Your Heart - the ELECTRIC Wonder!

Your heart has electrical wiring, which keeps it beating. Electrical impulses begin high in the right atrium and travel through specialized pathways to the ventricles, delivering the signal to pump.
The conduction system keeps your heart beating in a coordinated and normal rhythm, which in turn keeps blood circulating. The continuous exchange of oxygen-rich blood with oxygen-poor blood is what keeps you alive.
The primary purpose for circulation is to provide fresh blood and nutrients to the rest of the body. The lungs are a vital part of the circulatory system as they are used to expel carbon dioxide a deadly toxin.

The health of all of the components of this intricate system are vital. If one area is not working to it's peak, your health suffers.

Pay attention to your bodies functions by taking note of reactions to little things such as:

• Excercise
• Excitement
• Sudden surprises

 If immediately after a heart palpitating episode you feel any unique symptoms, NOTE THEM and check with your doctor. This knowledge may help lead you to early diagnosis and prevention of heart ailments.

"Holiday Heart" - an ER term

Holiday heart syndrome most commonly refers to the association between alcohol use and rhythm disturbances in apparently healthy people, primarily Atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation is a common heart rhythm disturbance that often produces significant symptoms, and can even lead to stroke. It is a rapid and irregular heart arrhythmia, caused by chaotic electrical impulses in the atria of the heart (the two upper chambers).

http://heartdisease.about.com/od/atrialfibrillation/a/holiday_heart.htm

In many cases, atrial fibrillation is caused by underlying heart disease or by aging. Sometimes it has no identifiable cause. But in Holiday Heart, the cause is an unusual sensitivity to alcohol consumption. This does not indicate however, a person susceptibility is increased by the amount of their consumption. Some individuals are extremely sensitive to alcohol, such that even moderate amounts - two or three drinks, and sometimes a single drink - can trigger episodes of atrial fibrillation.

Up to 60% of people who ‘binge’ drink will experience episodes of atrial fibrillation