Changes in heart rate rhythm such as rapid heartbeat can make someone uncomfortable, even feeling anxious and about to faint. There are several reasons and medical conditions that cause a rapid heartbeat.
The right time to check your heart rate is when you wake up in the morning. Place two fingers, usually the index and middle fingers, on the wrist that is parallel to the thumb for 15 seconds. Count how many heartbeats are felt, then four times to find out the heart rate per minute. This is a basic heart rate or resting heart rate.
Unlike the general public's assumption, a slow heart rate at rest actually indicates a person's health condition in good condition. This indicates the heart muscle is in top condition, so there is no need to work too hard. Unless this slow heartbeat is accompanied by complaints of dizziness, shortness of breath, or chest pain.
Conversely, when the heartbeat is fast, it means the heart is working harder to drain blood effectively throughout the body. Rapid heartbeat can occur when a person is exercising, stressed, exhausted, or due to certain medical disorders.
Rapid heartbeat is also known as tachycardia. This is a condition that occurs due to electrical disruption in the heart that plays a role in controlling the rhythm of the heartbeat. Classified as tachycardia, if someone who is at rest has a heart rate that exceeds 100 times per minute. Tachycardia can occur without complications, but it can also increase the risk of stroke, heart dysfunction to cardiac arrest, and even death.
Recognizing Trigger Factors
There are several factors that trigger fast heart rates, namely age, exercise, stress or anxiety, fever, excessive consumption of caffeine or alcoholic drinks, side effects of drugs, and smoking habits.
In addition, there are also certain health conditions that can cause rapid heartbeat, for example such as high blood pressure, anemia, hyperthyroidism, heart failure, electrolyte disturbances in the body, as well as heart failure (arrhythmia).
As we get older, the heart rate tends to slow down more. However, this does not apply if there are certain factors that make the heart rate even faster.
Proper handling
Rapid heart rate that occurs not because of disease generally does not need treatment because it can improve by itself. If it is caused by a certain medical condition, the handling of a fast heartbeat will be adjusted according to the cause. Handling is done aims to slow the rapid heart rate to within normal limits, prevent the recurrence of this, and reduce the risk of complications.
In some cases, a fast heartbeat can slow down only with the help of a few simple movements, or called a Vagal maneuver. Movements such as coughing, straining as you have a bowel movement, massaging carotid arteries in the neck, or putting ice on the face, can affect the vagus nerve that regulates the heartbeat. However, if the procedure is unsuccessful, the doctor will likely give an injection containing antiarrhythmic drugs or other drugs to normalize the rapid heartbeat.
In conditions that are considered emergency and the drug does not work, the doctor will perform a cardioversion procedure using an electric shock device on the heart. This action is expected to improve the heart's electrical impulses so that the heart rate returns to normal.
Some other follow-up actions to overcome the rapid rapid heartbeat such as catheter ablation, the use of pacemakers (pacemaker), to heart surgery that requires thorough medical considerations.
Maintaining an ideal body weight and staying active, while reducing stress and avoiding smoking are some ways to keep the heart healthy and avoid a fast heartbeat. If the heartbeat continues fast and it is not known with certainty what causes it. Consult a doctor to get further tests.
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