What Might Happen To Your Heart Rate During A Heart Attack?

It has been observed that though heart rate might not be indicative of an upcoming heart attack essentially, it can sometimes predict the recovery success rate

A normal resting heart beats between 60 to 100 times a minute. Certain medical conditions like changes in the electrical system of the heart or structural changes might cause it to beat abnormally. This might cause the heart rate to rise or fall. There are however some exceptions such as sleep or physical exercise when it might increase or decrease. Sometimes conditions like arrhythmias can cause the heart rate to alter. It might be interesting to know what might be happening to the heart rate during a heart attack. Can heart rate changes be an indicating factor of an impending heart attack?

In medical terminology, a high heart rate (above 100 beats a minute) is called tachycardia and a heart rate below 60 beats a minute is termed bradycardia. It has been observed that an elevated heart rate cannot be taken as an indicator or symptom of a heart attack. Many times, the heart rate might also remain constant during a heart attack.

What might happen to heart rate during heart attack?

Heart rate might or might not change during a heart attack. As per reports, certain types of coronary artery infarctions can affect the electrical systems of the heart and cause the heart rate to fluctuate. Also, if the person has conditions like tachycardia or bradycardia, then they might naturally have fluctuating heart rates during the attack. It has been observed that though heart rate might not be indicative of an upcoming heart attack essentially, it can sometimes predict the recovery success rate. According to a study, a heart rate of over 80 heartbeats had the highest risk of dying following a heart attack.

How heart attack might affect heart rate?

Heart attacks happen when blood flow to the heart muscles is obstructed or blocked. It can result in tissue loss. Heart attacks are of different types and might affect heart rates differently. During STEMI (ST-segment elevation) heart attack, something might completely block the heart artery and the heart rate might increase. In non-STEMI heart attacks, the blood to the heart muscles is not completely stopped. The heart rate might or might not increase. In case of a coronary spasm attack where the muscles of the coronary artery might constrict and blood flow will get restricted. Here the heart rate might remain constant or might fluctuate a bit.

What should be your heart rate?

A normal adult resting heart should beat between 60 to 100 beats a minute. Heart rate also progressively gets lower as one moves from childhood to adolescence. Pulse is often confused with heart rate. While the latter is the number of times your heart beats in a minute, the former suggests the number of times the arteries contract or relax in a minute.