Anxiety is a disorder that is becoming more and more relevant. And how it affects anyone is very personal. Some get psychological effects, whereas some get affected physically.
Anxiety is known for putting your heart under pressure and giving rise to heart health issues. Therefore, if you are diagnosed with anxiety disorder, your heart health reports will likely reflect that.
An EKG test helps detect any abnormality in your heart’s functioning.
While there can be many reasons for getting an abnormal EKG report, many people these days are worried that anxiety can influence EKG results.
But how accurate is that? Can anxiety really cause an abnormal EKG? To find answers to all these questions and more, keep on reading.
What is an EKG, And When Can You Call it Abnormal?
The word EKG is the abbreviation for the word electrokardiogram (German spelling of the word electrocardiogram, aka ECG), which is a pain-free test for evaluating your heart’s health. The test records your heart’s electrical activity through small electrode patches and monitors your heart’s rhythm.
An EKG can help diagnose if there are any abnormalities in your heart’s conditions. An abnormal EKG can help identify possible heart attacks, arrhythmias, and heart failure. But when can you label an EKG report as abnormal?
Well, here are some indicators that professionals use to determine the normality of your EKG report.
1. Heart Rate
A healthy individual’s heart rate can range between 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm); a normal EKG result will show that. Anything higher or lower than this is considered abnormal.
If the EKG detects that your heart is beating faster or slower than the abovementioned rate, it’ll either be tachycardia (too fast) or bradycardia (too slow).
2. Shape or Size of The Heart
A normal human heart has four chambers of particular size and proportion. You can have an abnormal EKG if there is any abnormality in the number of chambers or their volume.
3. Heart Rhythm
Our hearts beat at a constant and steady rhythm, and an EKG can help detect if there are any abnormalities in that. A heart rhythm is considered abnormal if your heart skips a beat, has extra beats, or if the electrical signals follow an abnormal pathway.
4. Presence of Electrolytes
If your body lacks or has excess amounts of electrolytes, it can cause abnormal EKG results. Electrolytes are the minerals that help in conducting electricity in the body. Therefore too much or too little electrolytes in the body can affect the usual electrical activity of the heart.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is the natural response of our body in situations of fear, stress, or dread. It is the apprehension that we feel about upcoming situations. It is normal for all to feel a little anxious now and then, in fact, it can motivate us to work harder and do better.
When you are anxious, your body starts releasing stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, which puts your body in a flight-or-fight mode and increases your heart rate. As a result, you get those pounding heartbeats, restlessness, and trouble concentrating.
Having such symptoms on rare occasions is fine. However, suppose your anxiety is regular, intense, and long-lasting and interferes with your everyday life. In that case, it can be diagnosed as an anxiety disorder, which is detrimental to your health.
Effects of Anxiety on Heart
When your anxiety is persistent and irrational, it can put your heart under immense stress. That stress can be harmful or even life-threatening, depending on your health and medical history.
When we feel anxious, our body reacts a certain way. Our blood vessels start constricting and diverting blood flow from less vital organs to more important muscles and brans. It is great for facing real-life threats, but activating it again and again unnecessarily can negatively impact our hearts and cardiac muscles.
Here are the most commons ways in which anxiety can trigger abnormality and lead to heart health problems.
1. Hypertension
Hypertension is what we commonly know as high blood pressure. If blood pressure is above 140/90 mmHg, it is considered hypertension and requires professional help.
Hypertension is detrimental to our heart health as it can damage the artery walls. It can also cause plaque buildup, leading to blockage in arteries, reducing blood flow to the heart.
2. Decreased Heart Rate Variability
Our hearts can change their beating rate according to the situation’s demand and is very responsive to stress. When we stress a lot, our sympathetic nervous system gets signals, making our hearts beat faster.
During a state of calmness, we signal our parasympathetic nerves, and our heartbeat gets back to normal. This ability is known as heart rate variability.
With anxiety, our heart gets less responsive and adaptive, which is a serious issue.
3. Tachycardia
Tachycardia is a situation where our heart rate exceeds normal and starts beating 100 beats per minute. It makes our hearts work harder and consume more oxygen.
