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P&P #34. Irregularity of Heart Rhythm May Be Healthier.

Conventional opinion is that regularity of the heart rhythm is essential for health and that any irregularities or arrhythmias generally are undesirable. This concept was questioned several decades ago when a 'condition' known as 'runner's heart' was identified and accepted as an idiosyncrasy of athletic conditioning and nothing to be alarmed about.

More recently, long-term continuous monitoring of cardiac electrical activity by Goldberger et al (Scientific American, Feb 1990) has revealed that the mechanism which controls heart rate may be instrinsically chaotic. In other words, it is perfectly normal for the heart rate to fluctuate considerably even in the absence of fluctuating external conditions, instead of returning to a steady state.

Studies of the ECG of patients with severe heart disease have shown that their heart rate often became LESS VARIABLE than normal anywhere from minutes to months before sudden death.It is also well known that a person with a 'normal' ECG can die suddenly, whereas a patient with a grossly abnormal ECG may live for years. Does this latest information imply that standard ECG monitoring is misleading and possibly a useless diagnostic method?


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