A High Heart Rate-What Can It Possibly Mean For You?

A high heart rate can be due to many factors, such as physical activity, panic, stress, or anxiety. In order to accurately measure your heart rate, you will need to measure it while you are in a relaxed, resting state.

If you don't know how to take your heart rate, you can download Instant Heart Rate to measure your heart rate with your phone. By placing your finger on your camera lens, Instant Heart Rate can measure your heart rate in less than 10 seconds.

So, what does a high heart rate look like?

While resting, a healthy adult heart beats 60 to 100 times per minute. If a person's heart rate is consistently over 100 beats per minute, the person is considered to have a high heart rate, which is also known as tachycardia.

Although tachycardia is considered relatively harmless, it can decrease the efficiency of the heart by lowering the amount of blood pumped throughout your body. With less oxygenated blood circulating the body, the body receives less oxygen and the person may ultimately experience dizziness, lightheadedness, chest pain, or fainting.

Tachycardia can be caused by several factors:

• Heart conditions – heart related conditions such as high blood pressure and poor blood supply to the heart muscle due to coronary artery disease, heart valve disease, heart failure, heart muscle disease, tumors or infections.
• Health conditions – Overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) and emphysema and other lung diseases
• Stimulants – drinking large amounts of alcoholic or caffeinated beverages, smoking cigarettes, and abuse of recreational drugs.
• Other – abnormal electrical pathways caused by a genetic defect at birth, electrolyte imbalances in the body (too little potassium, calcium, sodium and other minerals), and side effects of heart medications

Remember that a high heart rate can be due to a number of reasons. When logging your heart rate in Instant Heart Rate, be sure to go to the timeline and see trends in your heart rate. If you see a consistent high heart rate, it may be time to look into a professional analysis. Contact your doctor about your heart rate to find the best treatment for your health.