While this is harmless if it happens on rare occasions, frequent occurrences can significantly strain our hearts. This can lead to an increased risk of arrhythmias (aka irregular heartbeats), chest pain, or even cardiac arrest.
4. Cardiac Remodeling
This is a process where our heart starts changing its size, shape, and functioning to respond to stress or injury. While cardiac remodeling can be beneficial in certain citations, it can cause abnormality in our hearts if it prevails too long.
Our hearts can get enlarged, thickened, or stiff while continuously responding to stress. This can lead to serious cardiac muscle disorders like cardiomyopathy or even heart failure.
Besides these direct effects on the heart, anxiety also impacts one’s lifestyle. People with anxiety disorder are prone to substance abuse and get addicted to binge eating.
These combined also impact their blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar levels, therefore, putting their heart at risk.
So Can Anxiety Cause Abnormal EKG?
The answer to if anxiety can cause abnormal EKG would be yes. The effect of anxiety on our heart’s health and normal functioning is multifold. Therefore, if you suffer from severe anxiety for a long time, it can cause an abnormal EKG.
However, if you feel anxious on rare occasions, you can not say that the abnormalities in your EKG reports result from your temporary nervousness.
In that case, you may need to dig deep and find the underlying reasons for your abnormal EKG results.
How to Manage Anxiety For Healthy Heart Conditions?
If you are suffering from anxiety troubling your mental and physical health, apart from seeking professional help, here are some suggestions and practices you can add to your daily life.
1. Practice Calming Techniques
You can practice relaxation techniques while feeling anxious or having panic attacks. These techniques help your body and mind calm down and escape the panic state.
Calming techniques are very personal, and you need to identify yours. However, a few popular calming techniques include meditation, yoga, reading a book, breathing exercises, aromatherapy, etc.
2. Regular Exercise
Regular exercise is good for both mental and physical health. It promotes the release of happy hormones that prevent anxiety. Besides, cardio and other forms of exercise improve your heart health.
3. Healthy Diet
A healthy diet improves your brain functioning and mood regulation and boosts your immune system. All this combined can help you manage anxiety and lead a healthier life.
4. Identify And Learn To Handle Your Triggers
The only way to eliminate anxiety from its root is to understand your triggers and work towards them.
FAQs On Anxiety And EKG
No. An ECG report cannot detect anxiety. However, the test can detect changes in heart rate and rhythm, which can be a result of anxiety or many other reasons. ST flattening and T wave inversion are the most common findings indicating anxiety.
Lie down and take deep breaths. It is necessary to stay still during an ECG because slight nervousness or fear of the test can tamper the ECG reading and divert from the actual reason for conducting ECG.
Wear comfortable clothes and stay hydrated before your ECG test.
It is quite natural to feel pounding heartbeats at times of stress and fear. Those may change your heart rhythm temporarily due to palpitations.
But if you often face an irregular heart rhythm, consult a medical practitioner and get an ECG test to diagnose the real issue.
For a quick remedy, take deep breaths until you feel better. If you have a Generalised Anxiety Disorder, practice relaxation techniques, such as meditation and yoga, to reduce your anxiety.
A healthy lifestyle that includes proper nutrition and adequate sleep can reduce your problem with anxiety. Seek professional medical help to diagnose in case an irregular heartbeat is recurring.
The 3 3 3 rule of anxiety is a calming technique, which says when you feel anxious, you should look around and name three things you see, name three sounds you hear, and move three parts of your body, that are your ankle, fingers, and arms.
Conclusion
Sometimes mitigating the variable risks of an anxiety-induced person is not an easy task. It could lead to some severe possibilities of extremes.
Treatment for an abnormal EKG depends on many underlying issues of Heart variances and cardiac symptoms. Hypertension and Heart Rate variability are the main causes of anxiety-ridden EKG symptoms. Patients here are advised to work out regularly and take good care of their diet. There are many calming techniques easily available to get rid of anxiety through books, yoga classes, and many video tutorials.
She is an experienced Clinical Psychologist and Mental Health Writer with a decade of expertise in psychology. Skilled in assessment, therapy, and patient care. Committed to helping individuals through clinical practice and mental health writing at Therapyjourney.co. Passionate about promoting mental well-being and awareness. Open to aligned opportunities.