Aa
scared to exercise/move
I have been pretty idle for the better part of 2 years due to my anxiety. I haven't gained any weight, actually lost, but I haven't exercised or moved around a lot. I am not scared to, to put that much strain on my heart. I had a stress test done and my heart is healthy. Is it okay to start moving around like I did? I mean, I still do my daily stuff, I am very active, but as far as exercise, I haven't done it much. I am really scared to!!
Palpitations
Palpitations are short, abrupt periods in which the heart suddenly starts beating fast. If you’re in a sensitive state, this can ring alarm bells because you fear a sudden heart attack. The more you panic, the faster the heart beats. It’s therefore understandable why many people in this situation jump to conclusions and call for medical help. What you have to remember is that palpitations are perfectly natural and can often be caused by exhaustion or stimulants like caffeine. Your heart is an incredibly strong muscle, and it won’t stop or explode simply because it’s beating hard and fast. A healthy heart can beat fast all day long and not be in any danger.
Missed Heartbeats
The medical term for missed heartbeats is extrasystoles. A missed heartbeat is usually an extra beat between two normal beats. Given the pause that follows this premature beat, it just seems as if one beat was missed. And because the heart’s lower chambers fill with a greater-than-usual amount of blood during the pause, the next regular heartbeat can feel like a bit of a jolt. When you feel this sensation, you often freeze and wait in terror to see if your heart is in trouble.
Such missed beats are generally harmless. It can help to sit down when you feel this sensation, but if you wish to keep moving, do so. Exercise won’t cause the situation to get worse, and don’t convince yourself that going home to lie down is the only way to help the situation. If you retreat every time you feel an unusual sensation, that behavior can reinforce a negative idea that your home is the only safe place to be. Our hearts are not atomic clocks that always keep time; they speed up, slow down, or occasionally beat in an irregular fashion. People with anxiety are very keen observers of all bodily functions. From time to time, you may notice an irregular beat or two. This is nothing to get upset about.
Sometimes, individuals go through similar worries about their heart as they do with their breathing. People convince themselves that if they worry enough about their heart, or concentrate too much upon its actions, it may somehow get confused and forget how to beat correctly. It’s quite common for people who suffer from panic attacks to check in on their heart at regular intervals to make sure it’s still beating away.
If you simply can’t stop obsessing about your heart, here are some tips:
• Get a full medical examination. If you don’t, your mind will always bring up the “what if something really is wrong” card. When you get a clean bill of health, trust in the results and don’t second-guess them. If you really must, get a second opinion—but after that, stop doubting your good health.
• Remember that your body has incredible internal intelligence. Simply telling your heart, out of panic, that it might stop doesn’t mean that it heeds your fears. Learn to become more comfortable with your heart, and let it do its job. Listen to it when you’re relaxed and also when you’re exercising. The more comfortable you are with the diversity and range of your heartbeats, the more confidence you’ll have in it.
• Allow your heart to beat in whatever rhythm it sees fit. Don’t try to control the natural rhythms of your body by always insisting on a calm heartbeat. The more you allow your body to flow in the manner it so chooses, the faster it will return to a state of rest.
Very often, your heart only wants to palpitate a bit, thump a few beats harder. Why? That’s the heart’s own business. It’s your mind that interferes and panics, causing the adrenaline to kick off a longer cycle of rapid heartbeats. So from now on, make a verbal agreement with your heart that you’re going to stop interfering and obsessing over its health and trust in it 100 percent. Then hand over the controls. Let go to whatever way your heart wishes to behave. By allowing the sensations to happen and simply getting on with your day, you release the anxiety that you hold around your heart as well as the cautious monitoring of every heartbeat.
Palpitations are short, abrupt periods in which the heart suddenly starts beating fast. If you’re in a sensitive state, this can ring alarm bells because you fear a sudden heart attack. The more you panic, the faster the heart beats. It’s therefore understandable why many people in this situation jump to conclusions and call for medical help. What you have to remember is that palpitations are perfectly natural and can often be caused by exhaustion or stimulants like caffeine. Your heart is an incredibly strong muscle, and it won’t stop or explode simply because it’s beating hard and fast. A healthy heart can beat fast all day long and not be in any danger.
Missed Heartbeats
The medical term for missed heartbeats is extrasystoles. A missed heartbeat is usually an extra beat between two normal beats. Given the pause that follows this premature beat, it just seems as if one beat was missed. And because the heart’s lower chambers fill with a greater-than-usual amount of blood during the pause, the next regular heartbeat can feel like a bit of a jolt. When you feel this sensation, you often freeze and wait in terror to see if your heart is in trouble.
