A Hop, Skip, and a Jump: Do You Have an Irregular Heartbeat?

From time to time, your heart may flutter when you're excited, nervous, or exercising hard. And if your heart's off-beat (arrhythmia) goes away as quickly as it came about it might seem like no cause for concern. But the whole picture is a little more complicated. It's a good idea to know when that fleeting flutter may be putting your health at risk.

A Circuitry Problem with Many Possible Causes

In order to have a healthy, regular heartbeat (60 to 100 beats a minute) the heart's four chambers must work in harmony with one another. A heartbeat is produced when an electrical signal travels through these chambers. If something goes wrong with this signal, your heartbeat may speed up, slow down, or seem out of sync.

While an arrhythmia can strike anyone at any age, the condition is particularly common among older adults. The cause is often unclear. But experts have found that an arrhythmia can sometimes result from:

• Heart disease
• Stress
• Caffeine
• Tobacco
• Alcohol
• Cough and cold medicines that contain decongestants

An irregular heartbeat is often harmless and needs no treatment. But sometimes, it signals a larger problem that can be too dangerous to ignore. An arrhythmia that happens on a regular basis, for instance, needs a doctor's attention. And don't wait to get help if your irregular heartbeat occurs with any of the following:

• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Fainting
• Light-headedness
• Fatigue

You've been tired before, but not like this. Why are you so wiped out? The answer could be that your heart is trying to tell you something.

There's evidence that unexplained fatigue in women may be an early warning sign of a heart attack. A recent study of more than 500 women who had heart attacks found that more than 70% had suffered unusual fatigue more than one month before their attack occurred. Some women described the intensity of the fatigue as severe.

In addition, nearly half of the women had disturbed sleep and 42% had shortness of breath more than one month before their heart attack. Yet less than 30% had chest pain as a telltale warning sign, a classic sign of a heart attack in many men.

It's also important to talk with your doctor if you have a history of heart disease and have noticed that you sometimes have an irregular heartbeat.

Ways to Treat the Beat

Treatments depend on the type of arrhythmia that you have. These tips may help you manage the condition:

• Try to come up with ways to reduce emotional stress.
• Avoid excessive amounts of caffeine and alcohol.
• Talk with your doctor about strategies for keeping your blood pressure at a healthy level.

Call-to-Action: Stay heart-healthy by losing excess weight and managing stress. Be sure to get enough exercise and eat a low-fat diet. And don't forget to visit your doctor for regular checkups.

What Ejection Fraction Means to Your Health

Doctors can measure how well your heart is working by looking at the amount of blood pumped out with each beat. Called ejection fraction (EF), this measurement helps diagnose heart failure and other heart conditions, as well as risk for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).

EF tells doctors what percent of blood taken into the heart is pumped out again during a contraction. Normally, that number is 55 to 75 percent. An EF between 40 and 55 percent means there's damage to the heart. This may be from a previous heart attack or heart valve problems.

Know Your Number

An EF measurement of less than 40 percent could point to heart failure or a condition called cardiomyopathy, where inflammation in the heart affects its function. However, some heart failure patients may have normal EF.

Tests that measure EF include ultrasounds and special X-rays. If you have heart failure or another heart problem, your doctor will tell you how often to have your EF checked.

EF Can Guide Therapy

Measuring EF can help doctors decide what type of heart failure a patient has, how serious it is, and if treatment for the condition is helping. You should not be concerned if there are small changes in the EF. But if EF drops steadily month after month, doctors may need to change heart failure therapy. Proper treatment can increase EF over time.

An EF lower than 40 percent could mean an increased risk for SCA, where a heart rhythm problem causes the heart to stop pumping blood. That's why it's important for those with heart failure to have EF checked, according to the Heart Rhythm Society.