Q: Is It Normal To Experience Bouts Of Anxiety
A: Yes, anxiety is a normal response that everyone experiences. It’s actually part of what drives people. If we didn’t have anxiety, you wouldn’t be as motivated to do things. It makes you take that extra step, to dress up a little bit more nicely and make a good first impression. It’s a normal response to stressful events and change. I would actually be more concerned if someone did not have anxiety when coping with change.
What Does Anxiety Feel Like In Your Heart
Typical signs of anxiety include feelings of nervousness and tension, as well as sweating and an uneasy stomach. One other common symptom of anxiety is an abnormally increased heart rate, also known as heart palpitations. Heart palpitations can feel like your heart is racing, pounding, or fluttering.
Returning Heart Rate To Normal
Many people can eventually learn how to ground themselves during an attack, or right before they experience another. If youve had more than one panic attack, think about what happens right before your symptoms show up. If you are able to identify when you are about to have a panic attack, it will be easier for you to get yourself back to a calmer state instead of trying to do so during the attack. Here are a few exercises to try before, during or after a panic attack has occurred:
- Progressive muscle relaxation: This provides an easy to learn exercise that helps you get connected to your body
- Guided imagery relaxation exercise: This an audio exercise where an instructor helps lead you to a more peaceful state of mind.
- Deep breathing exercises: These offer a quick way to relax and slow down your heart rate.
If you see a doctor, he or she may also prescribe:
- SSRIs: These are otherwise known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and they are used to treat anxiety based disorders, as well as depressive disorders.
- SNRIs: Also known as selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, these meds are used to treat anxiety and depressive disorders.
- Benzodiazepines: These are sedatives and can typically induce a calming effect within 15 to 30 minutes.
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What Are The Most Common Causes Of A Fast Heart Rate
Normally, your bodys systems run on autopilot, thanks to your autonomic nervous system, which regulates all the vital functions you dont really need to think about. This includes things like your heart rate, blood pressure, sweating, urination, and various gastrointestinal functions, Brent Goodman, MD, a board-certified neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, tells SELF.
Sometimes, though, certain lifestyle habits, situations, or even health conditions can cause your heart to start beating very rapidly or irregularly. Here are a few common culprits to keep on your radar.
Lets be real: With everything going on in the world, theres an extremely good chance youre stressed right now. When you encounter something stressful, your body releases a surge of norepinephrine, also known as adrenaline, Camille Frazier-Mills, MD, a cardiologist at Duke Electrophysiology Clinic, tells SELF. Receptors in your heart respond to this trigger and can make your heart rate pick up.1
If you cant immediately solve whatevers making you stressed , try deep breathing exercises to at least help you feel better in the moment. The Mayo Clinic suggests taking deep breaths through your nose so that you feel your stomach rise instead of your chest, and exhaling through your nose as well. Focus on your breath and the rise and fall of your abdomen throughout.
How To Treat Anxiety
There are many different ways you can help yourself if you suffer from anxiety. GPs run a scheme called Reading Well Books on Prescription which gives you free access to books that might help. Its important to take good care of your physical health and to try and manage your worries. A way to do this might be to dedicate a particular time of the day to focus on what is worrying you or to write your worries in a notebook or on pieces of paper and put them in a jar. That way, they are not going round and round in your head. Simple breathing exercises can help with anxiety as taking slow, deeper breaths can calm the bodys stress response. Mindfulness and meditation can be helpful ways to cope with anxiety.
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When A Slow Heart Rate Is Normal
The sinoatrial node is often referred to as “the heart’s natural pacemaker.” It’s the part of the heart that produces electrical signals that trigger each heartbeat.
At rest, the sinus node typically generates electrical impulses for a heart rate between 60 and 100 times per minute, which is a normal sinus rhythm.
Sinus bradycardia is a heart rate between 50 to 60 beats per minute. While technically outside of the normal range, these values can be entirely normal for some people. A healthy body is very good at regulating the heart rate to support the bodys functions.
Physiological bradycardia is a form of sinus bradycardia. Among people who have itincluding healthy young people and older people in good physical conditiontheir resting heart rate may hover in the 40s or 50s. People also have lower heart rates when sleeping.
Slow heart rates without symptoms usually are no cause for concern. However, when the heart rate becomes too slow to pump enough blood, it needs treatment. Sinus bradycardia that produces symptoms is a sign you should seek medical care.
Should You See Your Doctor About Panic Attacks
A panic attack can make you feel like youre about to collapse or even die, but it’s usually harmless. However, in some cases, you may need medical advice to rule out an underlying physical cause.
