Crazy heart beats...

Storms of the Heart
Day in and day out, our hearts have the endless task of pumping blood through the 62,000 miles or arteries, veins and capillaries in our bodies. Seventy or so beats a minute, 4,200 beats an hour, 100,800 beats a day---it adds up fast, and most of us never give it a moment's thought.

Are you plagued with your heart jumping around?  
​Feeling flippy or floppy?  

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What do you do when your  lub-dub becomes a lub-lub-a-dub or lub-a-dub-dub?  

​It is going to need to be examined by a professional for sure! Some irregular heartbeats, called arrhythmia, occur when nerves that regulate the contraction of the heart go haywire.

Normally, a heartbeat is a highly coordinated event, directed by the sequential firing of nerves that signal each chamber of the heart to contract. When all goes well, the atrial chambers and the ventricular chambers of the heart work in sequence, pumping blood to the lungs and the rest of the body. When things go awry, the nerve signals may be delayed, or the nerves may fire more often than necessary. The chambers may not pump in proper sequence. The end result is that the heart pumps blood less efficiently.

What makes the heart get out of sync?
In serious cases, disease of the coronary arteries or heart muscle is the most likely cause, but in some cases, and often in conjunction with heart disease, mineral imbalances interfere with the heart's normal nerve function.
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Nutritional therapy for arrhythmia focuses on two minerals in particular: magnesium and potassium.

Magnesium Helps Hearts Stay Regular
Several studies have shown that when it comes to certain types of arrhythmia, magnesium can save lives. One study, by Dr. Sueta and her colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, found that the risk of developing potentially fatal ventricular arrhythmia was reduced by more than half in people with heart failure who received large intravenous doses of magnesium compared with those who did not receive the mineral.

"This is important, because ventricular arrhythmia can progress to ventricular fibrillation, which can result in sudden death," Dr. Sueta explains. The study showed that magnesium reduced the incidence of several types of ventricular arrhythmia by 53 to 76 percent.

Food Factors
Mineral balance plays an important role in regulating heartbeat. But other dietary factors can also throw your heart out of sync. Here are two items to avoid and one to add to your anti-arrhythmia diet.
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FISH - Arrhythmia is most likely to occur after blood flow to the heart is blocked, which is exactly what happens during a heart attack. Although it hasn't been proven in humans, a study with laboratory animals showed that a diet high in fish oil (omega-3 fatty acids helps reduce the likelihood of fatal heart arrhythmia sometimes associated with heart attack.

Many doctors suggest that you replace the saturated fat in your diet with fish oil by substituting salmon or mackerel for beef, chicken or dairy products several times a week. If you want to take fish oil supplements, discuss amounts with your doctor.

 As for me...
​I was able to calm and be free of 95% of my flippy and floppy heart beats after taking Magnesium Citrate in the morning and in the evening.  This was a blessing for me as I was able to wean myself of my Metoprolol.  

Check with your doctor before supplementing and stopping any meds.