The most common heart condition in women is coronary heart disease, the narrowing of the heart’s arteries that causes angina and heart attacks. More than 800,000 women in the UK are living with it, and the British Heart Foundation reports that it kills twice as many women as breast cancer each year. Women are also

Most faints are not caused by heart disease. The most common type is a simple or vasovagal faint, where a trigger such as standing for a long time, heat, pain or the sight of blood causes a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure. These faints are usually harmless. However, fainting can also be

Ectopic heartbeats are early or extra beats that interrupt your heart’s normal rhythm. They usually feel like a skipped beat, a flutter, or a single heavy thump in the chest, often followed by a brief pause. They are very common, most people have them at some point, and in the large majority of cases they

A normal resting heart rate for an adult is between 60 and 100 beats per minute. That is the range used by the British Heart Foundation and by most doctors in the UK. Within it, a lower number usually means the heart is pumping efficiently, and very fit people can sit comfortably below 60 without

A CT coronary calcium score is a quick, non-invasive scan that measures how much calcium has built up in the walls of the arteries that supply your heart. Calcium in these arteries is a marker of atherosclerosis, the gradual build-up of fatty plaque that causes most heart attacks. The scan takes a few minutes, needs

Feelings of anxiety and restlessness are, in the great majority of cases, caused by stress, worry, or an anxiety condition rather than anything wrong with the heart. But there is an important overlap that often causes confusion. The physical sensations we recognise as anxiety, such as a racing heart, restlessness, a tight chest, and a

Sweating is a normal and essential function that helps the body regulate its temperature, and most of the time it has an obvious and harmless cause such as heat, exercise, a fever, or feeling anxious. But sweating can also be an important warning sign of a heart problem, particularly when it comes on suddenly, without

An ECG Holter monitor is a small, portable device that continuously records the electrical activity of your heart over an extended period, usually 24 to 48 hours, while you go about your normal daily life. It works on exactly the same principle as a standard ECG performed in clinic, but instead of capturing a few

Poor circulation means blood is not flowing as freely as it should to parts of the body, most often the legs, feet, and hands. It is commonly noticed as cold extremities, numbness or tingling, cramping pain in the legs when walking, or changes in skin colour. While mild poor circulation is often harmless and related

A transoesophageal echocardiogram, usually shortened to TOE, is a detailed ultrasound scan of the heart taken from inside the oesophagus, the food pipe, which lies directly behind the heart. A thin, flexible tube with a small ultrasound probe on its tip is gently passed down the throat, in a similar way to a gastroscopy, so