The heart’s upper chambers are called atria, and this is where the normal heartbeat begins. This area, also known as the sinus node, acts as a natural pacemaker since it is responsible for making the heartbeat stable and regular.
During bradycardia, beats happen and are transmitted in a standard way, only much slower, which decreases the heart rate up to 60 beats per minute. However, most sinus bradycardias are benign arrhythmias that do not result in any health risk or compromise cardiac function; even in some cases, such as people who practice sports intensively, it presents as a normal condition and physiological.
This FastlyHealarticle will discuss sinus bradycardia: causes, symptoms, and treatment.
Table of Contents
Causes of sinus bradycardia
Sinus bradycardia can be caused by many factors such as illness, sinus node problems, or everyday activities. The most common causes are:
- Constant and very intense physical training.
- Hypotorioidismo.
- Sinus node disease.
- Sinus bradycardia is a previous symptom of myocardial infarction.
- This condition can also occur generally while we sleep.
- Scar damage to myocardial tissue.
- Age over 50 years.
- Arterial hypertension.
- Digitalis drugs, calcium channel blockers, beta-blockers, and antiarrhythmics.
- Congenital heart disease.
- Sleep apnea.
- Rheumatic fever and lupus.
- Syncope.
- Alteration of intracranial pressure.
- Lack of oxygen.
Symptoms of sinus bradycardia
Sinus bradycardia does not always have symptoms. This type is more common in young people and healthy athletes who regain their average heart rate over the years; most do not find out until they attend a routine medical check-up. Sinus bradycardia also occurs during vomiting, sleep, and syncope. In some cases, when a person sees something that amazes and is significantly surprised, asymptomatic sinus bradycardia also occurs.
However, when symptoms accompany sinus bradycardia, it is usually caused by a problem in the sinus node or by heart damage or congenital heart disease. In these cases, the slow heart rate may be accompanied by the following symptoms:
- Chest pain
- Angina pectoris.
- Fainting.
- Mental confusion.
- Fatigue.
- Dizziness and vertigo
- Palpitations
- Difficulty breathing .
Treatment for sinus bradycardia
Once the medical specialist has determined the existence of sinus bradycardia, a series of tests and examinations will be necessary to check the health of your heart. For example, performing an electrocardiogram can help the doctor check the normality or abnormality of the heart rhythms and know where the disorder originates. Likewise, Holter monitoring helps identify alterations in the heart rate that make it excessively slow; even with this test, prolonged pauses and tachycardias can be determined.
Once it is verified that cardiovascular health is not compromised, as in most cases, if sinus bradycardia is asymptomatic, it will not be necessary to carry out any treatment or consume any medication; however, the specialist may review the medicines you down and make some changes to prevent bradycardia from worsening, this in case the condition is caused by the intake of a drug.
When sinus bradycardia significantly affects the heart rate and is due to a problem in the sinus node that is not regulating the transmission of beats correctly, it will be necessary to place an artificial pacemaker to do the work that the upper chambers of the heart cannot. They are managing to exercise normally. People with permanent pacemakers are not at risk of any kind; they can completely forget about the diagnosis of sinus bradycardia.
This article is merely informative, at FastlyHeal .com we do not have the power to prescribe medical treatments or make any type of diagnosis. We invite you to see a doctor in the case of presenting any type of condition or discomfort.
If you want to read more articles similar to Sinus Bradycardia: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment , we recommend that you enter our Blood, Heart and Circulation category .
I am a Surgeon with a diploma in comprehensive ultrasound and surgical care residency, an area I am specializing in. During the exercise of my profession, I have realized the need for patients to know the diseases they suffer, and I can tell you that a large part of their complications is due to a lack of information. Being a health web writer allows me to transmit my experience, without borders, to all those readers eager for knowledge, educate them in the prevention of diseases and promote a healthy lifestyle.