Our hearts don’t always beat in time. Cardiac arrhythmias can be harmless, but they can also be life-threatening. Find out which causes can trigger cardiac arrhythmias.
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What are cardiac arrhythmias?
Our heartbeat accompanies us throughout our lives. Our heart beats about 100,000 times a day, about 60 to 80 times a minute. We only notice our heartbeat when our pulse rises. For example, when we are excited or doing physical exertion.
If the sequence of our heartbeats is irregular, we perceive this as “heart stumbling”, heart racing or as pauses in the heartbeat sequence. Such heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias) are widespread. According to the German Heart Foundation , around 400,000 people are hospitalized every year for cardiac arrhythmias. In addition to the irregular heartbeat, other symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, restlessness, fainting, seizures, sweating, chest pain and chest tightness can occur.
Cardiac arrhythmias can be harmless, but they can also be life-threatening. In the worst case, sudden cardiac death can occur. For this reason, you should take cardiac arrhythmias seriously and always have them checked out by a doctor.
Causes of cardiac arrhythmias
There are various causes that cause cardiac arrhythmias. This includes:
- Psychological reasons such as fear, excitement, nervousness
- Excessive consumption of caffeine
- Alcohol and drugs, which stimulate the central nervous system and make the heart beat faster.
- Drugs such as psychotropics
- Organic causes such as a heart attack , heart valve defects or diseases such as heart muscle disease or inflammation
- Lack of minerals such as potassium or magnesium. Often after a longer sports session, alcohol consumption, kidney dysfunction or taking medication.
- High blood pressure , which puts more pressure on the heart and causes atrial fibrillation.
- overactive thyroid
- genetic reasons
- Heart attack
- Congenital heart defect such as a heart valve defect
An electrocardiogram (ECG) can be used to correctly diagnose cardiac arrhythmia. The ECG measures the heart currents via measuring points on the chest, arms or legs. If the cardiac arrhythmia occurs only sporadically, a long-term ECG may be advisable, which records the cardiac currents over 24 hours up to seven days.
forms of cardiac arrhythmias
Basically, arrhythmias are classified according to the place of origin and/or the frequency of the cardiac arrhythmia. Arrhythmias include a heartbeat that is too slow (bradycardiac arrhythmias), a heartbeat that is too fast (tachycardia arrhythmias), a problem originating in the chambers of the heart (ventricular arrhythmias), or a problem originating above the ventricles (supraventricular arrhythmias).
The most common form of cardiac arrhythmia is atrial fibrillation. Triggered by permanent, rapid and irregular extra beats in the atrium, the blood cannot be pumped into the ventricles. The result: the slowed blood flow leads to the formation of blood clots in those affected, which are transported to the brain via the vessels. Furthermore, a cardiac arrhythmia can arise from the ventricle, which is usually perceived as heart palpitations.
