Hypokalemia is a medical term for low levels of potassium, a mineral that humans need for normal health. According to the textbook "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine," the most common cause of this imbalance is significant diarrhea or...
While your heart is not electric like the light you plug into a socket, it does work by electrical means to keep pace. When your heart starts too beat too slowly, this condition is called bradycardia. Changes to your heartbeat are one of the...
Average resting heart rates depend on several factors, including age, gender and level of physical fitness. Generally speaking, a resting heart rate in the range of 60 to 100 beats per minute is normal for men and women. However, individuals with...
Each time the heart beats, it sends a "wave" of blood through the arteries, and this "wave" can be felt as a pulse. A regular heart beat rate is called normal sinus rhythm. When the heart beats slowly and produces a low pulse rate of fewer than 60...
Bradycardia is a medical term derived from Greek and means "slow heart." In adults, bradycardia is a diagnosis given when resting heart rate falls below 60 beats per minute and causes symptoms. For infants, bradycardia is defined as a heart rate...
Heart rate refers to the number of times the heart beats per minute. The heart pumps blood to other organs by contracting and relaxing in a steady rhythm. Several factors control heart rate, including the amount of sodium and potassium entering...
A heart rate below 60 beats per minute is classified as bradycardia. The consequences of this condition relate to insufficient cardiac output and may result from a heart medication you are taking. The goal of beta blocker therapy is to reduce the...
Although most of the potassium in your body is located inside your cells, approximately 5 percent of the potassium is located in fluid outside your cells, including your blood. In a healthy individual, this blood potassium level ranges from 3.6 to...
The human heart beats approximately 100,000 times a day, 35 million times a year and over 2.5 billion times in an average lifetime, according to PBS.org. The heart rate is the amount of times a heart beats in a set period of time, and typically is...
A pacemaker produces electrical impulses that stimulates the heart to beat in a regular rhythm. A pacemaker senses when the heart beats irregularly and sends a signal to the heart that makes the heart beat at the correct pace. A doctor surgically...
A healthy heart beats between 60 and 100 times each minute. MayoClinic.com defines bradycardia as a slow heart rate which falls below this benchmark. Bradycardia can be serious if prolonged, as a slow heart rate deprives the body of adequate...
Normal heart rates for children and adults at rest vary over a wide range of beats per minute. In addition to these basic variations, your heart rate at any given time is influenced by a number potential intervening factors, including the specific...
Sick sinus syndrome is not a single disease, but the term used for a group of abnormal heart rhythms caused by problems with a sinus node, also called the sinoatrial, or SA node, in the heart. The sinus node is located in the atrium, or upper...
Calcium channel blockers interfere with the movement of calcium ions across cardiac cell membranes. This action slows the conduction rate of electrical impulses through the heart muscle, which slows the heart rate. Patients take calcium channel...
Calcium channel blockers are drugs that are often prescribed to treat certain cardiovascular conditions, such as high blood pressure. High blood pressure can be dangerous because it puts extra strain on the heart and increases a person's risk of...
A resting heart rate is your pulse in as little as five minutes after exercise, when you have been sitting quietly. As your fitness level increases, your resting heart rate is slower. If your heart rate is normally slow and recovers quickly after...
Anorexia is a serious eating disorder that involves obsession over weight loss, a distorted body image, reduced self esteem, severe calorie restriction and a dangerously low body weight. Complications of anorexia may include hormonal imbalance,...
Bradycardia is a slow heart rate of less than 60 beats per minute in adults. According to the staff of the Mayo Clinic, a resting heart rate of less than 60 beats per minute may be normal in healthy young adults and well-trained athletes....
High blood pressure, commonly known as hypertension, refers to increased pressure in the arteries of the body. Pulse rate, on the other hand, is a measurement of the number of times the heart beats in a minute. As the resistance in the arteries...
Zestoretic is a medication used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure). According to Drugs.com, it is a combination of two drugs, lisinopril and hydrochlorothiazide. Lisinopril belongs to the class of drugs called angiotension-converting...
Potassium is a major mineral and an electrolyte, which means that it carries an electrical charge. Most of the potassium in your body is found inside your cell membranes. The remaining potassium circulates in the fluid outside your cells. This...
The nightshade plant, a member of the herb family called solanceae, is the source for atropine, a heart medication used to treat symptomatic, irregular and slow heartbeats. Heart disorders that include a heart rate less than 60 beats per minute in...
Heart rate is controlled by electrical impulses sent throughout the heart muscle. Disruption to the electrical conduction system can alter the rate at which the heart beats. Tachycardia and bradycardia are abnormal heart rates.
Heart rate is a term that describes the average number of times your heart pumps blood to your body in a single minute. Your body naturally tries to keep this rate within a certain range, and the consistent presence of an abnormally low or high...
Potassium is a positively charged electrolyte or cation that is found mostly inside cells. A healthy kidney is essential to the body's ability to maintain normal potassium levels. Damage to the kidneys, adrenal disease, medications that cause...
Valsartan is a medication that treats hypertension (high blood pressure) and heart failure (when your heart can't pump a sufficient amount of blood through your body). It can also be used to decrease the risk of death after suffering a heart...
A pulse is a vital sign measurement that can reveal the state of a woman's health. Because women have different health care needs than men, knowing the normal rate and rhythm of a woman's pulse is important to her well-being. Pulse abnormalities...
Cerebral palsy is a term used to describe permanent motor damage. Cerebral palsy does not always indicate intellectual impairment, although two-thirds of people with CP have some mental disability, according to the National Institute of...
Heart arrhythmia can be a serious problem and indicative of other problems with your heart. It also can be much simpler and temporary. Because a change in your heart rate can be serious, any that you notice should be reported to your physician as...
