Natural Ways to Reduce Increased Heart Rate or Tachycardia

Your heart is your body’s engine room whose work is to consistently pump life-sustaining blood via network of vessels. This organ is responsible to work perpetually, beating 100,000 times every single day which means 40 million times a year. The heart rate is the only capable organ to give you a peep of your overall health conditions. The pace of heart beat changes throughout the day, it can go really fast when you’re exercising or going up the stairs or you’re simply nervous, whereas, your heart rate can go really slow and steady when you’re calm, relaxed or sitting still. A normal heart rate is what we call resting heart rate or pulse which is actually the number of times your heart beats in a minute when you’re resting. For adults, the normal range of heart rate or pulse is between 60-100 beats a minute. 

When it comes to your health, a lower resting heart rate is better which clearly indicates your heart is functioning well. When the heart rate is low, the heart pumps more blood with each contraction keeping the beat regular and steady. A slower resting heart rate is common in people who are physically fit, but if your heart rate is consistently low below 60 beats a minute and you’re not active, you might need to see a doctor. On the other side, increased or high resting heart rate indicates that the heart is working extra hard to pump the blood. And if the pulse is consistently above 100 beats per minute at rest, it’s advisable to see a doctor, because over time, high resting heart rate affects the normal heart functioning by surging the risk of cardiovascular diseases. 

Tachycardia or Increased Heart Rate

Well, before knowing about increased heart rate condition called tachycardia and its types it is advisable to know how to measure your resting heart rate. The best advised time to measure your resting heart rate is in the morning, before you even get out of bed and before you’ve had first morning cup of tea or coffee.

You can check your heart rate on your wrist by lightly placing your index and finger fingers of one hand on the inside part of the other wrist, down the base of your thumb. You would feel the pulse under your fingertips, hence count the number of beats in one minute or in 30 seconds to multiply the result with 2. You can also easily check your heart rate using a pulse oximeter or handy heart rate checking monitors. 

Tachycardia is the medical term for increased heart rate which remains above 100 beats per minute. There are different heart rhythm disorders called as arrhythmias that leads to tachycardia. Sometimes, it might be normal to have a fast heartbeat as it’s quite normal for your heart rate to increase during physical workout or as stress response, or a trauma or any illness. But in the condition called tachycardia, the heart tends to beat faster than normal because of the conditions which are not associated to normal physiological stress.

Mostly, in cases of tachycardia there might be no symptoms or complications. But if left untreated for a prolong period of time, tachycardia can severe normal heart function leading to serious complications, that includes heart strokes, heart failure, sudden cardiac arrest or death.

However, some of the common symptoms that most people manifest with tachycardia condition are:

• Low blood pressure
• Heart ache or myocardial ischemia
• Fainting
• Lightheadedness
• Weakness
• Chest pain
• Palpitations
• Shortness of Breath
• Body trembling or shaking
• Inadequate blood flow to arms and legs
• Numbness in legs and arms

Natural Ways to Reduce Tachycardia or Increased Heart Rate

Certain lifestyle changes can help in reducing or controlling increased heart rate or tachycardia but, it is always better to consult with your physician in the first place. According to the cardiologists, absolute lifestyle changes can improve heart health.

Here are some of the natural ways to reduce tachycardia condition:

1. Good quality and ample sleep

Adequate sleep reduces increased heart beat by relaxing body muscles and tissues. Enough and good quality sleep is required to reduce stress and increased risk of heart diseases.

2. Exercise or physical activities

To achieve a healthy heart and steady heart rate it is important to stay active and perform physical activities, or certain workouts and exercises. Exercising increases heart rate that actually strengthens heart by improving its efficiency to pump more blood.

3. Reducing stress

Stress can be silently hampering your health causing many severe health conditions such as increased blood pressure, increased risk of heart diseases, obesity, weight gain, hair loss, increased sugar levels, hormonal imbalance, PCOD and many more. It is important to reduce stress to combat heart diseases effectively. Stress boosts the release of hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol that runs through your blood by increasing heart rate. Yoga and meditation are advised for stressed people to reduce anxiety levels significantly.

4. Proper diet with omega-3 fatty acids

One of the effective natural ways to reduce tachycardia or increased heart rate is choosing the right food that are actually heart healthy and friendly. Foods that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as nuts, avocados, fatty fish, seeds, and whole grains are great for heart health. 

5. Quitting smoking

Smoke from cigarettes reduces oxygen levels in the blood by increasing blood pressure and severe heart rate. Hence, to combat the condition of tachycardia in the long run, quitting smoking habit is very essential.

6. Temperature controlled surroundings

High temperatures and humidity can lead to increased blood flow and heart rate. Hence, regulating your surrounding temperature is important to stay heart healthy.

7. Maintaining healthy weight

Gaining extra weight and fats can put extra load on body and heart causing several health conditions. The more weight, the more blood is needed to pump by the heart which makes heart especially when you lack healthy body muscle mass. Hence, it can lead to increased risks of heart diseases and heart attacks. Maintaining healthy body weight helps to keep heart function smoothly with steady heart rate.

8. Getting close to nature

Getting close to nature is a super natural way to reduce increased heart rate or tachycardia effectively.  According to the cardiologists, walking barefoot on grass reduces risk of heart attacks and increases heart rate. The reason is the rhythm of walking on grass synchronizes with heart beats and reduces stress significantly that helps in releasing certain hormones that help heart function actively and smoothly. 

9. Staying well hydrated

Dehydration can lead to thickening of blood which implies your heart has to work hard to push the blood around your body and other organs. This process can make your heart beat really fast. Hence to lower the increased resting heart rate, drink lots of water which is at least 4 liters a day.