If your heart is beating faster than normal, you may have a rapid heart rate. This condition is known as tachycardia. It is diagnosed when your pulse is chronically 100 beats per minute or higher. While you can increase your heart rate to that level temporarily through exercise, if your heart rate speeds up for no known reason, it may be a sign of disease. There are different causes of rapid heart rate. If you have this condition, you and your doctor will need to determine the cause and best course of treatment.
Exercise
In order to gain benefits from cardiovascular or aerobic exercise you need to elevate your heart rate to a certain level and maintain it there for a period of 20 to 45 minutes. As you exercise your heart muscle beats faster to deliver the extra blood and oxygen your body needs to continue exercising. This makes your heart muscle stronger and more efficient at its job. When you are done exercising your heart rate should return to normal. This is a normal and healthy response. However, if your heart rate stays elevated for an extended period after stopping exercise, it may be a sign of heart disease.
Atrial Fibrillation
According to the Heart Rhythm Society, atrial fibrillation is the most common type of irregular heart rhythm, and it can cause a rapid heart rate. With this condition, faulty electrical signals are sent to the heart. The result is that the heart muscle does not properly contract and push the blood out of its chambers. Instead of a forceful contraction, the heart may flutter or not contract fully. This leaves blood to pool in the heart chamber. Your heart may start to beat faster in order to empty the chamber.
Heart Disease
Medtronic states that a rapid heart rate can be the result of various heart diseases that make your heart work harder then it normally does. This includes high blood pressure, coronary artery disease or atherosclerosis, diseases or infections of the heart muscle, heart failure or problems with the heart's valves. All of these conditions affect your heart's ability to pump sufficient blood throughout the body. When this happens your heart muscle must beat faster to make up the deficit.
Stress
Your body has an innate response to stress called the fight or flight syndrome. This helps prepare your body to handle an emergency. Part of this syndrome is to raise your heart rate so that your body gets the extra blood and oxygen it needs. Then, when the threat is over, your heart rate should return to normal. However, if you are under chronic stress your heart rate may become elevated on a regular basis. The Yale School of Medicine states that this not only elevates your heart rate, but the chemicals released during the stress response may actually damage your arteries. This occurs due to the heart pumping harder, which elevates your blood pressure, in turn increasing pressure against the arteries. Other lifestyle choices such as ingesting too much caffeine, coffee, alcohol and smoking can also contribute to a faster-than-normal heart rate.
Member Comments