Slow Heart Beat Rate

Chest | Cardiology | Slow Heart Beat Rate (Symptom)


Description

The low heart rate is associated with the term bradycardia. This means that the heart beats too slowly. For most people, a heart rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute. If the heart beats 60 times less than a minute, the doctor may diagnose bradycardia.

Causes

A slow heart rate is normal and can sometimes be a sign of being very fit. Healthy young adults and athletes often have heart rates under 60 beats per minute.

In other people, bradycardia is a sign of a problem with the hearts electrical system. This means that the hearts natural pacemaker is not working properly, or the electrical pathways of the heart are interrupted. In severe forms of bradycardia, the heart beats so constant that does not pump enough blood to the body of human needs. This can be life threatening.

Bradycardia may be caused, inter alia, by changes in the heart that is the result of aging or diseases affecting the heart's electrical system.

...