Continuously checking heartrate

[lexinonomous]

I generally do not panic about my health, but within the last few months I have been obsessing over my heart. Our heartrates fluctuate throughout the day and it is completely normal. Knowing this, I still feel as if I am going to reach a point where I develop heart problems. I own a fitbit to keep track of my fitness throughout the day. After getting my fit bit, I slowly became obsessed with watching my heartrate. I have even gone as far as to taking my fitbit off so that I don't pay attention to my heartrate, but this seems to make it worse. I will check my pulse consistently and it will drive me insane not knowing the actual number my heartrate is reaching.


Does anyone else do this?


Have you ever obsessed over checking your heartrate?


Does it cause you to have anxiety?

 

[CT422]

I have a heart rate monitor on my phone that I use when i get anxiety attacks, just to make sure my heart isn't beating as fast as I think it is. It usually calms me down pretty quickly. There are definitely days where I probably check my heart rate more than necessary, but it doesn't cause me anxiety at all, it gives me something to focus on that isn't my anxiety. 

 

[Nakitakona]

This is what I am doing before for I am a hypertensive. Everyday I check my pulse manually. When my pulse has reached the count of 60 to 72, I feel relieved. When it reaches to 80 or 90, I am a bit nervous. I don't know if my pulse is related with my heart rate. Now, I am beginning to be objective. When I take an hour of brisk walking, I check my pulse. It reaches to 90 to 100 after such exercise. Then I check it again after I rest for 10 to 30 minutes and it get back to normal. I simply forget it anymore for I don't know whether it helps me or not as long as I stay healthy by eating the nutritious foods and controlling my carbo intake to its minimum.

 

[Alex]

We have ti check my dad's heart rate because he had new valves put in, and we do try to do it at the right time of day and also when he is relaxed. Also it makes difference if you have eaten or not.


It sounds as if you are too anxious, and maybe should test once in the morning, lunchtime and then at night to see the difference. I read you shouldn't keep testing straightaway, and different machines give varying results. I saw a program that tested people using several machines at the same time, and those machines gave different results. You should consider that maybe a factor.

 

[Alexandoy]

When I was suffering from gastritis which usually triggered anxiety attacks, I was conscious of my breathing. The doctor had advised me to inhale shallow when there is gastritis attack because inhaling much air will agitate the gas in my stomach. With that in mind, I got conscious of my breathing that sometimes I suspect myself to be having a heart attack. I am fortunate to have shed that habit of observing my breathing. But I guess checking your heartbeat is worse than checking the breathing. It would surely be scary to know that your heartbeat is going too fast or going too slow. 

 

[fuzyon]

Thankfully I never had any heart problems but I can understand where you're coming from. I obsess over health as well, I try to be as healthy as I can so whenever I'm cheating on a meal or two anxiety starts pouring down, I guess that's what happens to you when you check your heartrate. You're worried about heart problems, so the best way to counter this anxiety is to live healthily and ensure no health problems will arise. I'm sure your mind will calm down when it will realize that you're doing your best.

 

[Natasha0717]

No, I don't obsess about my heart rate, because I know it's usually above 100, and I've learned to accept it.  I don't really know why it's so fast all the time.  I can get it down to about 90 when I'm at rest, meaning, lying back on my bed and just watching TV or something.  But when I'm walking, or doing pretty much anything, it climbs up to 100 and above.


The other day, I had a doctor's appointment and I did not sleep well beforehand.  :dry:   I hate it when that happens, it just throws everything off.  But I still made it to the appointment, and then he wrote me my usual script and I took it to the drug store to get it filled.  While I was waiting, they had this blood pressure machine and I decided to check my BP just to pass the time while waiting for my script.  It was 117.  THAT I can tell you was from the combo of not sleeping well and trying to still drive and act normally in front of my doc.  (Which is hard to do, I always act kinda weird when I don't sleep well, + I'm extra, extra, extra nervous.)  But look what it did to my blood pressure as well. And I was just sitting there at the drug store, nothing really stressful going on around me.