Revealed: Five facts about your heart beat everyone should know
1. You can feel your heart flutter, so it must be a heart attack
An abnormal heart beat every now and then is quite normal. It’s when it becomes frequent that you should have your doctor investigate!
2. Your heart is racing, so you must be stressed
Stress can cause your pulse to race. But so can smoking or drinking caffeine. If you are stressed and your pulse doesn’t go back to normal (between 60 and 80 beats a minute), check in with your doctor.
3. It’s ok if your heart beat is around the 100 mark
A textbook will tell you that an adult should have a resting heart rate of between 60 and 100 beats per minute. But if your heart is beating at around the 100 mark even if you’re resting, it could signify a problem. Your heart needs to slow down so it can fill and pump properly. When it’s going this fast, it’s not working efficiently.
4. If your heart rate is slow, your heart is weak
This is completely untrue, and actually the opposite. The lower your heart rate, the better your heart is functioning, given that you aren’t suffering from any chronic diseases. An athlete could have a heart rate as low as 40, and their hearts are incredibly strong.
The relationship between your heart beat and your
blood pressure is a complex one. While one affects the other and vice versa, there are other factors that come into play before this happens. The only way you can determine whether your blood pressure is high, is to monitor it with a
monitoring device.
Your heart is a complex organ, but it has ways of telling you whether it’s in trouble. So if you’re experiencing any of the above with symptoms of sweating, difficulty breathing, restlessness or lethargy consult your doctor immediately.