Common Reasons Why Your Heart Is Racing

Your heart beats 60 to 100 times a minute. Anything faster than that is called tachycardia, which is a swanky medical term for a racing heart. This article will tell you some of the most common reasons why your heart is beating really fast.

A heart attack — this is something that comes to mind when you feel that your heart is galloping.

However, a heart attack usually comes with a bunch of other symptoms aside from a fast heart rate. Some of them include shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, cold sweats, fatigue, and chest pain that usually radiates to the left arm (or sometimes both arms), jaw, shoulder and back.

Make sure that you get immediate medical attention if your racing heart is accompanied by these symptoms!

However, most of the time a heart that is beating more that 100 per minute has nothing to do with a heart attack, but is rather caused by the following things:

Excessive Caffeine

Are you hooked on coffee and that’s why you are consuming several cups of it a day? Then don’t be surprised if it seems like your heart is always in a dash — caffeine in coffee is a stimulant.

But it’s not just coffee that can make your ticker beat faster than normal, but any other beverage that contains caffeine, such as black tea, green tea, soda and energy drinks. Chocolate also has caffeine in it, so it’s a good idea to go easy on this decadent treat.

Stress

If your day-to-day life is a stressful one, then don’t be surprised if it seems like your heart is constantly in a hurry — stress hormones such as adrenaline can make your heart race.

Worry not if you cannot avoid most stressors that you encounter on a daily basis. What’s more important is you engage in activities that are scientifically-proven to help lower stress and the hormones it produces. Some wonderful examples include mild exercises, yoga, music listening, journal writing and a full-body massage.

An Ongoing Infection

Having the common cold or flu can cause a bunch of unfavourable symptoms. One of those is the fast beating of the heart even while you are doing nothing except resting in bed.

When there’s an infection taking place within, your body has to work harder to put the problem in control. Your heart needs to beat faster in order to deliver immune system cells, oxygen and nutrients to where they are needed, and at the same time to speed up the removal of toxins from the site of infection.

Anxiety or Panic Disorder

If you’re diagnosed with anxiety or panic disorder, then one of the things that you are sure to encounter during an attack is a racing heart, and usually it is mistaken for a heart attack.

During an anxiety or a panic attack, your body goes into what’s known as fight or flight mode — it assumes that you are in some form of danger when there really is none. Your heart has to race so that the body is geared up for the next step that you are likely to take, either fight of flee.

Especially if your racing heart is accompanied by a bunch of other unusual symptoms, it’s a good idea for you to pay your doctor a visit — it can be anything from hyperthyroidism, anaemia to arrhythmia.

Sourced from HealthDigezt.