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Atrial fibrillation, also called AFib or AF, is a medical condition that can cause an irregular heartbeat. Given that it also can cause some patients to experience symptoms such as chest pain, breathlessness, heart palpitations or worse, it’s understandable that many people with AFib wonder: Is exercise a safe choice for me?

Even if you’re an elite athlete in perfect health, your heart works harder and is more vulnerable on hot, humid days. For people with a history of heart problems, the risk is much greater. 

Regular physical activity strengthens your muscles and joints, and it’s also key for heart health. Exercise helps your heart more efficiently pump blood and circulate oxygen, lowering your risk of cardiovascular conditions like heart failure and heart disease. 

If you’ve ever felt that your heart skipped a beat or that your heart was thumping in your chest, you may have felt a heart arrhythmia, or an abnormal heart rhythm. While everyone can experience an abnormal heart rhythm once in a while, an irregular heart beat that occurs periodically could signal trouble.

You probably haven’t heard of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but it’s the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in people younger than 35 years old. The condition, which causes your heart muscle to thicken for no apparent reason, is often inherited. You can have the disease and never know it.

Perhaps you’ve been walking all day at a theme park or sight-seeing on a family trip when you experience muscle fatigue and cramping in your calves. The pain forces you to stop and rest, then it subsides. But when you hurry to catch up with your group, the searing muscle cramps return, forcing you to stop once again after just a few minutes. What’s going on? 

The statistics on heart disease and heart attacks are staggering. Every year about 785,000 Americans have their first coronary attack, and it remains the leading cause of death and disability in the U.S. Another 470,000 Americans will have a recurrence or another attack. Some of the most important risk factors for heart disease are age, gender, ethnicity and a history of diabetes, cholesterol abnormalities or smoking.

Fans of the television series “This is Us” finally found out how Jack Pearson, the father, died, but they still had a lot of questions that weren’t related to the episode. After saving his family, the dog and precious mementos from a house fire, Jack died from a sudden heart attack, commonly known as a widowmaker. Although long-time viewers already knew the character, who was always seen in flashbacks, had died, they were devastated. How could a catastrophic heart attack affect such a young and seemingly healthy person? Online searches for the term “widowmaker” surged 5000% after the show aired.

Medication and talk therapy are effective ways to treat anxiety and depression. But you might be surprised to know that what you eat and drink also can affect your mood.