Worried about pulse

[Margykira82]

Hi everyone, my name is margy, I'm new here. I have really bad health anxiety, my anxiety comes and goes. It is back now, but not sure if this could be anxiety. I have been feeling like a paused missed beats and always think my pulse is too slow, I'm always taking my pulse, feel like I'm going crazy. My pulse is in the low 60s and I'm scared that it is going to go further down. I do take proprananlol of a night time.

Some advice on what people think about this. Thanks. 😊

[BigPlay]

HA can cause havoc with your pulse - it certainly does for me!

Low 60's doesn't sound too bad, as anything between 60 - 100 is considered 'normal'. If you are worried, probably best to go to the Doctor, and they will listen to your heart and refer you if there is anything wrong. Much better than asking on a forum and us all guessing! It doesn't sound bad to me though.

[Shadowhawk]

Are you relatively active and/or physically fit? A resting heart rate generally in the 60's is considered great.

As for skipped beats and other worries.. those things do happen with anxiety, but if you ARE worried (being honest, you know what is and isn't normal feeling for you), see a doc, and be honest about your concern AND anxiety...

[Brian_VA]

I was worried about the same thing last year. My heart rate was low upper 50s to low 60s. I became so obsessed with it. Turns out many doctors think normal should be 50-70 , not 60-100. The better shape you are in the slower your heart rate is. Mine drops into the mid 50s sometimes while relaxing. same with my wife. Best time to measure your heart rate is when you wake up but before you get out of bed. Mine has been been around 58.
It's good to have a lower heart rate. I run about 3 miles everyday..have been for years. I'm assuming that's why my heart rate is on the lower end.

https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/features/5-heart-rate-myths-debunked

[ankietyjoe]

I was worried about the same thing last year. My heart rate was low upper 50s to low 60s. I became so obsessed with it. Turns out many doctors think normal should be 50-70 , not 60-100. The better shape you are in the slower your heart rate is. Mine drops into the mid 50s sometimes while relaxing. same with my wife. Best time to measure your heart rate is when you wake up but before you get out of bed. Mine has been been around 58.
It's good to have a lower heart rate. I run about 3 miles everyday..have been for years. I'm assuming that's why my heart rate is on the lower end.

https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/features/5-heart-rate-myths-debunked


It's important to add the word 'context' to all of these heart rates too. The only true resting heart rate is the few minutes after you wake up. Any other time of day you will have been walking/moving/exercising/driving/shopping/eating/digesting etc etc. All of these will elevate your heart rate and it can take a while for it to go down again, often hours.

Mine is around 70bpm sitting here at my desk for example, but I have been moving around all morning. I would be anything from 58-65 when I wake up, 80-100 when I'm walking about and will happily sit from 78-90 (or so) after a big meal, often for 3-4 hours.

When I used to have anxiety about my heart rate I would do something stupid like take it when I was at the bowling alley with my kids (not full on exercise, but you're active) and would panic because it was around 90bpm, which I now realise is completely normal for that situation.