HEART PALPITATIONS & MENOPAUSE
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Speaker: [00:00:00] Have you ever been sitting quietly, maybe even lying in bed, and then suddenly you become a more aware of your heartbeat? Maybe it feels like your heart's racing. Maybe it feels like a sudden pounding in your chest, or maybe it feels like your heart briefly skipped a beat and the first time it happens, well, it can be really scary, right?
Your mind immediately goes somewhere serious. Is something wrong with my heart? Is it a heart attack? Why is this happening when I'm not even exerting myself? And when it happens without warning, it can make your body feel completely unpredictable. And that's what happens when heart palpitations kick in.
I'm Tafiq Akhir, Mr. Menopause here. Your go-to source for reliable menopause and healthy aging support. Welcome to the Menopause Made Simple Show. Now, let me share what's actually happening in your body when this happens. So heart palpitations are a surprisingly common symptom during menopause. You might describe it as racing, pounding, fluttering, or in irregular [00:01:00] heartbeat even.
And they can happen even when you're completely at rest. To understand why this happens, you need to understand how hormones. Influence your cardiovascular system. See, estrogen does much more than just regulate your reproductive health. It supports the flexibility of your blood vessels. It influences circulation, and it helps to regulate the nervous system that controls your heart rhythm.
So when your estrogen levels fluctuate or decline, your body's cardiovascular response can change, and that change can sometimes make you more aware of your heartbeat. Now your heart may beat faster for short periods. It may feel like it's pounding more forcefully, or it may feel irregular for a moment before returning to normal.
And by the way, this is symptom number 15, outlined in my book decoding the 80 symptoms and side effects of menopause. Another factor that contributes to palpitations during menopause is your autonomic nervous system, and this is the part of [00:02:00] your nervous system that controls automatic functions in your body, including heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure.
The hormonal changes can influence how this system responds to stress, temperature, and internal signals. Hot flashes are a good example of this because when a hot flashes occurs, your blood vessels dilate. Your body temperature changes and your heart rate can increase temporarily, and that increase can feel dramatic if you're not expecting it.
Anxiety can also play a role because during menopause, your stress response system can become more sensitive. And when your body changes into your stress response, then your sympathetic nervous system activates, and that activation increases your heart rate and circulation. And if this happens unexpectedly, it can feel very alarming.
But in many cases, what you're feeling is just your body responding to normal, hormonal nervous system changes, not a failing heart. And that distinction is very [00:03:00] important. Fear can amplify the experience as well. When a palpitations happens and your mind immediately interprets it as danger, your body releases stress hormones, and those hormones increase your heart rate even further.
So a brief sensation can quickly turn into a cycle of awareness and anxiety. But understanding what's happening can interrupt that cycle. When you recognize that palpitations can occur during menopause, the experience becomes less mysterious. And when something is less mysterious, it becomes less frightening.
Now I wanna share something that Lynn Lawson shared on an episode of the Mr. Menopause Show because her experience describes this loop better than. Anything I could explain? So Lynn was 53 when her menopause story began. She said it started with what felt like a racing heart. During an upsetting conversation, she ended up calling an ambulance after 45 minutes of her heart racing uncontrollably at the [00:04:00] hospital, they diagnosed her with SVT Supra Ventricular Tachycardia, which is essentially an accelerated heart rate.
They gave her a shot to reset her heart and just sent her on. But nobody connected to menopause. Nobody asked or even mentioned it. Her heart anxiety got so severe that from October, 2021 to April, 2022, she barely left her room. Not just her house, but her room. She was even afraid to take a shower, afraid that any movement would trigger another episode.
Her daughter moved back home with her. Her sons also helped her with cooking. She couldn't work. She described it as being completely consumed by what was happening in her body. And another important fact is that Lynn said that her hot flashes didn't feel traditional either. There was no dramatic sweating.
It was more like an aura or a feeling of dread or doom. She didn't recognize it as menopause because it looked nothing like what she had seen in her family or had heard from others. [00:05:00] And that's exactly the danger of only knowing the most basic information about menopause. When your experience doesn't match it, you don't connect the dots, and when you don't connect the dot.
Fear takes over. Now. Lynn eventually came through it. She's no longer agoraphobic. Her symptoms have settled down, but those six months represents what happens when a woman is left without a clear explanation of what's happening in her body. You deserve. Better than that, and that's exactly why I'm sharing this episode.
Now, there are several things that can help support your cardiovascular stability during this stage of life. Sleep is one of them because when your sleep is disrupted, your nervous system becomes more reactive and your heart rhythm can become more sensitive to stress. Protecting your sleep directly supports your heart health.
Stress regulation also plays an important role. Breathing exercises, gentle movement and regular relaxation practices help signal safety to your [00:06:00] nervous system and can reduce the frequency of palpitations. Caffeine and stimulants are worth paying attention to as well. You may notice that caffeine makes heart sensations more noticeable during menopause, so paying attention to the response can help you make more informed adjustments.
Hydration is another simple but important factor because when your body is dehydrated, your cardiovascular system has to work harder to maintain circulation, so staying consistently hydrated supports your heart function. And of course, movement supports your overall cardiovascular health as well.
Walking light, exercise and consistent activity support, healthy circulation and heart function. And this is not about intense workouts, by the way. It's simply about consistency. If your heart palpitations occur frequently, last for extended periods or are accompanied by dizziness, chest pain, or shortness of breath, they deserve medical attention, [00:07:00] not because they're automatically dangerous, but because understanding what's happening.
Allows you to respond with clarity, confidence, and autonomy. Now, if heart palpitations occur frequently, if they last for extended periods or are accompanied by dizziness, chest pain, or shortness of breath, they deserve medical attention, not because they're automatically dangerous, but because understanding what's happening.
Well, it allows you to respond with clarity and confidence, and once you understand the connection between hormonal change, your nervous system and your cardiovascular system, the fear surrounding palpitations decrease significantly, and when fear decreases. Clarity increases. And if you want a detailed explanation of heart palpitations and how they connect to other changes happening in your body, it's all in the book.
Because when you understand that erasing heart or a skipped beat, is your body adjusting to [00:08:00] hormonal change and not a warning sign of something more drastic, well, you can stop fearing every heartbeat. And when you stop fearing every heartbeat, your nervous system settles down. And when your nervous system settles down, your racing heartbeat often does as well.
