Menopause Heart Palpitations 9 Tips For A Healthy Heart

What Causes Heart Palpitations During Menopause?

Menopause Heart Palpitations 9 Tips For A Healthy Heart

Heart palpitations are a result of falling estrogen levels, which leads to an overstimulation of the heart.
This is because it affects the “electrical system” of the heart.
The system gets jammed and your heart starts to race a little, resulting in the heart skipping a beat or fluttering.
This can be a really unpleasant experience and can feel as if you’re having a heart attack.
Palpitations in menopause also often happen during hot flushes.
Heart rate can increase by 8 to 16 beats while you are in the middle of a hot flush.

Other causes of palpitations during menopause

Dehydration
If you get night sweats or even hot flashes in the evening, you will be going to bed in a state of dehydration.
This can be a trigger for palpitations.

Sodium and potassium level imbalances
The body maintains a fine balance between the two and if they are out of sync that in itself can affect your heartbeat.

Stress and anxiety
If you are stressed during the day or anxious all the time, the nervous system will be overexcited, producing more adrenaline to be pumped into the heart.

Low blood pressure
This happens when the force at which the heart pumps blood through the arteries, falls.

Low blood sugar
Low levels of blood sugar can cause a rapid heartbeat and heart palpitations.
Overactive thyroid gland
Excess thyroid hormones can trigger abnormal heart rhythms.

When you should not delay seeing your doctor

Palpitations should only last a few seconds and only occasionally.
See your doctor if they are getting worse over time and you suffer from any of the following:

Chest pains
Heart is really pounding
Shortness of breach
Dizziness or fainting

Sources
medicalnewstoday.com – what’s to know about heart palpitations and menopause
bhf.org.uk – menopause and your heart

The role of estrogen in heart functions

Estrogen is a hormone that plays various roles in the body, one of them being that it aids in the function of the cardiovascular system.
It helps to reduce the fatty plaques that can build up in your arteries.
In a way, estrogen is a protector of the heart.
As you go through menopause, estrogen levels start to fall resulting in a bigger build-up of fatty plaques in the arteries.

Very often the decrease of estrogen can happen very slowly and you might not necessarily be aware of any changes to your heart or to your blood.
Falling estrogen affects the blood vessels themselves and your arteries may become less elastic and slightly more static.
The big coronary arteries, need to expand to take up the pressure that is behind each heartbeat.
If your blood vessels lose their elasticity, it can increase your risk of a heart attack.

Palpitations are also as a result of falling estrogen levels.
This is because it affects the “electrical system” of the heart, resulting in the heart skipping a beat or fluttering when two beats are very close together.
This can be a really unpleasant experience and can feel as if you’re having a heart attack.

Sources
clevelandclinic.org – estrogen and the heart
endocrineweb.com – how your hormones affect your heart

Other factors that can affect heart health

Cholesterol levels
A lot of women find that their cholesterol starts to rise quite quickly as they go through menopause
Weight gain
Eating the wrong foods can raise cholesterol levels and putting on too much weight can affect your blood pressure.
Resting heart rate
The lower the better, with a resting heart rate of between 60 and 100 beats per minute being regarded as normal.
Genetics
If family members are predisposed to heart attacks, high blood pressure and cholesterol then you may be more vulnerable as you start going through menopause.
Aerobic fitness
Cardio exercise gets the heart pumping and builds endurance and includes any exercise that increases breathing and heart rate.
Blood pressure
High blood pressure when left uncontrolled can be a major risk for strokes and heart attacks
Smoking
Quit smoking to reduce the risk of heart attacks.
Diabetes
Falling estrogen can make you more vulnerable to diabetes which in turn can lead to heart problems.

Sources
heart.org – things that can affect the heart

Lifestyle tips for keeping your heart healthy during menopause

Balancing and gently raising estrogen
Take a Ladies Support supplement which can help to gently balance estrogen levels.
Avoid the following foods
High salt, sugar, caffeine, and saturated fatty foods.

Omega3 oils
Keep your heart healthy and protect it against stroke.
If you are vegetarian or vegan, you can look at taking flaxseed oil.

A varied and healthy diet
Have a varied diet with more vegetables, fruit, whole grains, fish, and low-fat dairy.

Switch out your salt
Go for sea salt or Himalayan salt as this offers a more comprehensive salt that is less processed.
Limit intake to 1tsp per day.

Exercise
Walking, swimming, riding a bike, or any other form of aerobic exercise for 30 minutes, at least 3 times a week.

Manage stress
Stress plays a huge factor in heart health.
A lot of menopausal women end up with stress palpitations which can be as frightening as hormonal heart palpitations.
Try a natural stress remedy.

Stop smoking and limit alcohol
Not enough can be said about smoking and drinking and the effect they have on your heart health.

Get your blood pressure and your cholesterol checked regularly
Know your numbers, high blood pressure is regarded as a reading of 130 or higher for the top number, or 80 or higher for the bottom number.
Know the difference between LDL (“bad”) and HDL (“good”) cholesterol.

Supplement with Hawthorne
It can help with high and low blood pressure, but it can take 3 to 6 months to show benefits.

Include enough magnesium, calcium & potassium in your diet
Magnesium helps your heart keep a healthy rhythm and is involved in carrying other electrolytes, such as calcium and potassium into the cells.
Potassium helps trigger your heart to squeeze blood through your body.
Calcium plays an important role in the pumping and electrical function of the heart.

You can also suffer from low blood pressure during menopause and this can be just as damaging as high blood pressure.