Get medical advice if:
- your panic attack continues after doing 20 minutes of slow breathing
- you still feel unwell after your breathing returns to normal
- you still have a rapid or irregular heartbeat or chest pains after your panic attack
- you regularly have panic attacks, as this could be a sign that you have panic disorder
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Q: How Are Anxiety Disorders Treated
A: Treatment involves therapy, which can help you identify what’s causing your anxiety and learn how to work through it, or a combination of therapy and medication. Together, medication and therapy have often been proven to have the best and most effective response in serious anxiety-based disorders.
As a treating psychiatrist, my preference is to try the least invasive means possible first as we would with any disorder. Lets figure out what’s going on, what’s causing the anxiety and see if we can fix that. In addition to therapy, we could ensure youre getting enough rest and consider lifestyle and dietary changes, like exercise, reducing caffeine intake and eating a healthy diet to avoid major swings in your blood sugar. If these strategies fail, then yes, let’s try medication.
An anxiety disorder is a health problem and we approach it the same way that we do many other health problems. People with diabetes may try changing their diet or exercising before starting a medication. It’s the same philosophy. Medication does help but its not the only solution.
When Anxiety And Heart Palpitations Coincide
Your heart races or feels like its flip-flopping inside your chest, so youre understandably concerned. While these can be the signs of an arrhythmia or other heart problem, anxiety is one of the more common causes for these sensations.
When it comes to figuring out whether anxiety or something more serious is causing your heart palpitations, you need to understand the relationship between palpitations and anxiety.
At Heart Rhythm Associates, Dr. Van H. De Bruyn and our team believe that you should exercise caution when it comes to your heart health. Education is key.
In the following, we explore why anxiety can lead to heart palpitations and if you should be concerned.
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Anxiety May Influence A Womans Heart During Exercise
By Kathryn Doyle, Reuters Health
4 Min Read
In women, blood flow to the heart during exercise testing may be influenced by anxiety, while the same does not appear to be true for men, according to results reported in the annual womens themed issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
Overall, reduced blood flow called ischemia was more common in men than in women, and anxiety disorders werent generally linked to higher or lower risk of ischemia, said senior author Kim Lavoie of the University of Quebec at Montreal.
However, women without previously diagnosed heart disease who had anxiety disorders, including things like panic disorder and generalized anxiety, had higher rates of ischemia compared to those without anxiety disorders, she told Reuters Health by email.
The researchers studied the risk of myocardial ischemia, when blood flow to the heart is reduced, usually due to a partial or complete blockage of the hearts arteries. Ischemia may cause chest pressure or pain, shortness of breath, neck or jaw pain, or may have no symptoms.
Ischemia can be treated with medications, surgery or both.
For the study, more than 2,300 people, including 760 women, completed exercise stress tests and had psychiatric interviews to assess mood and anxiety disorders.
For women without a history of coronary artery disease, those with anxiety were more likely to exhibit ischemia during exercise compared to women without anxiety.
What Happens To Your Body
If you struggle with panic attacks, it helps to understand what happens with your body during a panic attack and why you might feel some of the symptoms youre feeling. During panic attacks, your fight-or-flight response kicks into hyperdrive.
Having a fight or flight response is a normal, essential response to being human. However, in todays society, we dont encounter as many imminent threats such as predators. Panic attacks occur as a fight-or-flight misfire, your nervous system kicking into action for no apparent reason.
Adrenaline starts to course through your veins, and your body gets put on high alert. Your heartbeat increases, sending more blood to your muscles, and your breathing becomes fast and shallow because your body needs more oxygen. These changes can happen instantly, and its understandable why you might feel out of control.
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Difference Between Stress And Anxiety
Stress is the way your body responds to a particular trigger or situation. Under normal circumstances, it is a short-term state that subsides naturally. Anxiety is a more sustained long-term feeling that can have a detrimental effect on many different aspects of your life including work and your ability to socialise.
Common non-cardiac causes of chest pain include a condition called generalised anxiety disorder. In addition to pain in the chest, the condition is characterised by excessive or persistent worry for six months or longer, sleep problems, feelings of tension, irritability or restlessness and problems concentrating.
A Low Heart Rate Can Lead To Fainting And Falls If Youre Not A Highly Trained Athlete But The Condition Is Often Treatable
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Health risks can develop from a low heart ratea condition called bradycardia.
A low heart rate may be a sign of an efficiently working heart. Or, if the rate becomes too low, it could be a sign of health complications down the road.
A normal or healthy resting heart rate for an adult is between 60 and 100 beats a minute. A heart rate near the lower end of that range is considered a good sign. Your heart isnt working too hard to pump blood effectively throughout the body. Its one indication of cardiovascular fitness. A very rapid heart rate, on the other hand, raises your risk of heart failure, blood clots, and other problems.
If youre not training for a marathon or swimming dozens of laps every day, you should talk with your doctor if you notice a low heart rate.
