Medical Care , Health & Wellness , Cardiology (Heart)
Explore effective tips and remedies to prevent heart palpitations. Your comprehensive guide to maintaining a healthy heart rhythm
In our increasingly fast-paced lives, we may find ourselves experiencing heart palpitations. This condition is characterised by fast, slow, or irregular heartbeats.
Heart palpitations are frequently linked to a range of factors, including anxiety and physiological conditions. Understanding how to prevent heart palpitations can empower individuals to take charge of their cardiovascular well-being.
From lifestyle adjustments to stress management techniques, we’ve compiled a list of ways to nurture a healthy heartbeat and stop palpitations.
You may experience heart palpitations for a few seconds, minutes or more. These palpitations can be felt in your chest, throat, or neck. It may feel like your heartbeat is:
Heart palpitations are common and usually not harmful. They can be caused by:
Staying hydrated is crucial for maintaining a steady heartbeat. Dehydration can contribute to palpitations, as it forces the heart to work harder to pump blood through the blood vessels to the muscles.
Staying hydrated eases this process, keeping your blood pressure normal and helping you maintain a steady heartbeat. Therefore, ensure you drink enough water to support overall heart health.
A recommended daily water intake is 15.5 cups for men and 11.5 cups for women, where your fluid intake is made up of plain water and other sources such as juice, fruits, and vegetables.
You may need more plain water after strenuous physical activities and during warmer temperatures. However, limit water intake if you have health conditions such as thyroid disease or are on medications causing water retention.
Stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine can trigger heart palpitations. In fact, prolonged use of nicotine may potentially trigger severe cardiovascular events such as heart attacks.
Consider reducing or eliminating the intake of these stimulants to minimise their impact on your heart rhythm. Here is the full list of stimulants to avoid:
However, do note that the effect of these stimulants will vary among individuals.
Excessive alcohol intake can lead to heart palpitations. This is proven by the holiday heart syndrome, where individuals experience cardiac arrhythmias after a period of binge drinking during the weekends or holidays.
The most common symptom experienced by these patients is heart palpitations. This is because alcohol stimulates the secretion of stress hormones such as cortisol, which increases the heart rate and blood pressure.
It is important to note that although reducing alcohol consumption will reduce the health risks, there is no “safe dosage” of alcohol to prevent cardiac arrhythmias from happening.
Therefore, consult your healthcare professionals and reduce alcohol intake to promote a healthier heart.
Stress and anxiety contribute to heart palpitations. Anxiety activates a fight or flight response in the body, effectivelyincreasing your heart rate.
Therefore, engaging in relaxation practices helps to reduce your stress and anxiety levels, contributing to a calmer heart rate. Here are a few techniques to try:
Incorporate regular physical activity into your routine to promote cardiovascular health. Exercise improves overall heart function, reducing the likelihood of palpitations.
Adults need 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity and 2 days of muscle-strengthening activityevery week. Moderate-intensity activities include actions such as brisk walking and dancing, while muscle-strengthening activities include exercises of all the muscle groups.
Overall, you are recommended to move more, with increasing intensity, and reduce sitting time. This will lower your risk of heart disease, among other health complications.
However, individuals may react differently to exercise, and some may encounter palpitations. Therefore, consult your doctor before starting a new exercise plan.
Vagal manoeuvers stimulate the vagus nerve, which helps to regulate fast heartbeats and restore normal heart rhythm. This nerve plays an important role in controlling mood, digestion, immune function, and most notably: the heart rate.
These manoeuvres can assist in slowing down electrical activity to a part of the heart called the atrioventricular (AV) node.
This technique is used to manage a condition called supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), where the heart suddenly starts beating much faster.
Here are a few ways to stimulate the vagus nerve:
We recommend you learn and practise these manoeuvres under the guidance of a healthcare professional.
To prevent heart palpitations, consume a well-rounded diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, soy foods, and whole grains.
Fruits are soluble fibre, which can lower bad cholesterol levels and decrease palpitations. Similarly, soy foods enrich your diet by reducing blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Next, avoid foods and drinks which are known to contribute to palpitations. This includes the stimulants and alcohol mentioned earlier.
You should also avoid red meat high in saturated fat and processed food with excessive salt and preservatives. You may also want to reduce your intake of sugary foods and drinks, which also contribute to palpitations.
Hence, eating a balanced diet with essential nutrients will contribute to overall heart health and prevent palpitations.
Heart palpitations could be a symptom of the following types of arrhythmia:
Should your healthcare provider suspect any of these conditions, they will recommend additional tests.
The treatments for these conditions include medicines, electrical cardioversion, catheter ablation, pacemakers, and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD).
All of these treatments are designed to help prevent and control the rate of an arrhythmia and return your heartbeat to a normal rate.
Schedule an appointment with a healthcare professional if you are experiencing heart palpitations and:
Call 999 immediately if you are experiencing heart palpitations and:
Island Hospitals offers a comprehensive range of heart-related health screening tests and treatments to suit your unique needs. Our team of healthcare professionals are ready to assist you every step of the way.
We provide a full range of cardiac services, including heart disease prevention, diagnosis, intervention, and rehabilitation for adults and children.
For a thorough assessment of your heart health, consider our Cardiac Arrhythmia Screening Package. This package includes all the essential tests: Resting ECG, Stress Test, Echocardiogram, Blood Investigation, and more.
Book an appointment with Island Hospital today!
Employ relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, cold water splashes, or light physical activity for immediate relief.
Foods rich in magnesium, potassium, and antioxidants can help prevent heart palpitations. Consider incorporating leafy greens, bananas, nuts, seeds, and berries into your diet. These foods may contribute to a more stable heart rhythm.
Natural remedies for calming heart palpitations include herbal teas such as chamomile, which have mild sedative properties. Additionally, mindfulness meditation and yoga can contribute to a sense of calm and potentially reduce palpitations.
Dehydration can sometimes contribute to heart palpitations. Ensuring proper hydration by drinking enough water throughout the day may help prevent dehydration-related palpitations.
Various factors, including stress, anxiety, caffeine intake, certain medications, hormonal changes, and underlying medical conditions such as heart disease, can trigger palpitations. Identifying and addressing these triggers is crucial for effectively managing and preventing heart palpitations.
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