03 heinä Helsingin Sanomat article published by Pinja Päivänen
Arrhythmia’s are usually harmless and everyone has them – Specialist: over measurement can even make it worse.
Feelings of arrhythmia are quite usual with active people doing sports and exercise. Mostly these feelings are quite harmless. Reason for concerns is if these feelings / symptoms take place after or during the exercise. It feels like your heart is skipping a beat or otherwise has unpleasant sensation during the beat. When this is the case of harmless arrhythmia which one does not need to worry and when one should see the doctor?
The most common type of arrhythmia are additional heart beats which are either atrio- or ventricular related. These additional beats are quite usual and they are considered to be part of normal behavior of the heart. According to Anna-Mari Hekkala, the chief medical officer of the Finish Cardio association,”all people have them. Only if adult person has over 500 additional beat per day or with elderly people over 1000 per day, can be said that the person has tendency for arrhythmia”.
People are using different kind of measurement devices today and are easily concerned regarding their heart symptoms. However according to Hekkala most of the troubling sensations or unexpected beats displayed by the fitness hear rate device are harmless.
Over measurement can even increase the number of additional heart beats.
Most usual type of arrhythmia is the atrial fibrillation and 25% of people will experience these sometimes during their life. The risk of atrial fibrillation increases significantly when people are ageing. The risk of atrial fibrillation at the age of 80 is ten time bigger that at age of 50. Atrial fibrillation itself is not dangerous phenomena, but during it a blood clot can be formed which in worse case can lead to stroke. If one is suspecting an atrial fibrillation, then you should go to doctor. One clear symptom related to atrial fibrillation is high blood pressure.
Even if arrhythmia is usually harmless, some symptoms related to them causes need for concers.If arrhythmia is related to shortness of breath or chest pain, it would be good to see a doctor. Medical help is really needed if atrial fibrillation causes loss of consciousness.
At the end, in most cases the knowledge and confirmation that one’s heart does not have any serious problem is the best treatment one can have.