A stress test isn’t meant to stress you out. It’s a test your cardiologist may use to help diagnose possible heart-related symptoms you’re having and determine the proper course of treatment. It’s noninvasive, completely painless, and there’s no prep or downtime involved.

At Northwest Houston Heart Center, cardiologists Dr. A. Adnan Aslam and Dr. Roy Norman use stress tests to diagnose and treat many cardiovascular problems. If you’re scheduled to have a stress test, let’s talk about why you’re having it and what you can expect.

What is a stress test?

A stress test shows your doctor the effects of exercise on your heart. When you exercise, the heart has to pump harder and faster and use more fuel, so you might hear this procedure called an exercise stress test. The stress test shows the blood flow changes within the heart while this is happening.

During an exercise stress test, you usually walk on a treadmill or ride a stationary bike. The doctor monitors your heartbeat, blood pressure, and breathing during the test. If you’re unable to exercise, the doctor can give you medication that affects the heart like exercise does. This is referred to as a medication stress test.

If you’re wondering why your doctor ordered a stress test, a couple of the common reasons include chest pain or shortness of breath — both symptoms of coronary artery disease — or an irregular heartbeat, also known as an arrhythmia.

What are the types of stress tests?

There are four different types of stress tests:

1. Exercise stress test

This is the test where you use a treadmill or stationary bike to make the heart work harder than normal.

2. Medication stress test

This is the same as the exercise stress test, only the doctor uses medication to simulate exercise’s effects on the heart.

3. Stress echocardiogram

An echocardiogram provides information about the heart’s movement. It allows the doctor to visualize how the heart’s walls move and pump blood when it’s stressed. It can also show a lack of blood flow to certain areas that isn’ always visible with other diagnostic tests.

4. Nuclear stress test

Considered the “gold standard” of stress tests, a nuclear test combines a cardiac PET (positron emission tomography) scan with the standard exercise stress test. You have two scans. The first is done immediately after your stress test to image the heart when it’s hard at work.

The second scan is performed when your heart is at its normal resting rate. The doctor compares the images to see if there are any parts of the heart that aren’t receiving enough blood or otherwise not working well.

What can a stress test show?

In addition to showing a lack of blood supply to the heart, a stress test also lets the doctor know what kind and level of physical activity you’re able to handle, and the results may allow him to decide if you have heart disease, and, if so, how severe the condition is.

Exercise stress tests are used to determine:

• Arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat)
• If your symptoms are related to your heart
• How hard you should exercise during a cardiac rehabilitation program or when you start an exercise program
• If treatments you’ve received for heart disease are working
• If you need other tests, such as a coronary angiogram, to detect narrowed arteries
• If you’re at risk of having a heart attack

A stress test can also help the doctor determine if surgery, such as replacing a valve, might be safe for you.

What happens during a stress test?

First, a technician places electrodes on your chest and sometimes your arms and legs. The electrodes send signals about your heart to a computer that displays the results. This is an electrocardiogram, or EKG.

You’ll have a blood pressure cuff on your upper arm to monitor how your pressure changes during the test. You may also be asked to breathe into a tube while you’re exercising to see how much oxygen you get during exercise.

Whether you’re on a treadmill or a stationary bike, you’ll start at an easy pace, then the workout will get harder, making your heart work harder. The procedure continues until either your heart rate reaches a target level or you need to stop after symptoms like severe shortness of breath occur.

If you’ve been having any signs of a possible heart problem, it’s time to come into Northwest Houston Heart Center for a cardiac evaluation, including stress testing. Call us at any of our locations — in Tomball, Cypress, Magnolia, or The Woodlands, Texas — today,  or book online. You can also text us at 832-402-9518.