Library · Physiology
Tachycardia
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Tachycardia means the heart is beating faster than normal. For reference: in an adult at rest, the usual heart rate is between sixty and one hundred beats per minute. When the rhythm stays regular and runs faster than normal, it is called sinus tachycardia.
A heart speeding up does not by itself mean something is wrong. The causes can be physiologic, that is, normal, or pathologic, that is, the product of disease. Among the physiologic ones are catecholaminergic stimuli, the ones that work through adrenaline and similar substances: exercise, stress, pain, anxiety. The heart picking up speed for a reason that may lie inside it or outside it.
Some tachycardias arise from an arrhythmia, that is, from a problem in the heart's electrical circuit. One of them is supraventricular tachycardia, which starts above the ventricles, the chambers that pump; on the electrocardiogram it is recognized because the QRS complex, the mark of the ventricles' beat, looks narrow.
In brief
A normal resting heart rate in adults is sixty to one hundred beats per minute, and sinus tachycardia is a regular heart rhythm faster than normal.
Causes may be physiologic or pathologic; the physiologic ones include catecholaminergic stimuli such as exercise, stress, pain and anxiety.
The heart picking up speed for a reason that may lie inside it or outside it.
Supraventricular tachycardia is an arrhythmia that starts above the ventricles and is recognized by a narrow QRS complex.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingSinus Tachycardia, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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