If you’ve ever felt like your heart is fluttering or skipping a beat, you’ve likely experienced heart palpitations. Heart palpitations are often harmless but may signal a heart condition in rare cases.
Learn how to recognize common heart palpitations and when they might signal an abnormal heartbeat. You'll know when to seek medical care and how to monitor your symptoms. Tracking your symptoms is important, especially if palpitations are unusual or persistent. If you're unsure, consulting your doctor can help provide clarity and peace of mind.
What are heart palpitations?
Heart palpitations can feel like your heart is beating rapidly, flip-flopping, pounding or racing.
Everyone experiences heart palpitations differently. One person may feel like their heart is skipping beats, while another person might feel like their heart is beating faster and harder than normal. Heart palpitations can vary in intensity and frequency and last seconds to hours.
Heart palpitations aren’t just feelings you notice in your chest during intense exercise. You can also feel palpitations in your throat and neck and may have them when you’re active or relaxing.
What causes heart palpitations?
How can you tell when your heart rhythm is nothing to worry about and when an abnormal heart rhythm is a sign of a more serious heart condition, such as heart arrhythmias?
For most people, anxiety, strenuous exercise, hormonal changes and panic attacks can cause their hearts to pump faster. Some people can experience palpitations if they drink too much coffee or alcohol or smoke cigarettes. Taking diet pills and using illegal drugs like cocaine and other stimulants can also make your heart race.
Medical conditions like low blood pressure, heart disease, heart valve problems, elevated potassium levels in the blood and an overactive thyroid can trigger palpitations. Certain medications, such as asthma medication, thyroid pills and cold medicines, may also cause heart palpitations.
While there are many causes of irregular heartbeats, heart palpitations are rarely serious. However, if you have a history of heart disease, chest pain, shortness of breath or dizziness or notice your symptoms are more frequent or worsening, you should contact your doctor.
Stress + anxiety
Does your heart speed up in nerve-wracking situations like going on a blind date, a stressful job interview or an anxiety-inducing social event? That’s your body’s “fight or flight” response to feeling nervous, panicked or afraid, making your heart rate jump.
It can be scary when it happens, but heart palpitations that are caused by anxiety are normal and usually go away when your stress level decreases.
Stimulants
Coffee, nicotine and energy drinks are stimulants that release chemicals called neurotransmitters into your brain and body, making you feel more awake and energized. Stimulants also refer to a class of Illegal drugs like cocaine and amphetamines (when used without a prescription) to improve performance.
Stimulants speed up the nervous system by mimicking adrenaline and increase heart rate and blood pressure, causing the heart to beat faster and shortness of breath.
Avoiding regular and occasional use of stimulants, especially illegal drugs, is one of the best ways to decrease your risk for irregular heartbeats.
Alcohol
Alcohol raises your blood pressure and interferes with electrical signals that keep your heart rhythm stable. People who drink heavily or drink for years can cause the electrical signals to change permanently, leading to an abnormal heartbeat called an arrhythmia.
Studies have shown that the risk of heart disease increases with alcohol consumption, particularly among women and people who are assigned female at birth (AFAB) ages 18–65. Moderate to heavy drinking is linked to a higher risk of irregular heartbeat in men and women.
Binge drinking (4 drinks for women and 5 drinks for men within two hours) can cause the most common type of heart arrhythmia, called atrial fibrillation or AFib, and people who binge drink have the highest risk of developing heart disease.
Diet
Did you know what and how much you eat can affect your heart rhythm? A diet high in salt, carbohydrates and sugar is not good for your heart.
Foods that can lead to palpitations include the following:
- High-sodium foods (canned soup/meat, frozen meals, pretzels, pickles, instant pudding, boxed potatoes, pizza, salad dressing, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, bacon, dried meats/jerky, cold cuts).
- High-carbohydrate foods (bread, pasta, canned fruit, bagels, soda, potato chips, French fries, sweetened yogurt and ice cream).
- High-sugar foods (sugary drinks, juice, cereal, packaged foods, baked goods, honey and dairy).
