Hey folks -
So as I’m sure is the case for a lot of us worriers, my anxiety has been much higher the last few months. At first I was waking in the middle of the night constantly with tingling in my body and the feeling that I couldn’t catch my breath. Then the other morning I glanced at my Fitbit and saw my heart rate was at 40 bpm. Well my anxious mind exploded with worry because I thought that’s why I’ve been waking up in the night - like my body isn’t getting enough blood or something. I’m not an overly active person. 5’10 236lbs. I try and go for a jog once or twice a week for 5k and I take my dog for a walk twice a day.

So I’ve since had an appointment with my doctor who said 40 is low and he wanted to speak to a cardiologist but that since my Fitbit tracker has consistently shown a low heart rate while sleeping for over 7 months it’s probably just normal for me.

I haven’t heard back yet but now I’m really worried. I wake up in the morning feeling a little light headed and tingly - basically feeling all these symptoms that are probably being caused by anxiety. But of course I’m panicked about the ‘what if.’

Since my doctors appointment I actually used my Fitbit stats to go back and see that my heart rate has been that low while sleeping all the way back to 2016 so it’s not a new thing. And I’ve certainly had normal sleeps throughout that period with zero symptoms.

Anyways, I think somewhere in the back of my brain I know the rational answer to this anxiety but it’s just so high right now the worry is overwhelming.

Has anyone else gone through something similar like this and have any advice? Or anyone else who has the same low heart rate while lying down but is healthy? I think I just need to hear something positive right now.

Thanks!