How long does it take for a lifestyle change to improve afib

I was diagnosed a year ago and have progressively instituted a lifestyle change (eating healthy/more consistent exercise/no caffeine etc) over the last 11 months to improve my afib. I'm an active person so I was never overweight. I'm a 5'10" male with my weight down from 177 lbs to 147 lbs 6 months ago where it has stabilized at 145-147. My episodes occur about 13 times a month and can last anywhere from a few seconds to on and off for a few hours. My total episodes per month have not changed. After five months the episodes shifted to occurring mostly during the middle of the night. I haven't found a clear trigger although I can certainly have an episode if I haven't consumed enough water. At the same time I have plenty of episodes in the evening or at night when I am well hydrated.

I'm sure it varies across individuals, but if afib can be improved through a lifestyle change how long would it take to see an improvement? 3 months? 6 months? 1 year? 3 years? Thanks for your input.

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gethealthy6
I'm sure it varies across individuals, but if afib can be improved through a lifestyle change how long would it take to see an improvement? 3 months? 6 months? 1 year? 3 years? Thanks for your input.

Source: [www.afibbers.org]

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Shannon
And if any of these life style risk reduction methods don't show dramatic reduction in total AFIB burden within 6 months to a year of truly dedicated effort, then don't hesitate any longer to partner with the most experiences ablation maestro you can possible arrange for yourself and being perfectly willing to travel for 5 to 6 days to put your hearts care into such an elite experts hands to begin an expert ablation process.

This combination of the best of life style risk reduction and best of Electrophysiology ... and both applied at the right time ... is the key we have found over almost 20 years of experience here as the oldest AFIB patient education and advocacy resource on the web to gaining durable freedom for the most afibbers in the least overall work required to gain such freedom. And this is the number one way to reduce any added cognitive function deficit due to on-going AFIB back to a typical normal baseline risk found in non-Afibbers of the same age and overall health status!

Have you ever had a sleep study? Do you have sleep apnea?

Aside of the obvious, often mentioned here, we're never sure our afib is caused by our lifestyle.
You may change your lifestyle for months and see no improvement, and even if you see some, it may be just coincidental.
I don't know for people who have very few afib episodes, it might be easier, but for guys like me, having more than 50/year, it's amazingly confusing.
I'd just say that episodes lasting just "a few seconds", as you said, are not afib. They're some runs of PACs.
For myself (I take lots of notes), I don't even consider episodes shorter than a tenth minutes as being afib episodes. I don't take them into account. But they're rare, to be fair. A couple minutes with runs of PACs, or at least 30 min in full afib, that's what I'm dealing with.
All come at rest (or/and after meal) and stop by themselves usually less than 3hrs later.
Believe me. I've tried lots of diets. The best one I should follow is the "forget about your heart diet", but it's a tough one !

We are all different as mentioned many times. My AFIB started off 4 and a half years ago while training for another triathlon at 62. My first year of AFIB, especially the first 6 months was difficult. I had almost nightly attacks from seconds to no more than a couple of hours. I slept sitting up to stop most of the attacks. I gave myself one year of no drugs or procedures to see if I could stop the AFIB. For me the lifetime of intense exercise seems to have been what damaged my atria so I detrained, I.e., no more vigorous exercise but lots of moderate. I only supplement with mg (400 mg magnesium glycinate) and try to eat 10 fruits and vegetables a day with mostly seafood. My AFIB attacks have greatly reduced from 77 the first year to about 5 per year now lasting at worst an hour. So for me Shannon was dead on with the 6 to 12 month period of lifestyle changes before a great reduction. Hope this helps.

What's your A1C, fasting glucose, C Reactive Protein, cellular Magnesium, serum potassium (average), do you consume alcohol, MSG, stuff yourself at a meal, pound down icy cold liquids, stress out? All of these are things to be aware of to prevent Afib either before or AFTER an ablation. The Afib Cure by Dr. John D Day, and Magnificent Magnesium by Dr. Dennis Goodman, are "must reads" in my mind for those who want to work on lifestyle . Daily exercise is crucial, but over training is not good. Do you know how to breathe to relax? Breathe is another good book. I had an ablation because I was clueless about lifestyle modification. It was the best thing since sliced bread, but after 8 months during a stressful time in my life AF came roaring back every other day for hours and hours just like before. Now that I've adjusted my lifestyle, avoid blood sugar spikes (big one) I will celebrate my one year anniversary of NSR on April 23! Good luck!

I didn't have much AFIB but I had 8000-16000 PACs a day. (associated with COVID booster resulting in myocarditis.)
3-4 months of diet and exercise changes got my PACs under control.
I swear by the continuous use of the Wellue AI-ECG monitor to get insights into impacts of different diet, exercise and medications.
The smart phone app can show you realtime traces and the PC can give you 24-hr analysis.

Check out if you have GERD. Try elevating your bed (head) with a wood block or a few books and see if it cuts down on your episodes. And get a sleep apnea study. My afib occurs when I don’t use the CPAP.