What does your pulse tell you about?

Once you have found your pulse, what should you do? First of all, you want to know its frequency. This shows you the heart rate. Count the blows a certain time - 30 seconds will be enough, but if you do not rush, count as much as you want. If you count 30 seconds, multiply the number by two to get the rate of heart beats per minute. So if you counted 35 hits in 30 seconds, multiplying by two, you got seventy, that's the frequency of your heart's cuts in a minute.

Although the normal frequency at rest varies from 60 to 100 beats per minute, in most healthy people it has 65 to 85 strokes . But it all depends on what you just did, what medicines you take, whether or not you have a temperature, and how much you are "trained". For example, if you just finished a game of tennis, or chopped wood, or made love, your pulse can reach 150 beats per minute. If, however, you are resting quietly, it is more likely that it will be in the range of 60 to 80.

If you are physically strong and regularly go in for sports - running, swimming, tennis - your heart rate is likely to be less likely than for a person for whom the strongest physical load is to get out of the table or press the elevator button to go down For one span. For most of us, the heart rate limits at rest are below 100 (in the absence of temperature) and above 60.

Is he normal?

Like the frequency of visits to the toilet, each of us has its own characteristic heart rate. The question is: what is normal for you?

Let's first consider the possible causes of abnormally slow heart rate .

Do you take digitalis to control cardiac arrhythmia or a beta blocker (indenter, tenormin) in hypertension, angina pectoris, heart rhythm disorder, tension, or migraine? These and some other drugs , especially in combination, can dramatically slow down cardiac contractions.

If your pulse is constantly below 60 and you are not an athlete and do not take medications that affect your heart rate, your thyroid gland may be weak . The probability of this increases if, in addition to the slow pulse, you feel tired all the time, you are cold, when others are normal, you have constipation, you lose hair or they become rougher, your menstruation is more plentiful than it should be, and it is difficult for you to lose weight .

Most of us, thinking about the heart, represent its arteries, valves and muscles. There is, however, another fundamentally important component in the heart that affects the rate of contraction, namely, the conducting system. Special muscle fibers conduct impulses in various areas of the heart. When these ways are interrupted by the disease or changed by medications of various types, blockade of the heart may occur. If this happens, the heart contractions can slow down to a dangerous level.

More common than a very slow pulse is abnormally fast .

Here are some possible reasons.

If your heart rate is constantly above 100 and you feel a heartbeat (in the chest pounding), even when sitting quietly, look at other symptoms: hair that has become silky thin, smooth skin, a slight trembling of the fingers when you stretch your arms (if you put A sheet of paper on them - does it shake?), Weight loss for no reason, nervousness and excessive sweating. If this picture is present, you have a hyperactive thyroid gland .

Hyperthyroidism is not the only condition that will speed up your pulse. A rapid heartbeat may reflect an attempt by your body to resolve some other problem. For example, the main function of the blood is to transport oxygen in red cells to every corner and snack, each piece of living tissue in the body. If you have anemia and few of these red cells or iron in your blood (which is necessary to transport oxygen), the tissues do not feed well. For compensation, the heart beats faster and faster to bring more oxygen-depleted blood to the organs. In other words, it is trying to compensate for what is lacking in quality. Thus, for any reason of your anemia (last, remember, a symptom, not the disease itself), the frequency of cardiac contractions increases. When anemia is cured, the rate of contraction is reduced.

This compensatory mechanism of the heart - to fight faster to make up for some deficit - works under other circumstances. So, when the heart muscle is weak and does not push enough blood with each contraction, the rate of contractions increases to improve overall production. In fact, cancer or any chronic kidney or liver disease can cause abnormally frequent cardiac contractions.

A very common cause of an accelerated pulse is the absorption of too many drugs or their wrong choice. The most serious offenders are thyroid hormones, caffeine and suppressing appetite. Doctors prescribe thyroid tablets with a true decrease in thyroid function, and most people need no more than two facets to replace their own hormones. With this dose, the symptoms of thyroid insufficiency disappear and cardiac contractions become normal. Unfortunately, some patients believe that if two facets are good, then four are even better. The embodiment of such a philosophy leads to an acceleration of the pulse (and many other painful phenomena).

A weakened thyroid gland is not the only reason people take thyroid pills. Because these hormones increase metabolism, thyroid pills have been abused for generations to rapidly lose weight in obesity. This is a big mistake. Unnecessary use of thyroid hormones can cause not only violations of the heart rhythm, but also an increase in blood pressure, strengthening of the angina pectoris. With prolonged use, these tablets suppress the ability of your own gland to release hormones.

Caffeine is getting used to. For many people, nothing is more invigorating or refreshing than a cup of hot coffee in the morning. The second cup for a late breakfast will also add strength to you in the afternoon, especially if you have a cocktail that will make you sluggish without coffee. This should not be. People who are accustomed to caffeine drink much more coffee (or carbonated tonics that contain caffeine) than necessary.

We will tell you a case from medical practice, he will open your eyes to the situation and you, probably, will refuse caffeine. A woman was examined, who drank 15 cups of coffee a day. If she reduced them to ten cups, then she became sluggish! In addition, her pulse was at rest - 120 beats per minute, to which there was no explanation other than caffeine. When she was disaccustomed to this habit, the heart rate dropped to 80. So, if you are accustomed to caffeine, it probably is the cause of your accelerated heart rate.

