Heart palpitations

When you have heart palpitations, your heartbeat feels uncomfortable or unusual. You may feel it in your chest, neck or throat.

Your heartbeat may feel like it is:

• racing or beating very fast
• irregular, with skipped or extra beats (ectopic beats)
• pounding or thumping
• fluttering

Heart palpitations can last seconds, minutes or longer.

Heart palpitations are common and not usually a sign of anything serious.

Common causes include:

• strenuous exercise
• lack of sleep
• stress and anxiety
• medicines (check the leaflet that comes with the medicine)
• alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and recreational drugs

Sometimes heart palpitations can be a sign you're going through the menopause. Some people get them during pregnancy.

They can also be caused by a condition such as iron deficiency anaemia, an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism), a heart rhythm problem (arrhythmia) or other heart problems such as heart valve disease.

You've had heart palpitations and feel well but:

• they keep coming back or they are happening more often
• they last longer than a few minutes
• you have a heart condition
• you have a history of heart problems in your family

Treatment for heart palpitations depends on the cause. They often do not need to be treated.

Avoiding things that can trigger palpitations, such as stress, smoking, caffeine and alcohol, can help if palpitations are not caused by a health condition.

You may have an electrocardiogram (ECG) to help find out what the cause might be. This is a test where small pads are stuck to your skin to check the electrical signals coming from your heart.

You may need to be referred to a heart specialist (cardiologist) for tests and treatment.

If your palpitations are caused by a heart problem, you may need medicines or a procedure to help control your heartbeat.

Heart palpitations can feel like your heartbeat is very fast, irregular, pounding or fluttering. You may feel them in your chest, neck or throat.

Common causes of heart palpitations include exercise, stress, medicines and caffeine. Less often they can be due to a condition like a heart problem.

Heart palpitations do not always need to be treated. If they're caused by a heart problem, medicines or a procedure can help correct your heartbeat.