Overview
A normal heart rate at rest is between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Slower than that is called bradycardia and faster is tachycardia.
This may be completely normal but can be due to abnormal electrical circuits in the heart resulting in symptoms of palpitations, breathlessness, light‑headedness or transient loss of consciousness (syncope).
Symptoms
You may be unaware of your heart beating slowly, but bradycardia can be associated with a number of symptoms such as:
- Light‑headedness
- Transient loss of consciousness (syncope)
- Fatigue
- Breathlessness
- Reduced exercise capacity
Symptoms related to tachycardia are predominantly the awareness of your heart beating fast (palpitations) but can also be associated with other symptoms:
- Light‑headedness (rarely syncope)
- Breathlessness
- Reduced exercise capacity
Causes
Bradycardia can be caused by heart block, when there is an interruption to the normal wiring of the heart.
Tachycardia can be caused by spontaneous electrical activity or a short circuit resulting in continuous electrical activation.
Some inherited cardiovascular conditions (ICC) can increase the risk of heart rhythm problems.
Diagnosis
Correlating symptoms with your heart rhythm is key to making an accurate diagnosis and guiding treatment. This is usually obtained by continuous ECG monitoring for 24 hours or longer, depending on how frequent your symptoms are.
Treatment
For treatment options, please see:
- Bradycardia
- Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT)
- Atrial flutter
- Atrial fibrillation (AF)
- Ventricular ectopics
- Ventricular tachycardia (VT)