Heart rate at rest. Bradycardia is a slow heart rate, defined as below 60 bpm at rest. During sleep a slow heartbeat with rates around 40–50 bpm is common and is considered normal. When the heart is not beating in a regular pattern, this is referred to as an arrhythmia. Abnormalities of heart rate sometimes indicate disease. While heart rhythm is regulated entirely by the sinoatrial node under normal conditions, heart rate is regulated by sympathetic and parasympathetic input to the sinoatrial node. The accelerans nerve provides sympathetic input to the heart by releasing norepinephrine onto the cells of the sinoatrial node
Bachmann's bundle found that clamping the muscular bundle of fibers that connects the atria caused a significant conduction delay. The Bachman's bundle receives its blood supply from the sinoatrial nodal artery (right, left or both). Besides Bachmann's bundle, the other three conduction tracts that constitute the "atrial conduction system" are known as the anterior, middle, and posterior tracts, which run from the sinoatrial node to the atrioventricular node, converging in the region near the coronary sinus. "Atrial automaticity foci" are within the atrial conduction system. The concentration of converging conduction tracts near the coronary sinus results in considerable automaticity activity originating in