What To Do For Fast Heart Rate

Consequences Of A Fast Heart Rate

Often a fast heart rate will have no significant effect on the heart, although there may be associated symptoms. In some cases however the symptoms may be enough as to cause concern and quality of life limiting symptoms. In a few cases, the heart rate may be continually elevated over a long period of time weeks-months often at heart rates above 120-130 beats per minutes and lead to a weakening of the heart muscle known as tachycardia mediated cardiomyopathy. Regardless, it is important to work up and identify any underlying causes of fast heat rate and give the appropriate treatment.

How Long Does It Take To Lower Your Heart Rate

Plan to be patient. It can take a few months before a new exercise routine or other lifestyle changes affect heart rate. Just like building your biceps and triceps, it takes time for your heart to become stronger, notes Dr. Singh.

Focus on heart rate patterns rather than getting hung up on a specific number, too. Look for trends. For instance, how does your heart rate change after you eat certain foods or if youre dehydrated? Or did it drop after starting a new exercise routine or stress reduction program?

Those trends will point you toward healthier choices. Resting heart rate isnt the end-all be-all, Dr. Singh adds, but its a marker you should pay attention to.

Slowing A Chronically High Heart Rate

1Lie down and relax. Lie down on a comfortable surface such as your bed or your couch. If there is no comfortable surface to lie upon, then try sitting in a relaxed position.

Make sure that the room is quiet and comfortable. If your view from your window is chaotic, then close your curtains or your blinds.

Relax your muscles. Stay in this position and allow your heart rate to slow at its own pace.

If you have been in 1 position for a while, switch! Try sitting or lying down if you have been standing. Your blood pressure changes when you change position and this may also affect your heart rate.XResearch source

2Concentrate on pleasing mental imagery. Calm your mind and body by using guided visualization and imagining places that make you happy. For instance, you can think about a beautiful mural, a scene from nature, or a daydream that you would find relaxing.

Find a print or a photo of something that makes you feel relaxed. You can sit on your bed in a meditative posture and gaze at the picture to try to calm your mind and body.

Write in a journal about a place you love to visit or a place in which you feel very at peace. Then, close your journal and picture the place in your mind, allowing the calm to wash over you.

3Learn to meditate. Place your internal focus on the beating of your heart. Try to use the power of your concentration to slow down your heart rate.

4Breathe slowly. Try some of these techniques to use breathing to calm your heart rate:

Also Check: Acetaminophen Raise Blood Pressure

Fast Heart Rate Overview And Conclusion

A fast heart rate although often defined as a heart rate over 90 is not necessarily abnormal and each case is different. History, physical exam and diagnostic testing are required in order to determine the significance of the heart rate and to see if any treatment is required. Treatment for non-cardiac causes of fast heart rate is to address the underlying cause. In the case of cardiac causes of fast heart rate, typically medication will be tried first or in some cases a procedure required particularly if the problem is with the electrical system of the heart.

What Is An Average Resting Heart Rate By Age

When you are resting – whether sitting or lying down – you can check your resting heart rate. Provided that you have not smoked, consumed coffee, or exercised vigorously an hour before. Activities such as smoking, having coffee, loud noises, and vigorous physical activity make your heart beat faster for a while, and so you might not get your exact resting heart rate. And hence this may interfere with the correct heart rate.

Average resting heart rate by age chart

Read Also: Flonase Chest Pain

How Do Healthcare Providers Diagnose Heart Palpitations At Night

Your provider will ask about your symptoms and listen to your heart. They may recommend a blood test to look for anemia or infection. A blood test can also show signs of a vitamin deficiency or a problem with your thyroid.

To monitor your heart rate, they may do an electrocardiogram . This test measures your heart rate using sensors that attach to your skin. They may ask you to lie down during the test, which usually takes about 15 minutes.

