What It Means When Your Heart Skips a Beat—and 9 Things That Cause It

When your heart “skips a beat” it may feel like a brief flutter or flip-flop in your chest. In fact, that skipped beat feeling is actually an extra beat medically defined as a premature beat. There are two types of premature beats, a premature atrial contraction in the top chamber of the heart and a premature ventricular contraction from the lower heart chamber, which pumps the blood to other parts of your body. Premature beats occur when electrical impulses from your heart misfire earlier than expected. The good news is that most premature beats don’t necessarily mean there’s something wrong with your heart’s structure. But if they do become frequent or are accompanied with shortness of breath or chest pain, visit your doctor to make sure it’s nothing serious. “Neither of these are considered dangerous. Although there are exceptions, these are typically benign,” says Ayman Hussein, MD, a cardiac electrophysiology specialist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “It comes down to symptoms and quality of life.”