If you have had heart flutters or heart palpitations, to give them another name, then it can be extremely worrying. It is always worth getting it checked out by a doctor as heart flutters are occasionally an indication of a larger problem. Generally speaking however, if you are in good physical health they do not indicate an underlying heart condition and are usually the result of physical exertion, fear anxiety, an excess of caffeine or too much smoking. Some prescription drugs cam also lead to heart flutters or palpitations.

Heart Health

When your heart is working normally it is told to beat by electrical impulses. These normally originate in the upper right chamber of the heart (the atrium). With a normal heart beat the electrical impulse then moves to the lower chambers of the heart called the ventricles. As these are stimulated the heart muscle contracts and blood is pumped into the aorta.

Heart Health

Heart palpitations occur when this normal rhythm is interrupted. They can last anything from a few seconds to several minutes. The fluttering that you feel when this goes on can be very disturbing. It may well be associated with a pounding sensation in the neck and can be accompanied by a tingling in the arms or feeling of faintness.

Having suffered palpitations myself on and off for the best part of fifteen years I can vouch for the fact that they are something that you can live with quite happily once you know that their cause is not a medical condition. Although with each new occurrence I was often tempted to get my heart checked out again. Occasionally I did.

Palpitations in younger, healthy people usually occur because of diet, lifestyle or anxiety and are often accompanied by feelings of intense anxiety often referred to as a panic attack.

One of the classic concerns of someone with an anxiety disorder is that heart flutters are a sign of a serious heart condition. Even when tested by their doctor and reassured that there is no cause for concern, anxiety sufferers will often continue to worry about the fluttering of their hearts, leading to further anxiety and more palpitations.

Having suffered from anxiety, panic attacks and heart flutters for over fourteen years I succeeded in stopping the palpitations only by successfully treating the underlying anxiety disorder.