What is the cause of unstable heartbeat?

Many people think they are in good health, but when they check an electrocardiogram, the doctor will tell them that they have an irregular heartbeat. As the name suggests, arrhythmia means unstable heartbeat. But under normal circumstances, the heartbeat should be relatively stable, so if the heartbeat is unstable, many people will panic and take various medicines, but rarely get the effects they desire. So, what causes an unstable heartbeat?

Many people, especially young people, often receive the diagnosis of "sinus arrhythmia" when they have an electrocardiogram during a physical examination. Most people know that the heartbeat should be regular, so when they hear the term "arrhythmia", many people think it is an abnormal phenomenon. Although there are no symptoms, one still seeks medical treatment and experts everywhere in the hope of curing the "disease" as soon as possible. But doctors often say, "No need for treatment." These people become worried again, wondering if it is some difficult or complicated disease that cannot be cured.

In fact, "sinus arrhythmia" is a normal physiological phenomenon, not a disease. "Sinus arrhythmia" is most common in children and adolescents, but is also not uncommon in adults.

The beating of a normal human heart is directed by a high-level command center called the sinoatrial node. The sinoatrial node sends signals to stimulate the heart to beat. The heartbeat caused by the signal from the sinoatrial node is called normal "sinus rhythm", with a frequency of about 60-100 beats per minute. This is where the number of heart beats per minute, or heart rate, comes from. But this frequency may be affected by many factors, even breathing.

Normally, the heartbeat rhythm is regular. If the heartbeat is irregular, we call it arrhythmia. From this perspective, "sinus arrhythmia" is the most common type of arrhythmia, which is caused by the fact that the signal from the sinoatrial node is not completely regular. However, most of these "arrhythmias" belong to "respiratory sinus arrhythmia", which is a normal physiological phenomenon. Its characteristic is that it changes with breathing. The heart rate may increase by several beats when inhaling and slow down by several beats when exhaling. Its fast and slow cycle is exactly equal to one breathing cycle, and the heart rhythm becomes regular when holding the breath. This "sinus arrhythmia" that changes with breathing is completely normal and there is no need to worry or treat it.

Therefore, people diagnosed with "sinus arrhythmia" can pay attention to whether there is any relationship between the acceleration and deceleration of their heart rate and their breathing. As long as there are no other symptoms, no treatment is needed and you can study and live normally.

Now many doctors have also noticed the panic that "sinus arrhythmia" brings to people, so they will write "sinus rhythm" when diagnosing.

In addition, factors such as mental stress may also cause "sinus arrhythmia", which also does not require treatment.