Increased Heart Rate During Pregnancy

what causes a fast heart rate during pregnancy

Pregnancy needs lots of body systems – including your cardiovascular system – making significant changes, consisting of elevation of your heart rate. Nevertheless, raised heart rate can also show a hidden problem. See your doctor immediately if you experience an increase in heart rate, light-headedness, anxiety or shortness of breath.

Causes for Increased Heart Rate During Pregnancy

When you grow pregnant, it is a medical condition and this might cause fast heart beat in you. The boost in heart beat may start when you develop and might last till the time you go in labor. It might last through your delivery too in many cases. The presence of a growing fetus in your body is one of the main reasons for the increase in heart beat of your body. In such a case your heart has to work harder in order to make sure that proper nutrition is available to the growing fetus along with you.

The blood has to be provided to the fetus as well in order to nurture it. In such cases, the pumping speed will enhance; the electrical signals would increase therefore increasing the heart beat rate. A fifth of the pre-pregnancy blood supply is routed to the uterus when you grow pregnant. There is a substantial boost in the blood volume someplace around 30 to 50%. This will require the heart to pump the blood out faster. Somewhere around 10 to 20 beats per minute rise in heart beat is observed especially while lying down, at night, after eating, after walking, etc.

Symptoms for Increased Heart Rate During Pregnancy

How would you understand if you have a fast heart beat rate when you are pregnant? The first symptom of fast heart beat is when the pulse rate of your body increases. There are other symptoms too. One of them is shortness of breath. This is observed along with increase in pulse rate. You need to keep your eye open for both these symptoms.

A little dizziness and light headedness accompanies your shortness in breath. Obviously, these symptoms must be informed to the doctor to ensure it is because of your pregnancy.

Information verified by the iytmed.com team.

Diagnosis

When you visit a doctor for quick heartbeat rate condition during pregnancy, the doctor would typically carry out a great deal of tests to guarantee that the condition results from pregnancy and nothing else. EKG would be performed to understand the symptoms and the real factor for the condition. Preferably the doctor would suggest good diet and healthy exercise to restrict unnecessary weight gain during pregnancy to avoid heart rate increasing.

Heart Function in Pregnancy

Cardiovascular adjustments serve a variety of functions during pregnancy, consisting of protection of your regular physiologic functioning, fulfilling the increased metabolic needs of the pregnancy and to help with the development and development of the fetus. In addition to elevated heart rate, your heart will likely pump more blood to the rest of your body with each heart contraction.

Increased Heart Rate According Trimester

First Trimester
In a normal pregnancy, your resting heart rate will elevate by 15 to 20 beats per minute. As holds true with all of the major organ systems, cardiovascular modifications that occur during pregnancy are thought to be triggered by hormonal signals, primarily increases in progesterone and estrogen, which notify the body to the existence of a fetus. Heart rate modifications might begin in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Second Timester
During the second trimester there is a generalized relaxation of smooth muscle along with dilation of the arteries. This modification accommodates the increase in flowing blood volume while preserving your regular blood pressure. This causes a progressive elevation of your resting heart rate, which comes to a head in the 2nd trimester. By the 4th month of pregnancy, cardiac output, or the quantity of blood your heart pumps, increases by 30 percent to 50 percent. This is the point in pregnancy when problems might present if you have any formerly undiscovered heart abnormalities.

Third Trimester
The duration of optimum cardiac output occurs between week 28 and 35 of the 3rd trimester. By the end of pregnancy, at about 40 weeks, your distributing blood volume will have enhanced to 40 percent to 90 percent above pre-pregnancy levels, triggering a boost in heart rate. The heart depends on an ample blood supply to make sure adequate delivery of oxygen and nutrients to both mom and baby. In the third trimester, these modifications are crucial to satisfy the increasing demands of a rapidly growing fetus and also for prep work for labor. During labor, the heart rate elevates during contractions and in response to pain.

Increased Heart Rate Warning Signs

Usually, the healthy heart can hold up against the cardiovascular changes that happen during pregnancy. Nevertheless, previously unknown heart problems might emerge as the pregnancy advances and the work needs on the heart increase. Some common warning signs can consist of a racing or pounding pulse, shortness of breath even when at rest, lightheadedness, passing out spells, a consistent productive cough and palpitations, or skipped heartbeats.

Reyus Mammadli

As a healthy lifestyle advisor I try to guide individuals in becoming more aware of living well and healthy through a series of proactive and preventive measures, disease prevention steps, recovery after illness or medical procedures.

Education: Bachelor Degree of Medical Equipment and Electronics.

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  1. Monica89

    I’m concerned mine heart beat a bit fast. I took my high blood pressure, which was 120/80, which is normal for me. But my pulse was 101. I took my BP a few days later – it was 135/75, however my pulse was still 101. Isn’t really that a bit fast? (actually I didn’t take my BP or pulse, My mum who is a nurse took them for me. She believed my pulse was too quick also, but she does not deal with pregnant patients.).

    Why would it be so fast? Is it since I am totally unsuited? I’m not obese, however certainly a long method from being fit! I’m about 28 weeks pregnant.