When you can feel the heavy beating of your heart when you are at rest or moving slowly, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians, you may be having heart palpitations. While heavy heart beating is normal during intense exercise, the condition may or may not be harmful if you experience the sensations when you're still. Often associated with stress, a reaction to environmental factors or heartburn, nearly one out of seven people experience heart palpitations at various times.
Causes
Heart palpitations may occur as a result of arrhythmia, or an irregular heartbeat that is felt most acutely when you eat a heavy meal, becomes stressed or undergo any unusual experience. Heart palpitations also can signal a serious defect in your heart valves, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. Anemia and thyroid disease can cause the heavy heartbeats as well. Illegal drugs, some medications and food allergies also may contribute to the heavy pounding when you eat a big meal.
Diagnosis
Your doctor may ask you to wear a heart monitor for up to two weeks if no apparent diagnosis can be made for your heart palpitations. An electrocardiogram test also may be provided in the doctor's office. For the most part, diagnosis of heart palpitations and their relationship to your eating habits typically is performed by keeping a diary of the episodes, marking the time, what you ate and what circumstances were evident during the attack.
Potential
For people who experience heartburn regularly after eating a big meal, heart palpitations can signal problems in addition to the acid reflux. According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms associated with heartburn often are mistaken for a heart attack, and vice versa. If the heavy heartbeats are accompanied by tightness around the chest, crushing pain or shortness of breath, you may be having a heart attack and not just a case of acid reflux after eating.
Warning
People with heart disease should monitor their eating to keep cholesterol levels low and maintain a healthy weight. At the same time, if you have high blood pressure or have had a heart attack in the past, one big meal could trigger heart palpitations and a heart attack, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. People with heart problems are about four times more likely to have a heart attack after eating a large meal.
Considerations
The inner layers of the arteries may be affected by an increase in fat consumption during a single seating and speed up the heart leading to an attack, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Additionally, norepinephrine levels increase when eating. Norepinephrine is a hormone that is triggered by eating and raises heart rate and blood pressure.
