Heart Arrhythmia

What is an Arrhythmia?

Heart arrhythmia is a condition where the heart beats faster or slower than usual or when it misses a beat. The heart is a muscular organ which pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. Blood provides the body with oxygen and nutrients. The normal heart rate for a body at rest is between 60-100 beats per minute. 

It is normal for your heart to speed up when you are doing physical activities or slow down when you are resting. However, a frequent irregular heartbeat may mean that not enough blood is being pumped to the rest of your body and you may experience symptoms such as feeling dizzy or faint. 

Heart arrhythmia is a commonly experienced condition for most people and doesn’t present any cause for concern. However, serious types of arrhythmia can cause many problems, such as heart failure or stroke. Several types of arrhythmia prevent the heart from supplying the different organs with oxygen-rich blood. This often results in damage or total failure of the organs.

The heart has its own electrical system, which is responsible for sending impulses from the top of the heart to the bottom at a steady rate, or at a rate that the body needs blood. The electrical impulse originates from the upper chambers of the heart, also called the right atrium. The impulse then triggers the cardiac muscle to contract and release. If the electrical impulse is interrupted or fails to travel along the correct path down the heart, the contractions become irregular.

There are several types of arrhythmia such as bradycardia when the heart beats slower than normal, atrial fibrilation where the heart contracts irregularly at the upper chambers, ventricular fibrillation where the heart contracts irregularly at the lower chambers, premature contraction where heart beats occur too early and tachycardia where the heart beats faster than normal.

What are the symptoms of Heart Arrhythmia?

An arrhythmia may not cause obvious symptoms. You may sometimes experience heart palpitations where it feels like your heart is skipping a beat, fluttering or beating too hard or fast. 

Other symptoms include:

• Chest pains
• Difficulty breathing
• Dizziness or fainting
• Fatigue

What are the risk factors of Arrhythmia?

Factors that may increase your risk of Arrhythmia include:

• Coronary artery disease or other heart conditions: Heart conditions such as narrowed heart arteries, heart valve disease, prior heart surgery and heart failure are risk factors for any kind of arrhythmia.
• Hypertension: High blood pressure increases your risk of developing coronary artery disease. It may also cause the walls in your heart to stiffen and thicken up. 
• Congenital heart defects: Some of these conditions may affect your heart rate and rhythm.
• Thyroid disease: Hypo and hyperthyroidism may raise your risk of irregular heartbeats
• Obstructive Sleep Apnea: OSA results in pauses in your breathing as you sleep. This may lead to slower and irregular heartbeats, including atrial fibrillation.
• Alcohol and tobacco use: Drinking too much alcohol may affect the electrical signalling in your heart which may increase your chance of developing atrial fibrillation. Meanwhile stimulants such as nicotine and caffeine increases your heart rate, which may lead to the development of arrhythmia.