Many times, an EKG doesnt detect heart palpitations. You might not have an irregular heartbeat during the test. If this happens, your provider may recommend an ambulatory electrocardiogram such as a Holter monitor. You wear this device for up to a week as you go about your daily activities. It records your heart rate and stores the information for your provider to review.

How Is Tachycardia Treated

The treatment for tachycardia depends on the type, but could include:

• changes to your lifestyle:

medicines to slow the heart

medicines to prevent the abnormal rhythm

treatment of medical conditions leading to the abnormal rhythm

Some people will need a defibrillator to help get the heart into the right rhythm. Some will need radioablation a surgical procedure that inactivates the tiny parts of the heart causing electrical signal problems.

Read Also: List The Steps Of How To Calculate Your Target Heart Rate Zone

When Your Heart Rate Slows

Sometimes our hearts beat slower than 60 beats per minute. This is called bradycardia. For some people, like athletes and healthy, young adults, this heart rate could be normal. But for others, it could be caused by your brain and other organs not getting enough oxygen to function like they should.

If thatâs the case, you may feel faint, dizzy, weak, or short of breath. You might also have chest pains, memory problems, or tire easily.

What Are Heart Palpitations At Night

Heart palpitations feel like your heart is pounding, racing or beating quickly. It can also feel like your heart is skipping a beat or like you have an extra heartbeat. Palpitations make you aware of your heart rate. You may feel your heart beating in your chest, but its also common to feel it beating in your neck or throat.

Heart palpitations can happen anytime, including at night or when youre resting during the day. They can be scary, but they arent usually dangerous. Many people have the same heart palpitations during the day but dont notice because theyre busy.

Less commonly, heart palpitations at night can be signs of a serious health condition, such as arrhythmia . If your heart often races when you lie down, you should see your provider for an examination. Get help right away if you have palpitations and trouble breathing or chest pain.

You May Like: Does Tylenol Increase Blood Pressure

What You Can Do For Your Heart Rate

You should always aim to take good care of your heart. This includes doing things like exercising regularly, eating a variety of heart-healthy foods, minimizing alcohol, and managing your weight.

Additionally, you should visit your doctor regularly for physicals. Not only is it good practice, but it can also help with early detection of things like high cholesterol or blood pressure abnormalities.

If you already have heart disease, you should carefully monitor your condition and stick to your treatment plan. Take all medications as instructed by your doctor. Be sure to promptly report any new or worsening symptoms.

Some additional preventative health tips to help keep your heart healthy and happy include:

• Find ways to reduce stress. Examples of ways to do this can include things like yoga or meditation.
• Limit your caffeine intake when possible. Using too much caffeine can lead to increases in heart rate.
• Limit your intake of energy drinks for the same reason.

Causes Of Rapid Heart Rate In Dogs

Superventricular tachycardia is often caused by heart disease or systemic disease. Ventricular tachycardia can occur for a wider variety of reasons, including:

• Congenital defects, such as subaortic stenosis
• Heart disease, such as dilated cardiomyopathy
• Drug overdose
• Myocarditis
• Pancreatitis

Depending on the underlying cause, certain breeds tend to be predisposed to the condition. Boxers, in particular, are more at risk of developing ventricular tachycardia.

Don’t Miss: What Happens To Cardiac Output During Exercise

Tachycardia Treatment At Home: How To Treat Rapid Heart Rate Naturally

Written byBel Marra HealthPublished onMarch 30, 2018

Tachycardia can be concerning because it signals an abnormality however, it can be addressed with various treatments, including tachycardia treatment at home.

Tachycardia is a condition where the hearts rhythm is unusually fast. When you experience a fast heart rate, you can be diagnosed with tachycardia. Of course, rapid heart rate can be associated with strenuous exercise, but tachycardia occurs when the heart rate is fast while you are at rest.

