Question about heart rate while asleep and dreaming

[lofwyr]

So, I am not particularly worried about this, but as usual, I do not want to just google it, so I thought come to the place where people understand HA and see if anyone else has had this experience.

So, a night last week I forgot to take my Apple Watch off before bed, and it has an active heart monitor. My normal resting heart rate is pretty good. It fluctuates between 67 and 77 bpm.

I had this dream--not a nightmare, but definitely active. I woke up to go to the bathroom, and my heart was pounding. I happened to look at my watch and it was 121 bpm. It rather shocked me, but surprisingly didn't freak me out.

So, this has happened two more times since, about once a week or so that I have noticed. A dream, then a racing heart upon awakening in the middle of the night. Anyone know anything about how dreams affect our biology?

Also, should I think about a sleep study? My wife says I have no issues breathing though I do snore off an on, can apnea be less obvious than my father's who you can hear stop breathing momentarily?

Again, not really worried or that anxious about it, just curious and would love to hear from others about it.

[Sphincterclench]

the act of getting out of bed from resting can spike your heart rate by itself as well as your blood pressure

thats why they say sit for 10 mins before taking a "resting heart rate"

[bin tenn]

the act of getting out of bed from resting can spike your heart rate by itself as well as your blood pressure

thats why they say sit for 10 mins before taking a "resting heart rate"

Agreed, and I bet dreams can alter those things somewhat, too.

[lofwyr]

So, I noticed this pattern continued. I am still not worried about it, but it did strike up my curiosity and I found an interesting article about the physiological changes your body goes through while dreaming.

And as it turns out, your heart rate will in fact rise, often as much as 35%, during dream states, which is about what mine was running at. It also does not matter if the dream is a good dream, relaxing dream, or a nightmare. They all affect your heart rate at about the same measure.

Just thought I would share, in case anyone else wondered, or passed by this in a search because they were worried about their pounding heart in the middle of the night someday in the future.

I know old threads have provided me with immeasurable relief.