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Different Types Of Anxiety Disorder
Anxiety disorders fall into several categories. Here are a few of them:
- Panic disorder can be associated with cardiac disease or mistaken for heart attack. Feelings of extreme agitation and terror are often accompanied by dizziness, chest pains, stomach discomfort, shortness of breath, and rapid heart rate.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder a condition that can follow a shocking or frightening incident or sudden, life-threatening event such as a violent crime, major accident, or heart attack. A person suffering from PTSD often has trouble dealing with anything associated with the incident that caused their condition, and experiences feelings of jitteriness and detachment.
- Obsessive-Compulsive disorder People with OCD will manage unreasonable thoughts and worries by performing the same actions over and over. For example, an individual obsessed with perceived cardiovascular symptoms that have been checked and cleared by a physician may compulsively research them or find new ones for hours on end.
Why Could A Low Heart Rate Be Bad In Some Situations
The heart needs to pump out a certain amount of blood to provide the body with the blood it needs to function. The amount of blood pumped is known as cardiac output and is usually defined as liters per minute. Heart rate of course affects this output. In some patients a low heart rate can lead to a low output and cause symptoms such as dizziness, shortness of breath and fatigue. These symptoms are associated with low output heart failure. In other patients a low heart rate causes no effect whatsoever as the heart simply pumps out more blood with each beat to compensate.
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Causes Of Low Heart Rate
Firstly we will discuss things directly affecting the heart tissue and the conduction system called intrinsic disease. Aging is a common cause of slow heart rate, which results from degeneration of the conduction system of the heart. Heart attacks may damage areas of the conduction system also. Conditions that affect many organs of the body such as sarcoid, lupus and others can also affect the conduction system of the heart. Undergoing heart valve surgery such as the TAVR procedure for aortic stenosis, the mitraclip procedure for mitral regurgitation, mitral valve replacement or mitral valve repair, aortic valve replacement, or other complex heart surgeries may also cause trauma to the conduction system of the heart. Sometimes infection of the heart valves can extend in to the conduction system of the heart also.
Next we will discuss outside influences on the heart and conduction system known as extrinsic causes. Certain situations such as coughing, vomiting and others can lead to slow heart rate through the nerve system. Drugs that directly slow the heart rate include beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers and others. Metabolic disorders such as hypothyroidism can lead to a slow heart rate. Levels of electrolytes such as potassium derangement can lead to a slow heart rate.
Stimulate The Vagus Nerve
Another approach to easing stress and preventing palpitations is related to your body’s vagus nerve. Running from your brain to your abdomen, the vagus nerve controls your parasympathetic nervous system, the system that helps the body relax in times of intense stress. Stimulating the vagus nerve can help dial down your stress response, which may help reduce the effects of acute anxiety, Jonas says. And its easy to do: Splashing cold water on your face, immersing your hands in cold water, or even drinking iced cold water can all activate the nerve, and in turn, induce a calming response, she says.
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Seek Out A Professional Diagnosis
While not generally the case, palpitations can be a cause for concern if they are related to abnormal heart rhythm . It is always important to seek out a professional medical opinion from your doctor.
A doctor will use a screening questionnaire to diagnose anxiety palpitations. It will help them in identifying patients who are prone to anxiety-related palpitations. They will then refer anyone who achieves a particular score to a specialist for further evaluation.
Anxiety-related palpitations appear often in people who have multiple daily stressors and are generally sensitive to bodily sensations.
If a person has palpitations regularly, a doctor may recommend using a Holter monitor. A Holter monitor is a simple ECG gadget that records a person’s heartbeat over 2448 hours. During the monitoring time, the user must wear the Holter device and keep track of any symptoms.
A transtelephonic event monitor is a smaller version of a Holter monitor that does not run continuously. Even though the wearer wears it all the time, the monitor is operated manually. Some transtelephonic monitors require the user to hold the device to their chest only when they believe they are having palpitations.
If the results of these tests rule out all other causes for palpitations, then a doctor may connect the palpitations to an anxiety-related issue.
How Can An Increased Heart Rate From Anxiety Impact Your Physical Health
While anxiety is most commonly associated with behavioral changes, it can also have a significant impact on the body.
Anxiety problems can cause a racing heart, palpitations, chest pain, and a higher risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. Whats more, anxiety disorders may raise your risk of coronary events if you already have heart disease. Anxiety attacks can produce substantial, transitory increases in blood pressure.
If you have those transient spikes regularly, your blood vessels, heart, and kidneys may be subject to long-term damage.
Anxiety has been linked to the following heart conditions and risk factors:
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In some cases, anxiety can cause increased heart rate , interfering with normal heart function. In serious cases, it can increase the risk of sudden cardiac arrest.
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Coronary artery disease can in some cases be exacerbated by anxiety. This could result in muscle weakness and an increased risk for heart failure.
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Reduced heart rate variability: chronic anxiety³ is linked to an increased risk of death following a heart attack.
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