Your heart needs a healthy serving of minerals like magnesium and potassium to keep it beating normally. A lack of either of these essential nutrients can lead to heart palpitations. Talk to your doctor about how much sodium and potassium you need in your diet.
The size of your meals and how long it takes you to eat are as important as what you’re eating. Eating large meals or eating too fast can cause your heart rate to increase to aid in digestion. Generally, palpitations after eating aren’t cause for alarm, but it’s best to eat slowly and smaller portions.
Exercise
Vigorous exercise and physical exertion temporarily increase your heart rate and may lead to heart palpitations. When you stop exercising, your heart rate slows, and your heart palpitations should fade.
If you continue to have palpitations combined with other symptoms like nausea, lightheadedness or dizziness, you should seek immediate medical attention. It’s more common for smokers, people with high blood pressure and poor diets, to experience heart palpitations during exercise.
You don’t have to stop exercising with heart palpitations. Try less strenuous exercises, such as cardio or yoga and talk to your doctor for recommendations tailored to your condition.
Medical conditions
Common medical conditions can cause heart palpitations, such as arrhythmias (when your heart beats too fast or slow), hyperthyroidism (when your thyroid makes too much thyroid hormone) and heart disease (a range of heart conditions such as coronary artery disease).
It’s important to know whether your medical condition makes you more susceptible to palpitations so you can watch for symptoms and changes in your heartbeat.
Lifestyle changes and taking prescribed medications will help decrease palpitations.
Medications + supplements
Certain medications, such as asthma inhalers, beta blockers and thyroid drugs, can cause heart palpitations. Common over-the-counter cough, cold and decongestants may also cause irregular heartbeats.
Natural supplements such as bitter orange, ephedra, ginseng, hawthorn and valerian can increase your heart rate and cause heart palpitations.
Drug interactions have the potential to cause palpitations. You should always talk to your doctor before taking medications.
Hormonal changes
Changes in estrogen and progesterone, which fluctuate during puberty, pregnancy, menopause, and menstrual cycles, can lead to palpitations, making women and AFABs susceptible to irregular heartbeats.
Hormone imbalances from hyperthyroidism and endocrine disorders, caused by too much or too little of certain hormones, can increase the risk of palpitations.
Women and AFABs can experience surges and drops in hormones throughout their lives during their monthly menstrual cycle, pregnancy and menopause. For instance, the heart works double during pregnancy to support the developing baby. Each of these stages can trigger noticeable increases and irregularities in the heartbeat.
Electrolyte imbalance
Electrolytes are essential minerals like potassium, sodium and magnesium that regulate heart function. Our bodies must have a balanced supply of electrolytes to keep our heartbeat steady.
Dehydration, a poor diet, and certain medications can cause electrolyte imbalance. Symptoms of an electrolyte imbalance include the following:
- Muscle cramps
- Weakness
- Dizziness
- Dry mouth/thirst
- Confusion
- Fatigue
- Constipation
- Itching
- Low/high blood pressure
- Difficulty breathing
- Nausea/vomiting
- Numbness or tingling
Dehydration
When you’re dehydrated, less fluid is in your blood vessels, decreasing blood volume. Low blood volume causes your heart to pump harder to circulate your blood throughout your body. The extra work increases your heart rate and can lead to heart palpitations.
Dehydration occurs when the body doesn’t have enough fluid or loses fluids due to excessive sweating, vomiting, diarrhea or urination. Medical conditions like diabetes and kidney disease, as do medications that increase urination, increase the risk of dehydration.
Be sure to drink enough fluids, especially when you’re sick and watch for signs of dehydration, such as dry mouth, dizziness, dark urine, constipation, low blood pressure, swollen feet, muscle cramps and headaches.
Common scenarios for experiencing heart palpitations
Heart palpitations are something almost everyone will experience at some point in their lives and are one of the most common reasons for visiting a cardiologist. Most heart palpitations are normal, and they are rarely serious.
