Waking up heart racing...

[laura442]

Hi all,

Ive had this a few times in my life but at the moment its every night and its so frightening....just as im dropping off or even been asleep for a minute or so I wake up with a startle someones choking but most of the time just heart racing....the last few nights its happened 7 times before I finally stayed asleep. Its really upsetting me....please please can someone tell me they have had or got this too im so scared theres a problem with my heart :(

[imissnotworrying]

I've woken up startled before, gasping for breath and/or with a racing heart. It's pretty much a slight panic attack but one that happens as you try to drift off. Sometimes you may have been starting to have a nightmare and been unaware of it, and your body reacts to it, other times it's just the stress hormones in your system giving you trouble. Watch for any negative things you think before you go to sleep, try to think positive thoughts and use your imagination in a positive way, camomile tea may help you drift off better as it's a sleep aid (i recommend this to everyone with health anxiety as it's generally calming) and rest assured that anxiety can make you feel like there's a problem with your heart, but it's just the anxiety doing it Xx

[laura442]

aww thank you soooo much ! I drink camomile tea alllll day as im too scared of medication its took me months to pluck up the courage to even try it lol. I too would recommend camomile tea it really helps when im anxious. My partner says im snoring so im scared ive got sleep apneoa as thats when the body stops breathing and your brain makes you wake up...

[imissnotworrying]

aww thank you soooo much ! I drink camomile tea alllll day as im too scared of medication its took me months to pluck up the courage to even try it lol. I too would recommend camomile tea it really helps when im anxious. My partner says im snoring so im scared ive got sleep apneoa as thats when the body stops breathing and your brain makes you wake up...

I know lots of people who snore (pretty sure I do sometimes) I think it can just be one of those things. I was also scared of sleep apnea when i was waking up like that, but when these things are common with anxiety, and we have anxiety, whereas sleep apnea is rare, is so much more likely to be a stress/anxiety induced problem. Also the racing heart indicates a rise in the levels of cortisol/adrenaline, which is a classic hallmark of anxiety. I think it's likely only continued because you've been worried about it, you're probably scared of it happening each time you go to sleep now so you're stressing your system out and it's causing it to happen more and more. If you sleep on your back or otherwise try sleeping on your side, i usually get a better nights sleep that way. But it's weird cause whatever particular anxiety symptom we're experiencing, the more we focus and worry about it being something terrible, the worse it seems to get and the longer it takes to go away. Whereas when i've just point blank refused to acknowledge things (say mild headaches for example) they left me alone. I'd say I still get them 'now and again' but the gap of time is very very wide now. However If I stress about them, they get worse or they happen more frequently, even daily. The body is very reactive to what the mind thinks Xx