About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get StartedDefinition
By Mayo Clinic staffHeart palpitations (pal-pih-TA-shuns) are the feelings of having rapid, fluttering or pounding heartbeats. Heart palpitations can be triggered by stress, exercise, medication or, rarely, an underlying medical condition.
Although heart palpitations can be worrisome, they're usually harmless, since your heart is still pumping effectively. You can often prevent heart palpitations by avoiding the triggers that cause them.
In rare cases, heart palpitations may be a symptom of a more serious heart condition, such as an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), that may require treatment.
- Zimetbaum PJ. Overview of palpitations in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed Feb. 13, 2009.
- Palpitations. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hpl/hpl_all.html. Accessed Feb. 13, 2009.
- Khamis RY, et al. Palpitations. Medicine. 2009;37:100.
- Abbott AV. Diagnostic approach to palpitations. American Family Physician. 2005;743.
- Thompson J. Psychological and physical etiologies of heart palpitations. Holistic Nursing Practice. 2006;20:107.
Find Mayo Clinic on