Tachycardia happens when there is a disturbance in the normal electrical pathways of your heart. In some situations, this condition does not cause any symptoms, but when left untreated, it can impact normal heart function and lead to complications, such as heart failure, stroke, or cardiac arrest. While some drugs and medical procedures can address the symptoms, tachycardia treatment at home is also possible.

Here we explore tachycardia home remedies, which include diet and other lifestyle adjustments.

What Is A Dangerous Heart Rate

The heart rate will usually fluctuate but once it seems to be persistently high, we should check this in comparison to the blood pressure as well. At the same time, we should bear in mind that if the individual has improved their fitness levels, the heart rate will get lower. Similarly, someone who has been fit and their lifestyle changes, they will see an increase in the HR readings.

Recommended Reading: Dangers Of Exceeding Maximum Heart Rate

Normal Resting Heart Rate For Kids

As children grow, their normal resting heart rate changes. According to the National Institute of Health:

• Newborns to 1 month old: 70 to 190 beats per minute
• Infants 1 to 11 months old: 80 to 160 beats per minute
• Children 1 to 2 years old: 80 to 130 beats per minute
• Children 3 to 4 years old: 80 to 120 beats per minute
• Children 5 to 6 years old: 75 to 115 beats per minute
• Children 7 to 9 years old: 70 to 110 beats per minute
• Children 10 years and older: 60 to 100 beats per minute

How Do You Know Your Heart Rate

Your heart rate is a measure of how fast your heart beats and is also an important indicator of good health. Your doctor will always make it a point to measure your heart rate whenever you visit him for your routine health checkup or any health-related problem.

While the heart rate is routinely examined by your doctor, you can also measure your heart rate. With the help of your middle finger and index finger, you have to first try to feel and locate your pulse at any of the following places

• Wrist
• The inner side of your elbow
• The base of the toe
• The side of your neck

The wrist is the most commonly used and convenient place to check your heart rate. Once you locate the pulse on your wrist, you have to gently press on it for 60 seconds and count the beats. This is how you will know your heart rate, which will be in beats per minute.

You May Like: Acetaminophen Heart Rate

Improving Your Heart Rate Permanently

1Check with your doctor to what extent it’s okay to exercise vigorously. Intense exercise is not the first step, but work up to more vigorous exercise. Short bursts of energetic effort, such as running short dashes, interspaced with relaxing to not lose your breath, called interval training, improves your heart’s efficiency by about 10 percent more than the usual aerobic exercise done at a steady pace.

Build up until you’re performing at your maximum, safe heart rate for the last interval, then you can cool down. Change up your routine periodically — pace, machine, incline plane, stairs, weights, dance, water, route, hills — to make your heart pump blood more effectively with fewer beats.

For runners: If you run on a treadmill, use the interval setting. If you run outdoors or on an indoor track, then warm up for 5 minutes. Then run fast for 1 minute and jog slowly for 1 minute. Repeat the interval 6 or 8 times before cooling down for 5 minutes.

For swimmers: Swim ten 50-yard freestyles, resting for 15 seconds between each pair of swims. As you swim, swim aerobically, raising your heart rate but not raising it too much, not swimming too hard so that you become really out of breath.XResearch source

On the bike: Warm up for 90 seconds. Then, pedal at a moderate energy burst for 30 seconds. Slow back down to a cardio rate for 90 seconds before performing another energy burst for 30 seconds. Each 30-second energy burst should be more intense than the last.XResearch source

Normal Heart Rate For Babies And Children

Im quite sure we have all experienced, with fascination, the fast but perfectly rhythmic beating of a babys heart. Yes, babies have a much faster heart rate! Up to 12 months, the babies heart rate is around 100 150 bpm. As they grow, the minimum mean reading reduces by approximately 10 bpm every 3-5 years until they are over the adolescence stage and become adults.

Also Check: How Does Fitbit Calculate Heart Rate

When Should I Be Worried About An Irregular Heartbeat

An occasional abnormal heartbeat is not cause for serious concern. However, if symptoms last for long periods of time, are significant or come back time and again, its important to seek medical attention. If you have fainting, swelling in your leg, shortness of breathseek medical attention right away, Dr.

