One of the most common diseases around that affect millions of Americans today is atrial fibrillation, also known as afib. The approximate number of individuals here in America who suffer from or live with atrial fibrillation are exactly 2.7 million. The exact definition of atrial fibrillation is that it is a quivering or irregular heartbeat. This irregular heartbeat is also known as an arrhythmia. Afib can lead to a variety of other diseases such as blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications.

There are many different signs and symptoms that are associated with atrial fibrillation and they are general fatigue, rapid heartbeat, fluttering or thumping of the chest, rapid and irregular heartbeat, dizziness, shortness of breath, anxiety, weakness, confusion, extreme fatigue with strenuous activity such as exercising, and chest pain. The number one and most common symptom still remains to be arrhythmia. Common risk factors for Afib include the following:

1. Associated health conditions
The are various risk factors that are associated with atrial fibrillation. Here are some of the following risk factors they are diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, thyroid disease, sleep apnea, and cardiomyopathy. If an individual is diagnosed with any of the diseases listed they have a high risk for developing atrial fibrillation. Individuals should also keep in mind that on some occasions individuals can be healthy and have no medical conditions and still develop atrial fibrillation. The probability is low but it can happen.

2. Diabetes
Diabetes is a disease that occurs when the body is resistant to insulin. Doctors and scientists are not sure of how diabetes cause atrial fibrillation studies have just shown the most people who have diabetes also has atrial fibrillation.

3. Hypertension
High blood pressure and cardiomyopathy causes the heart to have to work harder to push blood throughout the body and this extra work on the heart leads to an abnormal rhythm which then lead to atrial fibrillation.

4. Chronic stress
When it comes to atrial fibrillation the main factor that causes this condition is when extra stress is put on the heart. This stress could come in many different ways such as a chemical imbalance, blood vessels shrinking or wearing down, and a weak heart that pumps insucciently. All of these factors relate to all the disease that puts individuals at risk. So the only way to possibly combat atrial fibrillation is try and live as healthy as possible. You want to have a lifestyle that includes getting exercise , maintain the proper diet, and getting routine checks up as you start to age with your doctor. Again keep in mind in the rare cases where individuals are taking all the proper steps to prevent atrial fibrillation it does still occur.