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Shortness of Breath: Are You Out of Shape or Is It Your Heart?
You climb a flight of stairs and find yourself breathing harder than expected. Maybe you have to slow down during your usual walk or catch your breath after carrying groceries. It’s easy to assume you’re out of shape, especially if you don’t exercise regularly. But shortness of breath can also indicate that something is affecting your heart.
At Parkview Cardiology PLLC in New York City, our team provides comprehensive cardiovascular evaluations and advanced in-office diagnostic testing to identify potential causes of shortness of breath and other heart-related symptoms.
Kedar Sankholkar, MD, MS, FACC, can personalize a care plan to treat the root cause of shortness of breath and improve your overall cardiovascular health.
Here’s how to recognize when feeling winded may warrant a closer look at your heart health.
Why being out of shape can leave you breathless
When you exercise regularly, your heart, lungs, and muscles become more efficient at supplying and using oxygen. After a period of inactivity, that efficiency can decline, a process known as deconditioning.
As a result, activities once easy may require more effort. You may notice heavier breathing when climbing stairs, walking uphill, or exercising.
Shortness of breath caused by deconditioning typically occurs with exertion and improves relatively quickly with rest. As your fitness improves, you should gradually tolerate more activity without becoming winded.
The important thing to note is whether your symptoms follow that pattern or seem unusual for your current activity level.
When shortness of breath may be related to your heart
Your heart pumps oxygen-rich blood throughout your body. When a cardiovascular problem interferes with that process, shortness of breath can result.
Heart failure, coronary artery disease, heart rhythm disorders, and heart valve problems can all contribute to breathlessness. In some cases, shortness of breath may appear before more recognizable heart symptoms develop.
Pay attention to breathlessness that’s new, getting worse, or triggered by less activity than before. Other warning signs of an underlying heart condition can include:
- Chest pain, pressure, or tightness
- Heart palpitations or an irregular heartbeat
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Unusual fatigue or weakness
- Swelling in the feet, ankles, or legs
- Difficulty breathing when lying flat
- Waking during the night feeling short of breath
Sudden or severe shortness of breath, particularly when accompanied by chest pain, fainting, confusion, or other severe symptoms, requires immediate medical attention.
How we determine the cause of shortness of breath
It isn’t always easy to distinguish deconditioning from a cardiovascular problem based on symptoms alone. That’s where a thorough evaluation becomes important.
Dr. Sankholkar discusses when your symptoms occur, how long they last, and whether anything makes them better or worse. Your medical history, medications, activity level, and cardiovascular risk factors can provide additional clues.
Depending on your symptoms, we may recommend diagnostic testing. An electrocardiogram (EKG) can evaluate your heart’s electrical activity, while an echocardiogram provides information about its structure and function.
A cardiac stress test can show how your heart responds to physical exertion, and ambulatory monitoring can help detect intermittent heart rhythm abnormalities. Together, these tests can help determine whether your breathlessness is related to your heart or another cause.
Don’t automatically blame being out of shape
Getting winded on occasion doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong with your heart. But persistent or unexplained shortness of breath deserves attention, particularly when it represents a change from what’s normal for you.
If you experience unexplained shortness of breath, call the Midtown Manhattan office of Parkview Cardiology PLLC to schedule an appointment and get the answers you need about your heart health. You can also request a consultation online.