Potassium Levels & Heart

Potassium is a positively charged mineral that works inside of many cells, and which can affect the health of your heart. Too much or too little potassium can affect your heart rate and blood pressure. Recommendations for potassium intake for adults are 4,700 mg per day for heart health. Try to obtain potassium from dietary sources including beans, potatoes, milk, melon and fish.

How The Heart Beats

Your heart beats through the activity of a spontaneous depolarization of cardiac cells that involve changes in sodium, potassium and calcium levels inside and outside the cell. The cardiac cell rests at -60 mv, which increases to zero with the inflow of calcium and sodium, while your potassium level inside the cell remains constant. Your cardiac cells repolarize when positively charged potassium flows back out and depolarizes your cells back to their resting membrane potential.

Hypokalemia

Having too little potassium inside your body is known as hypokalemia. Hypokalemia can result in an abnormal heart rhythm. Having too little potassium available makes it hard for your heart to beat regularly because your cardiac cells may not be able to reach the threshold for depolarization without the positive potassium ions. Membrane voltages are lower than normal, making your cells less excitable.

Hyperkalemia

Hyperkalemia is a toxicity of potassium, which can also be dangerous for your heart. Too much positively charged potassium can make your heart cells more excitable. This can result in systolic arrest, a condition in which your ventricles do not stop contracting, leaving no time for filling and no blood being pumped.

Potassium and Blood Pressure

Inadequate levels of potassium can also be linked to high blood pressure. Potassium levels inside your body work to balance the effect of another electrolyte, sodium. If you do not have enough potassium, sodium and water retention can increase your blood pressure. Therefore, the American Heart Association recommends taking in 4,700 mg of potassium per day to keep your blood pressure under control.