How to prevent arrhythmias

Text: Claudia Pinto with Dr. Carlos Morais (Pacing and Arrhythmology Unit, of the Fernando Fonseca Hospital) and Dr. Helena Cid (nutritionist)

Arrhythmia means irregular heart beat.  Symptoms can often be silent, but they are picked up primarily by doing an electrocardiogram.  Dizziness, fainting, shortness of breath, weakness or fatigue, pounding or discomfort in the chest or feeling as though your heart is skipping a beat can all be symptoms of this condition.

Experts reveal simple rules that help keep your heart rate in order The prevention of arrhythmias is the same as that of cardiovascular disease in general.

"Prevention of arrhythmias is to have a healthy lifestyle, drinking alcohol in moderation, not smoking, controlling cholesterol, exercising regularly and having blood pressure well controlled," underlined Carlos Morais, responsible for the Pacing and Arrhythmology Unit in the Fernando da Fonseca Hospital in Amadora.

Here are the main rules to follow:

Simultaneously, we must try to manage stress, a major trigger of arrhythmia. It is also important to sleep soundly. This means the minimum appropriate hours and getting enough rest.

For Luis Negrao, medical advisor of the Portuguese Cardiology Foundation (PCF), above all, "People should promote a healthy mind. The big message of this year's month of May, the Month of the Heart, is worldwide health.

"Knowing all risk factors for cardiovascular disease is essential so that we can be alert. Increasingly, knowing that the social component is also a determinant of good health is also important. An individual who has a good and cohesive family structure is usually healthier," argues Luis Negrao.

To take a walk or a ride on weekends, in addition to being healthy, is increasingly a habit of distinction. So says the medical adviser of the FPC. "If you notice, in many riverside areas of our country, we find hundreds of people have already joined, because it gives them pleasure to walk, to walk and be part of a family."

Translated from the Portuguese version and appended by:

Lisa Karpova

Pravda.Ru