By The Doc

Drinking, smoking and energy drinks can all cause palpitations

In the average lifetime a heart will beat approximately 2.2 billion times.

It’s fair to say you’re not paying attention to most of these beats.

There are times, however, when you do become aware of them – if you experience palpitations.

You may feel the heart pounding, thumping, racing or fluttering for a few seconds or minutes. It may seem a bit irregular.

It can feel a little unusual when this happens, even a little scary. After all the heart is responsible for pumping vital blood around your body.

But on most occasions palpitations, which all of us are likely to experience from time to time, are nothing to worry about.

Often people do things in their everyday life which will cause noticeable palpitations, and most of these will be fairly obvious.

It won’t surprise you to learn strenuous exercise can cause them. A lack of sleep can set them off. Pregnancy often causes a higher heart rate than normal.

Drinking too much coffee, tea, or those dreadful energy drinks can bring palpitations on, one of the reasons why too much caffeine is a bad idea.

Alcohol, smoking, or drugs like cannabis can cause them, as can certain prescribed medications.

Too much Salbutamol, which is found in asthma inhalers, can lead to palpitations. But so can some high blood pressure tablets, antihistamines, antidepressants, or antifungal medicines.

Some people experience palpitations as a result of anxiety or panic attacks.

If the cause isn’t obvious, speak to your doc, who will check you over and rule out other triggers such as overactive thyroid or anaemia. Medications can be adjusted and causes, such as anxiety, treated.

Sometimes in more rare cases, though, people may have a problem with their heart rhythm.

These come in a variety of flavours. If I’ve ruled out some of the other triggers of palpitations then the hospital can do a battery of tests to get to the bottom of matters.

A patient can be hooked up to a monitoring device – which measures what the heart is doing.

This is more likely to be needed if palpitations are accompanied by shortness of breath, chest tightness or dizziness – and if symptoms are prolonged or severe, urgent medical attention should be sought.