science

Palpitations

Palpitations is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Palpitations rather than just read about it. In short: Palpitations occur when a person becomes aware of their heartbeat. The heartbeat may feel hard, fast, or uneven in their chest.

Key takeaways

Palpitations belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Palpitations to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Palpitations from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Palpitations occur when a person becomes aware of their heartbeat. The heartbeat may feel hard, fast, or uneven in their chest. Symptoms include a very fast or irregular heartbeat. Palpitations are a sensory symptom. They are often described as a skipped beat, a rapid flutter, or a pounding in the chest or neck. Palpitations are not always the result of a physical problem with the heart and can be linked to anxiety. However, they may signal a fast or irregular heartbeat. Palpitations can be brief or long-lasting. They can be intermittent or continuous. Other symptoms can include dizziness, shortness of breath, sweating, headaches, and chest pain. There are a variety of causes of palpitations not limited to the following: Palpitation may be associated with coronary heart disease, perimenopause, hyperthyroidism, adult heart muscle diseases like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, congenital heart diseases like atrial septal defects, diseases causing low blood oxygen such as asthma, emphysema or a blood clot in the lungs; previous chest surgery; kidney disease; blood loss and pain; anemia; drugs such as antidepressants, statins, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, cocaine and amphetamines; electrolyte imbalances of magnesium, potassium and calcium; and deficiencies of nutrients such as taurine, arginine, iron or vitamin B12.

Signs and symptoms

Three common descriptions of palpitation are:

"flip-flopping" (or "stop and start") is often caused by premature contraction of the atrium or ventricle. The pause after the contraction causes the "stop." The "start" comes from the next forceful contraction. rapid "fluttering in the chest" suggests arrhythmias. Regular "fluttering" points to supraventricular or ventricular arrhythmias, including sinus tachycardia. Irregular "fluttering" suggests atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, or tachycardia with variable block. "pounding in the neck" or neck pulsations, often due to cannon A waves in the jugular vein. These occur when the right atrium contracts against a closed tricuspid valve. Palpitations often come with other symptoms. Knowing these links can help determine if they are dangerous or harmless. However, these links are not definitive and should be evaluated by a licensed healthcare provider to ensure an accurate diagnosis and proper care. Palpitations associated with chest discomfort or chest pain suggests coronary artery disease. Palpitation associated with light-headedness, fainting or near fainting suggest low blood pressure and may signify a life-threatening cardiac dysrhythmia. Palpitation that occurs regularly with exertion suggests a rate-dependent bypass tract or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. If a benign cause for these symptoms isn't found at the first visit, then prolonged heart monitoring at home or in the hospital setting may be needed. Noncardiac symptoms should also be elicited since the palpitations may be caused by a normal heart responding to a metabolic or inflammatory condition. Weight loss could suggest hyperthyroidism. Palpitation can be precipitated by vomiting or diarrhea that leads to electrolyte disorders and hypovolemia. Hyperventilation, hand tingling, and nervousness are common when anxiety or panic disorder is the cause of the palpitations.

Causes The responsibility for the perception of heartbeat by neural pathways is not clear. It has been hypothesized that these pathways include different structures located both at the intra-cardiac and extra-cardiac level. Palpitations are a widely diffuse complaint and particularly in subjects affected by structural heart disease. The list of causes of palpitations is long, and in some cases, the etiology is unable to be determined. In one study reporting the etiology of palpitations, 43% were found to be cardiac, 31% psychiatric, and approximately 10% were classified as miscellaneous (medication induced, thyrotoxicosis, caffeine, cocaine, anemia, amphetamine, mastocytosis). The cardiac etiologies of palpitations are the most life-threatening and include ventricular sources (premature ventricular contractions (PVC), ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation), atrial sources (atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter) high output states (anemia, AV fistula, Paget's disease of bone or pregnancy), structural abnormalities (congenital heart disease, cardiomegaly, aortic aneurysm, or acute left ventricular failure), and miscellaneous sources (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome abbreviated as POTS, Brugada syndrome, and sinus tachycardia). Palpitations can be a symptom of mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS). Palpitation can be attributed to one of five main causes:

Extra-cardiac stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system (inappropriate stimulation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic, particularly the vagus nerve, (which innervates the heart), can be caused by anxiety and stress due to acute or chronic elevations in glucocorticoids and catecholamines. Gastrointestinal distress such as bloating or indigestion, along with muscular imbalances and poor posture, can also irritate the vagus nerve causing palpitations) Sympathetic overdrive (panic disorder, low blood sugar, hypoxia, antihistamines (levocetirizine), low red blood cell count, heart failure, mitral valve prolapse). Hyperdynamic circulation (valvular incompetence, thyrotoxicosis, hypercapnia, high body temperature, low red blood cell count, pregnancy). Abnormal heart rhythms (ectopic beat, premature atrial contraction, junctional escape beat, premature ventricular contraction, atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, heart block). Pectus Excavatum, also known as funnel chest, is a chest wall deformity. When the breastbone (sternum) and attached ribs are sunken in enough to put excess pressure on the heart and lungs which can cause tachycardia and skipped beats. Palpitations can occur during times of catecholamine excess, such as during exercise or at times of stress. The cause of the palpitations during these conditions is often a sustained supraventricular tachycardia or ventricular tachyarrhythmia. Supraventricular tachycardias can also be induced at the termination of exercise when the withdrawal of catecholamines is coupled with a surge in the vagal tone. Palpitations secondary to catecholamine excess may also occur during emotionally startling experiences, especially in patients with a long QT syndrome.

Psychiatric problems

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Palpitations

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Palpitations claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Palpitations before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Palpitations ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Palpitations

In research: Palpitations appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Palpitations in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Palpitations is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cardiac arrhythmia, Symptoms and signs: Circulatory system, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Palpitations outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Palpitations in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Palpitations means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Palpitations out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Palpitations in simple terms?

Palpitations occur when a person becomes aware of their heartbeat. The heartbeat may feel hard, fast, or uneven in their chest.

Why does Palpitations matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Palpitations?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Palpitations.