Fast heart rate at rest. Scared.

[Mark8800]

Hello everyone. So I decided to check my pulse two days ago and it was at like 108 bpm at rest. This made me panic and I started to compulsively check. I eventually checked and it was down to 104 then eventually 96. But I have the habit of checking a lot. I’m scared that my heart rate at rest is damaging to my heart. Am I overthinking?? I heard it it’s over 120 then that can be dangerous which scares me. I had a 24 hour holter monitor and and echo about 5 months ago and my cardiologist and family doctor didn’t seem concerned at all. Is 108 bpm really high at rest? Will I be ok if it’s in that range? I’m morbidly obese and trying to lose weight.

[NoraB]

Hi Mark,

Obesity means a faster heart rate, add anxiety into this and it will go higher still.

Losing weight will lower your heart rate, as will addressing your anxiety. I'd advise you to stop checking your pulse (It's making matters worse) and to concentrate on breathing deeply.

If there were any issues with your heart, the 24-hour monitor would have picked something up. (It didn't, so that's good news)

The heart is designed to beat fast (fight or flight/exercise) it just feels strange when it beats fast and we're not doing anything physically. Mentally though, we are triggering the stress response - which means that the heart will beat faster because it is responding to the brain which thinks you are in danger because you are panicking..

So basically, you can expect a higher-than-normal resting heart rate due to your weight and your anxiety is pushing it up some more. (I weighed 8 stone when my anxiety was bad, and my heart rate was often in the 90s at rest) I was able to push this well over a hundred just by looking at the monitor on my FitBit.

Hope this helps..

[glassgirlw]

Losing weight will absolutely help lower your resting rate. I’ve lost almost 150 pounds now and my resting rate has gone from high 90’s to high 60’s low 70’s.

[Flapj]

Congrats on the impressive weight loss!