How The Heart Works

The heart has two upper chambers and two lower chambers .

The atria and ventricles have walls of muscle. A heartbeat happens when this muscle suddenly contracts so that the chambers become smaller and the blood inside is squeezed out.

The control of the heartbeat starts with a small clump of cells in the right atrium, called the sinoatrial node . This sends out electrical impulses through the atrial muscle to another clump of cells called the atrioventricular node, found between the atria and ventricles. The impulse then continues through the AV node down fibres that conduct the impulse into the muscle of the ventricles.

The AV node determines the rate of contraction of the ventricles. The pulse felt at the wrist is due to the contraction of the ventricles.

You May Like: Can Tylenol Help Heart Palpitations

Reduce Caffeine And Alcohol Intake

Excessive caffeine and alcohol in your bloodstream raise blood pressure and heart rate. While the elevated heart rate is temporary it can cause panic attacks and anxiety. Alcohol is a toxin and your body works extra hard to eliminate it, thereby, straining your heart. Both caffeine and alcohol cause dehydration which increase the workload of your heart. Cutting caffeine and alcohol consumption will gradually slow your heart rate.

Causes Of Heart Palpitations

Causes of heart palpitations include:

• lifestyle triggers

Common triggers of heart palpitations include:

• strenuous exercise
• illegal drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, ecstasy and cannabis
• rich or spicy foods

In these cases, the palpitations should go away on their own. Avoiding these triggers may help stop them from coming back.

Recommended Reading: Small Heart Attack Treatment

What Is The Heart Rate

Heart rate or pulse rate is the number of times your heart beats in a minute. It is a simple measure to know how much your heart works during rest or activities.

Heart rate is one of the vital signs that are checked regularly whenever you visit your doctor, or when you get admitted to the hospital.

Your heart rate is lower when you are resting and higher when you are doing any kind of activity, or are feeling stressed or anxious.

When you exercise, your heart needs to work harder, which increases your heart rate. As soon as you rest, the heart rate starts decreasing gradually and returns to its normal level, usually within an hour.

What Causes A Racing Heart

Normal hearts beat 60100 times every minute. When your heart beats more than 100 times each minute, thats considered high . Fast heartbeats can last for seconds to hours.

Not all cases of a racing heartbeat are dangerous. Many everyday situations that arent related to heart problems can cause your heart to race. These can include the following:

• heavy exercise

If your doctor thinks you may have one of these conditions, your doctor may give you an EKG, a chest X-ray, or an echocardiogram to diagnose whats wrong.

Don’t Miss: Tylenol And Heart Palpitations

Atrial Or Supraventricular Tachycardia

Atrial or supraventricular tachycardia is a fast heart rate that starts in the upper chambers of the heart. Some forms of this particular tachycardia are paroxysmal atrial tachycardia or paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia .

With atrial or supraventricular tachycardia, electrical signals in the hearts upper chambers fire abnormally. This interferes with electrical impulses coming from the sinoatrial node, the hearts natural pacemaker.

The disruption results in a faster than normal heart rate. This rapid heartbeat keeps the hearts chambers from filling completely between contractions, which compromises blood flow to the rest of the body.

A profile for atrial or SVT

In general, those most likely to have atrial or supraventricular tachycardia are:

• Children
• Women, to a greater degree than men
• Anxious young people

In extreme cases, those suffering with atrial or SVT may also experience:

• Unconsciousness

Treatment for Atrial or SVT

If you have atrial or SVT, its possible that you wont need treatment.

But if the episodes are prolonged, or recur often, your doctor may recommend treatment, including:

• Some medicinal and street drugs

Other, less common causes may include:

• Anemia
• Heart muscle damage from heart attack or heart failure
• Severe bleeding

Approach to treatment