Re: Fear of fast heart rate
It won't STAY beating fast, but as long as you're focusing on it and worrying about it, it'll be higher than it would normally be.
And when you say "for the last month I saw posts on how its unhealthy for someone's heart rate to stay over 100 beats per minute while resting"
Where exactly did you see these posts? A fast heart rate in itself isn't dangerous, so what exactly are you reading?
Furthermore, if you drink too much or go for a long walk, of course your heart rate will be higher than resting.
Can you see how you're creating a mental problem that doesn't even exist?
Re: Fear of fast heart rate
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Originally Posted by
TaleOn11
I feel like my life is going to end at this point..
It isn't, but go on....
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Okay, so for the last month I saw posts on how its unhealthy for someone's heart rate to stay over 100 beats per minute while resting and I feared that my anxiety was going to make my heart rate go up and up and never go down til I get a heart attack.
My heart was running at 145 bpm while lying down. That was 4 years ago. I'm still here.
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I managed to deal with it until this week. Not only had I been drinking during the weekend which made my anxiety worse
Alcohol + anxiety = panic attacks waiting to happen, and feeling mega crap in general.
Drinking alcohol makes your heart beat faster - that applies to everybody. It's a STIMULANT.
Also, it dehydrates you which makes anxiety symptoms ten times worse.
And, the body tries to clear the alcohol after about 4 hours of (crap) sleep - which is why people wake up in the early hours having panic attacks.
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but I went for a long walk on Tuesday and when I came back I began to seriously worry how my heart was beating fast,
Your heart is meant to beat faster during exercise.:unsure:
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to the point where my anxiety convinced me that it will never go back down to its healthy rate.
What happened there is that you became aware of your heartbeat, as every anxious person does, and then you added fear to the mix - so your fight or flight response kicked in and REALLY ramped up your heartbeat because you were giving the order to your brain that there is danger and you must run from it or stay and beat the crap out of it! Your brain doesn't know the difference between an anxious thought and somebody about to gaffer tape you to a chair!
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My heart rate did go back to around 70-80 beats when I convinced myself it was all anxiety
That's because it is anxiety...
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but this seriously left me hopeless, depressed and unable to do anything that raises my heart rate because of this.
To put this into context, you had a panic attack - which is very NORMAL physical response to scary thoughts. Your heart was doing exactly what it is meant to do.
If you don't do anything to raise your heartrate (exercise) then you are asking for actual physical problems because the heart is a muscle that needs to be worked like any other!
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Can the mind really do this? Can it make my heart stay beating fast?
Yes.
And you know what else? Your mind can slow it down again - alongside breathing slowly and deeply - because doing this turns ON the parasympathetic nervous response, and OFF the sympathetic nervous response (fight or flight)
Think of other, not so scary times, when your heart speeds up, like seeing someone you fancy, or that feeling just before your favourite band comes on stage - only this is interpreted as excitement.
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I'm super frightened!
You can look forward to more of the same then...
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This mainly happens during the day and I do feel more relaxed at night
That's to do with cortisol being at its lowest at night. It's your body working perfectly.
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but now I'm think my days are numbered because of this.
I know a man whose days are literally numbered. He's dying, you're not. Your body is a magnificent machine and it's working as it should. It's your thoughts which are the problem.