Some pills that suppress appetite also speed up the pulse. They are sold without a prescription, since they are safe if they are taken exactly as prescribed. But people do not always do this. In addition, although the annotations indicate that people with hypertension, heart problems and arrhythmias should first consult a doctor, many people do not read these liners and throw them out with empty packaging. They believe that since the medicine is sold in the non-prescription department, it is not too strong and will not harm them. Therefore, people often do not know about the contraindications to the use of drugs. In addition, most of the drugs associated with the diet lose its effectiveness in a few weeks, as the body begins to "adapt" to them. Then the tablets take more and more. The result is an overdose and a further increase in heart rate.

The same active ingredient in diet pills (phenyl-propanolamine) is present in many tablets from the common cold and in most nasal inhalations. If you take and take medicine to "open" the air passages, and your heart rate accelerates, the cause may well be phenyl-propanolamine .

Another group of drugs that can cause a rapid heartbeat, are preparations against asthma . However, other antiasthmatic drugs - atrovent, cromolyn and steroids - do not possess this property. When you shoot an aerosol spray or a tablet with theophylline derivatives (theodore and many others), you may notice an acceleration of the pulse. This is the expected pharmacological effect, but one that doctors pay special attention to when dealing with people with heart disease.

Tobacco , especially the nicotine contained in it, also increases the heart rate. If you doubt this, count your pulse before and after a deep puff.

It should be noted that frequent pulse check is not necessary or desirable, but it should be, if there is a reason. Among the patients there is an opinion that if they feel "weak" and they check the pulse at the same time (not on its speed, but on its strength). They say that their pulse is so weak that they barely feel it. And they are sure that this is the reason for their poor health. Almost in every case, this impression is wrong. The "bad quality" of the pulse in a person who feels well enough to feel it, simply reflects the anatomy of his wrist: the distance of the artery from the skin, the thickness of the fat that covers the vessel, are factors that have no clinical significance. But when the pulse is really weak - for example, if the heart attack severely damaged the heart muscle or there was a large bleeding as a result of bleeding - there will be many other signs of "weakness." Under these conditions, in any case, it is unlikely that you will feel your own pulse.

If you want to see how fast your heart beats when loaded, it's difficult, almost impossible - to continue physical exercise, count the pulse and look at the clock at the same time. If you are trying to establish or maintain the desired pulse with physical activity, buy a pulse monitor that is comfortable worn on a wrist like a clock or attached to the earlobe.

People tend to count the pulse when they notice their heartbeat. If you just participated in competitions or were scared to death with a neighbor's bull, your heart will be pounded. At times you feel that the heart beats irregularly . Most often, what patients describe as an "extra" stroke , usually felt as a push in the chest. If at this time you check the pulse, you will find that his regularity is interrupted by a blow that comes earlier than necessary, followed by a frighteningly long pause before the heart resumes its normal contractions.

Although unpleasant, this pause is not a sign of frustration; It does not mean that your heart is going to stop. And this extra blow is not really "superfluous"; He's just early. When this happens, a long pause is needed to compensate for a premature attack, so that the heart again gets into the "tact" and resumes its normal rhythm.

Most "superfluous" strokes are harmless, but since it's about the heart, people are worried. Remember that the heart is the most hardy body organ. It works without interruption day and night and year after year. A hurried rush sometimes will not harm you or your heart. It is caused by a variety of causes - stress , an overabundance of coffee or other stimulants , alcohol and other means of "dissipate", fatigue , nervousness , tobacco or drugs . It happens for no apparent reason. It's best to leave him alone. Medications that suppress this phenomenon often have side effects. If the "extra" blows do not really bother you, do not insist that the doctor treat them.

Despite the usually benign nature of most heart rhythm disturbances, some should be careful. Any heart disease, from an innocent uncomplicated mitral valve descent to congestive heart failure , is sometimes accompanied by severe rhythm disturbances, and not just by accidental "superfluous" stroke. The significance of the disturbed heart rhythm almost always depends on other indicators and phenomena associated with a certain cardiac disease.

When the heart constantly beats too fast or too slowly, so that little oxygen-containing blood enters the tissues, the accompanying symptoms can include loss of consciousness, weakness, dizziness, chest pain, even stroke. In these situations, if the palpitations are too frequent, we first try to slow them down with medications. If this does not work, you may need a short electrical discharge, an electric shock. If the rate of contraction is too slow, a pacemaker can be used.

Of course, if you regularly feel the pulse without an obvious reason, there will be enough grounds for fright. There is not a single person whose heart rate and pulse would always be completely regular. "Superfluous" strokes are part of the normal work of the heart. But since today in the world of heart disease - the killer number one, any noticed violation is alarming. Therefore, the following advice may surprise you: if you do not check your heart contractions for a special reason (you are taking some medicine that can slow them down, like a digitalis or a beta blocker, where the dose depends on your heart rate, or you achieve a certain cutoff frequency in Your physical program), do not burden yourself with a definition of the pulse. Check your breasts, testicles, nails, hair, glands and even show yourself the language in the mirror - but leave alone the pulse.

Symptom: irregular heartbeat