What type of medication is used to reduce heart rate?

The correct choice is beta blockers. Beta blockers are a class of medications that primarily work by blocking the effects of adrenaline on beta-adrenergic receptors in the heart and other tissues. This leads to a decrease in heart rate, reduced force of contraction, and a lowering of blood pressure. This mechanism makes them particularly effective in managing conditions such as hypertension, arrhythmias, and heart failure, where controlling heart rate is often crucial.

Calcium channel blockers, while they can also influence heart rate and reduce the force of contraction, typically work through a different mechanism by inhibiting the influx of calcium ions into cardiac and smooth muscle cells. They are usually more associated with vasodilation and lowering blood pressure rather than directly reducing heart rate as effectively as beta blockers.

Diuretics primarily act on the kidneys to help remove excess fluid and sodium from the body and are used mainly for managing conditions related to fluid overload rather than altering heart rate. ACE inhibitors block the angiotensin-converting enzyme, which plays a crucial role in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system to lower blood pressure but do not have a direct effect on reducing heart rate.