Heart Palpitations

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Heart Palpitations

Calming Strategies for Skipped Beats

It's long past midnight and you're lying in bed, wide awake and frightened. You can't fall back to sleep because something seems to be wrong with your heart. It skipped a beat when you first woke up, and now you're lying in the darkness, waiting to see if it'll fall into that distinctive rhythm--fwop, fwop, f--WOP!--again.

It does.

So now you worry that (a) you're having a heart attack, (b) you're going to die or (c) you'll die of embarrassment if you go to the emergency room and find out that nothing is wrong after all.

Chances are, none of the above will occur.

"Skipped heartbeats--generally referred to as palpitations--are incredibly common," says Vera Bittner, M.D., associate professor of medicine at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in Birmingham. And they're not cause for panic.

NOTICEABLE, BUT NOT DANGEROUS

Any odd heartbeat that occurs once or twice and attracts your attention qualifies as a palpitation, says Dr. Bittner. The heart isn't actually skipping a beat; what you feel is a less forceful beat followed by one with more force than you're used to. Whether your heart seems to be skipping, flipping or leaping into your throat, you probably aren't in danger.

When To See A Doctor If your heart seems to skip a beat "more than just momentarily" or "more than once in a while," you should see a doctor, says Vera Bittner, M.D., associate professor of medicine at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in Birmingham. Medical attention is also in order if your heart skips a beat and: * You feel as though you are about to pass out. * You also have swollen ankles or shortness of breath. * You have any form of heart disease. * You have chest pain or pressure. Heart Palpitations

"People frequently notice what feels like a skipped beat when they wake up after a bad dream, especially if they've been lying on their left side," says Deborah L. Keefe, M.D., professor of medicine at Cornell Medical Center and a cardiologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, both in New York City. "Your heart is close to the chest wall on the left, and if you're lying on that side, you're more likely to notice a skipped beat."

QUIETING A FLIGHTY HEART BEAT

What can you do to prevent these frightening but harmless palpitations from recurring? Here's what women doctors say.

Take a deep breath. Some palpitations are caused by anxiety, says Dr. Bittner. Sometimes just taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling will relieve tension and discourage future skips.

Recondition your heart with exercise. Spending too little time at exercise (like walking) or other active pursuits (like gardening) can cause palpitations simply because your heart--which is, after all, a muscle--is out of shape, says Dr. Bittner.

To put your heart in peak condition, the American Heart Association suggests that you exercise three or four times a week for 30 minutes. You should work your body at 50 to 75 percent of its aerobic capacity. Translation? If you're walking, walk fast enough so that you can talk but not sing.

Keep alcohol to a minimum. Drinking too much alcohol can cause palpitations, says Dr. Bittner. Overindulgence leads to what doctors have dubbed "holiday heart"--irregular heartbeat experienced by those who overindulge at holiday parties and then end up in the emergency room. But it can happen any time of the year.

There's no way to tell exactly how much alcohol it takes to interfere with your heartbeat, says Dr. Bittner. Nor can doctors tell in advance who will develop alcohol-induced palpitations and who won't. So to help keep your heart on an even keel, experts advise against drinking more than one or two drinks a day, tops. A drink is generally considered to be one shot of hard liquor or its equivalent in a mixed drink; one 12-ounce can, bottle or mug of beer or 5 ounces of table wine.

Cool the caffeine. Caffeine is what gives coffee, tea, chocolate and even some over-the-counter drugs--headache remedies, for example--their stimulating effects, says Dr. Bittner. So if you're bothered by palpitations, it makes sense to avoid anything containing caffeine.

Don't even think of lighting up. Nicotine and other chemicals in cigarette smoke can constrict arteries and encourage heart palpitations, says Dr. Bittner. So if you smoke, quit.

If all else fails, ignore skipped beats. If you exercise regularly, don't overindulge and your doctor has determined that you don't have heart disease, yet your heart seems to occasionally skip a beat, chances are that your palpitations are nothing to worry about, say Drs. Bittner and Keefe. If you don't dwell on them, you're less apt to notice repeat episodes.