 beats per minute. Where did that range come from? It was adopted as a matter of convenience simply based on the scale of the squares on EKG paper. It was an historical accident like the QWERTY keyboard that just became the norm. A heart rate of 60 to 100 doesnt even represent the bell curve.
A group of cardiologists measured the heart rate of 500 people and concluded that 45 to 95 beats per minute was a better definition of normal, rounding to 50 to 90, which a survey of leading cardiologists concurred with. Now, we know that normal doesnt necessarily mean optimal, but doctors shouldnt be telling people with heart rates in the 50s that their heart rate is too low. In fact, these people may be right where they should be.
Food Items Known To Cause Palpitations
- Caffeinated foods or beverages
- Sugar
- Alcohol
First for people with no history of Arrhythmias or cardiac issues need not worry too much about it, but with or without a history of those issues, palpitations and their occurrence could be recorded. This record will help you in the future to understand if the problem is a normal one or if you should need a doctors assistance.
More importantly, if someone is facing these issues with regularity, then they need to look within and understand what food items they consume might be causing it. Following that, control over those items as well as on the overall diet becomes a necessity and would go a long way to ensure the initial signs of palpitations are not a serious concern for the future with regards to the heart. Alternatively, the best solution is to overhaul the food habits and opt for healthy food items, to make it part of the daily diet.
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Food Items That Are Healthy And Good To Heart
- Salmon
- Green vegetables
- Avocados
If someone feels the signals are highly irregular and worrisome, then a doctors appointment is a must. Consult and check on the problem correctly, it will help take proper precautions and care for the heart, as prolonged palpitations could, at times lead to a severe heart condition.
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Bradycardia Causes + 9 Natural Ways To Improve Slow Heart Rate
If your heart beats less than 60 times each minute, you have bradycardia. This condition can also be referred to as sinus bradycardia. At rest, an adult heart typically beats between 60 and 100 times a minute anything lower may be a sign of an underlying medical condition. It can be a serious condition if your heart isnt pumping enough blood throughout the body.
There are, of course, exceptions. Young adults and premier athletes may have a resting heart rate of less than 60 beats a minute and this is generally not considered a health concern. Bradycardia symptoms can range from mild to severe, particularly when your brain, liver, kidneys and other organs arent getting enough oxygen.
Several conditions can cause bradycardia, including several potentially serious conditions, such as myocarditis, sleep apnea, lupus or certain medications. Bradycardia treatment depends on the underlying cause of the low resting heart rate but may also include the surgical placement of a pacemaker.
If you become suddenly faint, have difficulty breathing or experience chest pains, call 911 immediately.
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Why Does My Heart Rate Increase After Eating Food
Answered by: |
Q: Is there a relationship between heartbeat and food? My heartbeat normally is about 72 to 80 beats per minute. But after lunch, it gradually increases to 90 to 100 per minute. Is it normal? My blood pressure is around 130/80 normally and reaches 150/90 after 1 and half hours of lunch. Though it comes back to normal after 2 and half hours. I had undergone CABG surgery 1 and half years. I also underwent total hip joint replacement in 1987 and revision of hip joint in 1999.
A:Food intake may cause autonomic changes producing changes in heart rate & blood pressure. Some people sweat with food intake and others may feel very sleepy after a carbohydrate meal. These are not abnormal but you might consider a 24 hour ambulatory BP monitoring and a postprandial blood sugar to exclude high BP during some parts of the day and reactive hypoglycaemia respectively.
Medications For Asthma Diabetes And Other Conditions
People should also consider any medications that they take with meals. Some cold, allergy, and asthma medicines contain phenylephrine or pseudoephedrine, which can raise the heart rate.
People with diabetes may use insulin to lower their blood sugar. If their blood sugar gets too low after eating due to excess insulin, they may experience heart palpitations.
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Simple And Complex Carbs
Carbohydrates are divided into types based on their chemical makeup and rate of digestion and absorption. Simple carbs are made up of one or two sugar molecules and are digested and absorbed quickly by your body. Fruit, milk and added sugars such as table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are examples of simple sugars.
Complex carbs are made up of a string of sugars that takes longer to digest than simple carbs they are absorbed by your body at a slower rate. Examples of complex carbs include bread, rice, grains, beans and potatoes.
- Carbohydrates are divided into types based on their chemical makeup and rate of digestion and absorption.
- Simple carbs are made up of one or two sugar molecules and are digested and absorbed quickly by your body.