If your significant other hands you a box of chocolates, your heart might skip a beat; but that’s pretty much the only time you want to feel your heart flutter. Even sweeter, eating what’s in that box may protect you from a dangerous form of heart palpitations called atrial fibrillation, a study shows.
And now, an odd but cautionary tale. Having the hiccups is annoying, and it can also be embarrassing, especially if you’re a radio host. That’s the situation Philadelphia radio icon Big Daddy Graham found himself in about a week ago.
As he prepped for a 2 a.m. radio show at 610 WIP radio, he was struck with a bad case of the hiccups. But the show must go on, so Graham took to the airwaves, but it was impossible to cover up his condition.
Graham, who has been with the station for nearly 20 years, said of his early morning ailment:
Atrial fibrillation, or AFib, affects between 2.7 and 6.1 million people in the United States. Approximately 9% of people over the age of 65 are afflicted with this heart condition. [2]
AFib is the most common type of heart arrhythmia. The disorder occurs when the heart beats too slowly, too quickly, or in an irregular way, and the blood doesn’t flow properly from the atria to the lower two ventricles of the heart. It can be an off-and-on occurrence, or it can be permanent. [1]
