ANXIETY-RELATED TACHYCARDIA

ANXIETY AND TACHYCARDIA: WHAT ARE THE CORRELATIONS?

Anxiety and tachycardia have a close “natural” correlation that goes back to a primordial human defense mechanism. In primitives, in fact, the anxious state was mainly associated with a situation of danger and had the precise function of favoring the individual’s escape from potential danger, thereby increasing blood flow and therefore heartbeat.

For this reason, tachycardia on an anxious basis can be considered physiological when it occurs in case of danger, while it becomes “pathological” when the danger is not real and the onset becomes random during the day.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANXIOUS AND CARDIOLOGIC BASED TACHYCARDIA

First, it is called “tachycardia” when the pulse exceeds 100 beats per minute. But are there signs and symptoms that can make it possible to distinguish a anxiety-related tachycardia from tachycardia due to cardiological problems? The answer is yes.

Of course, it is always better to rely on a specialist to have a certain and accurate answer, however a tachycardia due to anxiety is generally distinguishable on the basis of the following observations:

  • the frequency of the heartbeat settles between 120-130 beats per minute, while in organic tachycardia the pulsations are from 180 beats upwards
  • the onset of tachycardia is more gradual if due to anxiety state and more sudden if caused by an organic problem
  • the heart rhythm is very different between the two types of tachycardia: in the case of anxiety the heartbeat becomes accelerated but the rhythm maintains regularity, while in organic tachycardia this becomes highly irregular
  • in anxiey-related tachycardia there are characteristics such as fear, terror and anxiety, conditions that increase the tachycardia in progress, giving rise to a vicious circle


HOW TO ACT ON ANXIETY-RELATED TACHYCARDIA?

Anxiety-based tachycardia does not usually require treatment with beta-blocker drugs. What you can do is to act more centrally, trying to achieve relaxation, therefore a reduction of anxiety and stress which, as described above, feed the increase in heart rate, creating a vicious circle between anxiety and tachycardia itself. In this way, by reducing anxiety and achieving relaxation, this chain of events can be broken.