It seems to many people that extrasystoles, which we discussed, are common, and pauses in the work of the heart are rare. In fact, the opposite is true.
In the seventies of the last century, portable heart monitors appeared, which recorded a cardiogram on a tape cassette. People began to wear these devices for days on end, and doctors began to find oddities that they had not previously suspected.
For example, young and healthy people were examined. It turned out that significant extrasystoles are rare in them. In an amicable way, maybe 1 - 2% of the guys. On the other hand, almost every fourth of them from time to time slowed down the heart and gave a pause of 2 seconds or so.
It should be noted here that usually such pauses were considered a problem. Like the heart will stop and the person will die. But everything turned out to be more complicated.
In general, in our hearts there is a whole line of pacemakers who do not allow the heart to stop.
Pacemakers
The first is the sinus node, which does the bulk of the work. If for some reason the sinus node slows down, then the atria will take over.
In our atria, there are many secondary pacemakers who, like retired military personnel, are waiting for their turn. Sometimes one of these atrial pacemakers is lucky, and our body trusts him to steer a little with the heart.
Have you seen the phrase "migration of the atrial pacemaker" in your ECG report? This is considered the norm. That is, the main sinus node fell asleep, and many of his deputies in the atria recklessly rushed to maintain the heart rate, pulling out the baton from each other.
Then there is a node between the atria and the ventricles, and even the ventricles of the heart themselves can take on the responsibilities of a pacemaker. Like that boy who has no father or brother left.
This is, of course, the last line of defense, and the heart at such a ventricular rate will beat at a frequency of 20-30 per minute, but it will still be.
We usually have a heart rate somewhere between 60 and 100. But at night it can easily drop to 40 or even less, and it will still be fine.
So a rare pulse or migration of the pacemaker through the atria is considered the norm. This happens when the vagus nerve is activated.
Nervus vagus
The vagus nerve is in charge of our nightlife, sleep, the work of internal organs. Therefore, if we sleep, or cough, or we feel sick, that is, when the internal organs are actively fluttering, this nerve slows down our heart. Sometimes he slows it down so well that the heart stops. As long as we don't faint and die, that's okay.
There are various pauses. If the heart stopped for a couple of seconds, then this is generally a common thing. Sometimes the heart does not beat for several seconds, and the person does not even notice.
There was a case when a two-year-old child fainted from time to time. When he was examined, it turned out that his heart could stop for 12 (twelve) seconds, and the child clapped his eyes and did not turn off. In short, miracles are different.
Sinus arrhythmia
In a peaceful life, each of us may have sinus arrhythmia, in which the heart slows down greatly. This is usually associated with breathing. If an ECG is recorded for you in the form of a short stub of film, you may get into such an episode of a rare pulse. Questions will immediately arise.
With a very rare pulse, only an athlete can start running or jumping somewhere. If a person's sinus node fails, or he was given drugs that slow down the pulse, then it will not be possible to jump especially. Weakness and shortness of breath will begin. For many of you, this is done on purpose to protect your heart from angina pectoris or myocardial infarction. So don't be surprised if a cardiologist lowers your heart rate to 50.
And you have not had a brute-force of any drugs, when the heart beats very rarely?
