A heartbeat arrhythmia is an irregular heartbeat which may occur when the electrical signals to the heart don’t work properly, causing the heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly.
You might feel a fluttering feeling in the chest, shortness of breath, lightheadedness or dizziness, sweating or even fainting symptoms.
If you feel like your heart is beating too fast or too slowly schedule an appointment with your doctor to have it checked out. But seek immediate medical help if you have shortness of breath, fainting or near fainting and chest pain or discomfort.
If you have had your heart checked out and your doctor says it is not life-threatening and will occasionally happen from time to time and you just have to monitor it, then I can give you some advice to help you alleviate the symptoms by getting to some of the root causes of the problem.
So first off, it’s good to know that calcium makes the heart muscle contract and magnesium relaxes it. What happens all too often is that if you become too depleted in magnesium then the heart might occasionally lose its rhythm. There are many reasons magnesium could go low:
Under periods of stress the cortisol that your adrenal glands release flushes out the magnesium. This is why many people develop an irregular heartbeat when under stress as their magnesium goes low and the heart now struggles to maintain its rhythm.
We like to administer magnesium transdermally through the skin using various oils, creams and roll-ons. If you take it orally it can go through your system too quickly, never really absorbing well and may even create diarrhea.
We also give a transdermal application of an herb called ashwagandha which prevents the adrenal glands from producing too much cortisol in the first place. Ashwagandha helps you keep an even keel when under stress so you don’t upset your whole physiology as the adrenal glands try to keep up with the stress by pouring out stress hormones.
And sometimes when the adrenal glands are under a prolonged period of stress and they become burnt out, you might lose your electrolytes which the heart needs to beat regularly. The adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys and maintain the water and electrolyte balance, which means that they control both sodium and potassium levels and how much water we need to retain.
So if the adrenals become exhausted you might lose beneficial electrolytes into your urine. Modern medicine doesn’t really understand this idea of adrenal exhaustion because they don’t meet the diagnostic criteria for Addison’s Disease (which is extremely little adrenal function) or Cushing’s Disease (which is hyper adrenal function). These two diseases affect less than 2% of the population however the truth is that well over 80% of the population suffer from some level of adrenal insufficiency. And if this happens you could develop irregular heart rhythms if your electrolytes go out of balance.
While there may be several electrolyte drinks and potions on the market, I always prefer to have our patients get their nutrients through food if at all possible. This is why I give them Biehler’s Broth to restore their electrolyte balance. This soup was developed by Dr. Henry Biehler, an American physician born in 1893 in Ohio whose book, “Food is Your Best Medicine,” advocated the treatment of disease with foods. This recipe helps to restore the sodium/potassium levels and acid/alkaline balance in the body, especially after prolonged periods of stress which weakens the adrenal glands to the point where the electrolytes are flushed out of the body.
Here is the recipe: In a pot add two handfuls of each chopped celery, zucchini, parsley and string beans. Add enough water to cover, including some white Himalayan Salt (known as Soma salt), pepper and 1/2 tsp of ghee. Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes, puree and eat as a side dish.
If you eat this recipe whenever you are experiencing adrenal burnout, you will feel a refreshing sense of energy surge through your body as your electrolytes balance is restored which in turn will help your heart rhythm immensely.
The heart and all the other glands need a constant supply of prana in order to work properly. The prana comes in at the top of the head through a special marma point, known as the Adhipati Marma Point. It then runs down the spine through two vibrational channels known as the Ida and Pingala channel (together known as the Shushumna Nadi) and then from the spine branches off to feed all the organs, glands and the arms and the legs.
Sometimes the flow of prana can get obstructed so we use special transdermal creams which are applied down the spine to open up the flow of prana so the heart can receive an uninterrupted supply, and we also use Arjuna transdermal cream since Arjuna is especially important for proper heart function.
If you work around computers or live in a house or apartment which has a smart meter and are especially sensitive to WIFI and the effects of EMF’s, you might also experience heartbeat irregularities as the heart runs on a continuous supply of electrical stimulation. In cases such as these we have special formulas to negate the effects of the EMF’s, and we also instruct the patients to sip on water with a few crushed basil or holy basil leaves, as they can absorb the EMF’s out of their bodies. We also tell them if it is warm enough outside to go lie directly on the earth or the sand at the beach as direct contact with nature will also absorb the EMF’s out of the body. Walking in the moonlight is also good and putting plants around the computer might also help to absorb some of the radiation coming from the computer.
Many cases of heartbeat arrhythmias occur if Vata goes high, which creates anxiety, worries and depression. We also aggravate Vata by rushing around all day or eating a diet that is too cold and light, especially if we are eating a vegetarian diet with no milk products. Vata is the element of lightness, quickness and dryness, so too much of these elements will disturb the normal balance of Vata in the body. This means the diet needs to consist of warm cooked foods that are unctuous in nature, cooked vegetables, dahls and grains, with warm milk and ghee added to create some heaviness in the diet. I have taken care of many vegans who developed arrhythmias because the diet was too light causing their Vata to soar, resulting in pretty severe heart beat irregularities which went away as soon as warm milk and ghee were added back into their diet.
Overexercising can also throw Vata out of balance as Vata is the element of movement and quickness. So while it’s good to have some movement in the body, we don’t want to overdo it by jogging (brisk walking would be better) or exercising more than our bodies can handle in any given week. The stockier kapha types can withstand more vigorous workouts whereas the more delicately framed Vatas need to do more gentle stretching, yoga, walking and quieter forms of exercise.
And as usual, if you find yourself under prolonged periods of stress, there are many things you can do to alleviate the effects of the stress on your body before they turn into heart beat arrhythmias. For example, try a daily warm oil massage or a soak in a warm magnesium bath for a half hour a few times a week. Try to find an Ayurvedic clinic that will perform Shirodhara where warm medicated oils are slowly poured onto your forehead, sometimes combined with a body, scalp or head massage.
There are many calming herbs to help you reduce your stress and cortisol levels, such as shankapushpi, jatamansi and calamus root, to name a few.
And one of the most calming things anyone can do is to have a cup of milk simmered with cardamom pods, a cinnamon stick and turmeric, strained and sipped slowly on an empty stomach. Use goat’s milk if you are sensitive to cow’s milk. Try to get whole milk if using cow’s milk as the fat is especially calming to the nervous system as it deeply pacifies your frazzled Vata.
Avoid caffeine, white refined sugar, chocolate, and cacao as these are jangling to the nerves and can invite problems with the heartbeat.
And by all means get to bed no later than 10:00 PM as you need at least two hours of sleep before midnight to totally recharge all the organs and glands in your body. Wake up as the sun is coming up to be in tune with the fundamental laws of nature that our bodies run on, which will ensure a proper rhythm of nature creating a perfect heart rhythm.