How to Help Prevent an AFib Attack
What Is AFib?
Watch the Caffeine
Avoid Alcohol, Especially Binge Drinking
Eat a Banana (or Anything Rich in Potassium)
Dunk Your Head in Cold Water
Strike a (Yoga) Pose
Try the Valsalva Maneuver
Take a Deep (Belly) Breath
Put a Pin in It
Consider a Magnesium Supplement
Eat a Heart-Healthy Diet
Limit Sodium
Move Your Body
Stay Hydrated
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SOURCES:
American Heart Association: “What are the Symptoms of Atrial Fibrillation (AFib or AF)?”
Mayo Clinic: “Atrial Fibrillation.”
Mayo Clinic: Water: “How much should you drink every day?”
Journal of the American College of Cardiology: “Alcohol and Atrial Fibrillation: A Sobering Review.”
International Journal of Cardiology: “Serum Potassium Levels and the Risk of Atrial Fibrillation: The Rotterdam Study.”
National Kidney Foundation: “Potassium and Your CKD Diet.”
Journal Annals of Medicine: “Dietary sodium intake is associated with long-term risk of new-onset atrial fibrillation.”
American Heart Association: “Top 25 Foods That Add the Most Sodium to Your Diet.”
Mayo Clinic: “Vasovagal syncope.”
JMIR Formative Research: “Effects of Cold Stimulation on Cardiac-Vagal Activation in Healthy Participants: Randomized Controlled Trial.”
Harvard Health Publishing: “Ask the doctor: Is swimming in cold water okay for my heart?”
International Congress of Oral Implantologists: “Valsalva Maneuver.”
Cleveland Clinic: “Diaphragmatic Breathing.”
Mayo Clinic: “Should I make changes to my diet if I've been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation?”
American College of Cardiology: “Low-Carb Diet Tied to Common Heart Rhythm Disorder.”
European Heart Journal: “Yoga and atrial fibrillation.”
Circulation: “Low Serum Magnesium and the Development of Atrial Fibrillation in the Community: The Framingham Heart Study.”
BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine: “ED use of magnesium sulphate improved rate control in atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response.”
Circulation: “Magnesium for Atrial Fibrillation, Myth or Magic?”
PulmCrit: “Magnesium infusions for atrial fibrillation & torsade.”
JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology: “Caffeine and Arrhythmias: Time to Grind the Data.”
Medscape: “Caffeine: No Downside, Hint of Benefit in Atrial Fibrillation."
Journal Electrocardiology: “The effects of caffeine on the inducibility of atrial fibrillation.”
Journal Atrial Fibrillation: “Beverages Of Daily Life: Impact Of Caffeine On Atrial Fibrillation.”
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: “Caffeine and risk of atrial fibrillation or flutter: the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study.”
Clinical Nutrition: “Energy Drinks and Atrial Fibrillation in Young Adult.”