Many situations cause people to experience a short-lived fluttering, racing or flip-flopping heartbeat. Understanding what situations, foods, medical conditions, hormonal changes and stress can trigger palpitations will help reduce your risk and manage symptoms.
Heart palpitations during periods of stress or anxiety
- When our bodies feel stress or anxiety, our fight-or-flight response kicks in, and we get a surge of adrenaline.
- Work pressure, personal relationships and major life changes can trigger heart palpitations.
Heart palpitations during exercise
Exercising is one of the best ways to improve heart health. Cardio exercise, like high-intensity interval training, causes your heart to beat faster and harder, which is good. However, if your heartbeat doesn’t slow when you stop exercising and you feel dizzy, nauseous or have chest pain, you should seek medical attention.
- Warming up and cooling down before and after exercising can minimize heart palpitations. This process allows blood pressure to ramp up and slow down gradually and protects muscles from injury.
Heart palpitations after consuming stimulants
- Overstimulating your heart by drinking highly caffeinated beverages like energy drinks or too many cups of coffee can lead to heart palpitations. Nicotine and certain medications have the same effect.
- Reducing stimulants like caffeine and quitting smoking is the best way to avoid heart palpitations.
Heart Palpitations after eating
- Large meals, foods high in sugar and fat and drinking too much alcohol can cause palpitations. Aim to eat a low-sugar, low-fat diet and reduce or eliminate how much alcohol you drink. Avoid heavy meals before bedtime and opt for smaller portions.
Heart palpitations at night
- Heart palpitations can be caused by lying down, changes in heart rate or taking stimulants at night.
- Maintaining good sleep hygiene, such as establishing a regular sleep schedule and creating a soothing environment, can keep your heart calm at night.
- Find ways to relax before bed, such as reading, meditating, listening to a podcast or taking a warm bath so that you can doze off easily.
Heart palpitations during pregnancy
Pregnancy causes hormone shifts, which may result in harmless palpitations. Palpitations are common during pregnancy as the amount of blood in the mother’s body increases, and the heart works extra hard to pump blood to the developing fetus.
- Staying hydrated, eating a balanced diet and getting enough sleep are keys to keeping your heart happy during pregnancy.
How to prevent + control heart palpitations
Heart palpitations can be distressing, but there are ways to reduce the fluttering in your chest. Incorporate exercise and healthy, low-sodium food into your diet, reduce stress and limit stimulants and alcohol consumption.
- Quitting smoking, drug use or excessive drinking will lower your risk of palpitations. Avoiding triggers and managing your health conditions will help control heart palpitations.
Lifestyle modifications
- Exercise, meditation and getting enough sleep can go a long way toward curbing palpitations.
- You should schedule regular visits with your doctor to discuss your heart health and recommendations for lifestyle changes.
Avoiding triggers
Everyone’s triggers differ depending on their health history, medical condition and lifestyle. Identifying your risk factors is the first step to making changes. For instance, if you smoke, quit.
- Making changes can be difficult, but avoiding triggers can help. For instance, cut your portion in half if you have large meals, replace high-carbohydrate foods with leafy, green vegetables and schedule time in your calendar for a daily walk.
Medical management
While most heart palpitations are normal, there are times when you should get an expert opinion. If you notice persistent or concerning symptoms of heart palpitations, contact your doctor to discuss your symptoms.
In some cases, if your doctor is concerned, they may recommend that you wear a portable electrocardiogram (ECG) called a Holter monitor. The device records the electrical activity of your heart as you go about your day.
- Your doctor may suggest medications like beta blockers to help control palpitations. It’s important to follow your doctor's treatment plan and take medications as prescribed.
When to go to the doctor for heart palpitations
- Seek medical attention: If you’re having severe heart palpitations that won’t go away or worsening with symptoms like chest pain, dizziness and shortness of breath.
- Contact your doctor: If palpitations occur alongside known health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes or thyroid issues.
- Schedule an appointment with your doctor: If palpitations happen without clear triggers or if their frequency or intensity increases.
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