About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffHeart rhythm problems (heart arrhythmias) occur when the electrical impulses in your heart that coordinate your heartbeats don't work properly, causing your heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly.
Heart arrhythmias (uh-RITH-me-uhs) are often harmless. Most people have occasional, irregular heartbeats that may feel like a fluttering or racing heart. However, some heart arrhythmias may cause bothersome — sometimes even life-threatening — signs and symptoms.
Heart arrhythmia treatment can often control or eliminate irregular heartbeats. In addition, because troublesome heart arrhythmias are often made worse — or are even caused — by a weak or damaged heart, you may be able to reduce your arrhythmia risk by adopting a heart-healthy lifestyle.
- The heart's electrical system: Working and not. American Heart Association. http://americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=34. Accessed Dec. 1, 2010.
- Heart rhythm disorders. Heart Rhythm Society. http://www.hrsonline.org/PatientInfo/HeartRhythmDisorders/index.cfm. Accessed Dec. 1, 2010.
- Long QT syndrome. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/qt/qt_all.html. Accessed Dec. 1, 2010.
- Atrial flutter. Heart Rhythm Society. http://www.hrsonline.org/patientinfo/heartrhythmdisorders/aflutter/. Accessed Dec. 1, 2010.
- Sick sinus syndrome. Heart Rhythm Society. http://www.hrsonline.org/patientinfo/heartrhythmdisorders/sss. Accessed Dec. 1, 2010.
- Mehra R, et al. Association of nocturnal arrhythmias with sleep-disordered breathing: The Sleep Heart Health Study. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2006;173:910.
- Diagnosing arrhythmias. American Heart Association. http://americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3. Accessed Dec. 1, 2010.
- Arrhythmia medications. American Heart Association. http://americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=18. Accessed Nov. 30, 2010.
- Ablation. American Heart Association. http://americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=6. Accessed Nov. 30, 2010.
- Maze procedure. University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. http://www.cts.usc.edu/mazeprocedure.html. Accessed Dec. 1, 2010.
- Pacemaker. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/pace/pace_all.html. Accessed Nov. 30, 2010.
- Implantable cardioverter defibrillator. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/icd/icd_all.html. Accessed Dec. 2, 2010.
- Connolly S, et al. Dabigatran versus warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation. New England Journal of Medicine. 2009;361:1139.
- Wann LS, et al. 2011 ACCF/AHA/HRS focused update on the management of patients with atrial fibrillation (updating the 2006 guideline): A report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines. Circulation. 2010;123:104.
Find Mayo Clinic on