Heart Rhythms

What is a normal heart rhythm?

The normal electrical pattern of your heart is called sinus rhythm. The sinus node is your heart’s natural pacemaker. By producing an electrical impulse, the sinus node makes your atria – or your heart’s top chambers – contract and push blood through to the ventricles – the lower chambers. When the impulses reach the ventricles, they contract to push the blood out of the heart and into the lungs and the rest of the body. These electrical impulses cause your heart to beat.

Heart rhythm is the regularity of these beats and heart rate is their speed, or how quickly your heart is beating. When you’re resting, your heart’s natural pacemaker produces 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm). It is your heart pumping blood that produces your pulse. You can measure the rate and rhythm of your heart by taking your pulse.

What is a palpitation?

Palpitation means you can ‘feel’ your heart beat, - it may be beating normally, quickly, slowly or irregularly or sometimes it feels like it's skipping beats. Although they can feel unpleasant, they’re usually harmless and do not mean anything is wrong with the heart. Sometimes palpitations are due to an ectopic beat, feeling anxious, stressed or very tired. Caffeine, smoking and excess alcohol can also cause palpitations. Sometimes palpitations can be an abnormal heart rhythm.

What is an ectopic beat?

Put simply, an ectopic beat is an ‘extra’ beat caused by an extra electrical charge being released. Sometimes there is a short pause after the extra beat, which makes it feel like your heart has missed a beat.

Ectopic beats are very common and often you'd be unaware you had experienced one. They’re often caused by anxiety, stress, being tired, smoking, alcohol and caffeine. Avoiding coffee, cigarettes and alcohol can help, and reducing stress will help to reduce the number of ectopic beats that you’re experiencing.

Sometimes ectopic beats can indicate an underlying problem with your heart,. They are usually harmless and do not need any treatment.

What is tachycardia and bradycardia?

Sometimes the heart will beat faster or more slowly than average: This depends on the individual make up of a person and many other things, such as if someone is active or resting.

• Sinus trachycardia means the heart is beating fast, over 100 bpm
• Sinus bradycardia means the heart is beating slowly, less than 60 bpm.
• These are normal heart rhythms and are usually harmless.

What is an abnormal rhythm?

Your doctor or nurse may have described this to you as arrhythmia. This means:

• Your heart is beating either very fast or very slowly
• The electrical impulses are coming from another part of the heart and not the sinus node, causing an irregular beat
• The electrical impulses are coming from the sinus node, but going to the bottom of the heart by an unusual path.

The most common arrhythmia is Atrial Fibrillation.

What is heart block?

This means that the electrical impulses running through the heart have been delayed or disrupted. These are graded according to severity and the need for treatment. First degree heart block is usually left untreated, but a third degree heart block may require a pacemaker to be fitted.

What is a Bundle Branch Block?

This is an unusual pattern that shows up on an ECG reading and means there is a slight delay on the electrical impulses to the heart’s two pumping chambers – the right and left ventricle. While bundle branch block does not usually cause any problems it can indicate underlying heart disease and may lead to further tests being carried out.

How are heart rhythm problems diagnosed?

Your doctor will listen to your heart through a stethoscope and ask you about your symptoms. They may then ask you to have an ECG – or an electrocardiogram.

Source - bhf