Such missed beats are generally harmless. It can help to sit down when you feel this sensation, but if you wish to keep moving, do so. Exercise won’t cause the situation to get worse, and don’t convince yourself that going home to lie down is the only way to help the situation. If you retreat every time you feel an unusual sensation, that behavior can reinforce a negative idea that your home is the only safe place to be. Our hearts are not atomic clocks that always keep time; they speed up, slow down, or occasionally beat in an irregular fashion. People with anxiety are very keen observers of all bodily functions. From time to time, you may notice an irregular beat or two. This is nothing to get upset about.
Sometimes, individuals go through similar worries about their heart as they do with their breathing. People convince themselves that if they worry enough about their heart, or concentrate too much upon its actions, it may somehow get confused and forget how to beat correctly. It’s quite common for people who suffer from panic attacks to check in on their heart at regular intervals to make sure it’s still beating away.
If you simply can’t stop obsessing about your heart, here are some tips:
• Get a full medical examination. If you don’t, your mind will always bring up the “what if something really is wrong” card. When you get a clean bill of health, trust in the results and don’t second-guess them. If you really must, get a second opinion—but after that, stop doubting your good health.
• Remember that your body has incredible internal intelligence. Simply telling your heart, out of panic, that it might stop doesn’t mean that it heeds your fears. Learn to become more comfortable with your heart, and let it do its job. Listen to it when you’re relaxed and also when you’re exercising. The more comfortable you are with the diversity and range of your heartbeats, the more confidence you’ll have in it.
• Allow your heart to beat in whatever rhythm it sees fit. Don’t try to control the natural rhythms of your body by always insisting on a calm heartbeat. The more you allow your body to flow in the manner it so chooses, the faster it will return to a state of rest.
Very often, your heart only wants to palpitate a bit, thump a few beats harder. Why? That’s the heart’s own business. It’s your mind that interferes and panics, causing the adrenaline to kick off a longer cycle of rapid heartbeats. So from now on, make a verbal agreement with your heart that you’re going to stop interfering and obsessing over its health and trust in it 100 percent. Then hand over the controls. Let go to whatever way your heart wishes to behave. By allowing the sensations to happen and simply getting on with your day, you release the anxiety that you hold around your heart as well as the cautious monitoring of every heartbeat.
Hi Jess,
Listen I am and have been going thru the sames feeling as symptoms aas you for quite a while now. My father had a massive heart attack (he was in his 60's, smoked heavily and cholesterol was thru the roof). I am 35 yrs old female who has never smoked and takes care of herself. The fear that someone close to me had a heart attack deeply effected me so much so I thought I may have one too. I was scared to exert myself as my heart rate would go up just by sitting on the sofa. But one day I decided I was sick of feeling like this and made myself get on my bike and got cycling. It can be exhausting and I aint over weight (9 stone) but it gets better with practice and sometimes you DO have to push yourself. Please do not ruin your life by letting anxiety control your life, I mean it. If you feel as scared as I was, I begged my doc to refer me to a cardiologist as I was that paranoid about my heart, get that clean bill of health and start trusting the docs.
I'm also gonna post something else for you below and I would like you to read it and send me your thoughts on it. It helps me when I'm anxious.
Take care hun XXXX
Listen I am and have been going thru the sames feeling as symptoms aas you for quite a while now. My father had a massive heart attack (he was in his 60's, smoked heavily and cholesterol was thru the roof). I am 35 yrs old female who has never smoked and takes care of herself. The fear that someone close to me had a heart attack deeply effected me so much so I thought I may have one too. I was scared to exert myself as my heart rate would go up just by sitting on the sofa. But one day I decided I was sick of feeling like this and made myself get on my bike and got cycling. It can be exhausting and I aint over weight (9 stone) but it gets better with practice and sometimes you DO have to push yourself. Please do not ruin your life by letting anxiety control your life, I mean it. If you feel as scared as I was, I begged my doc to refer me to a cardiologist as I was that paranoid about my heart, get that clean bill of health and start trusting the docs.
I'm also gonna post something else for you below and I would like you to read it and send me your thoughts on it. It helps me when I'm anxious.
Take care hun XXXX
hi i have the exact same fears of exercise it really plays on my mind that if i exert my heart then it will bring on a heart attack, i have quite a big dog to walk and do my very best to get others to walk her cause im so scared, everyone tells me exercise is good for the heart but when i do walk her i get dizzy, pains in the chest etc so how can that be good? to me its a warning not to exert myself
well done. remember the more you do it the more you'll get used to feeling out of breath. keep at. can only be good for you and your kids must be so proud and pleased!
I played tennis today with my kids,just goofing around, got kind of out of it, dizzy like, is it too much for myheart, I was thinking this. But the stress test says no, I have to rely on that!
definitely exercise is the way to go to release endorphins. if you are ot sure how'll you react start by taking gentle forms of exercise like walking, swimming or yoga. realise though that when you start you may be out of breath. this feeling may seem like the beginnings of a panic attack but as long as you realise that you're likely to be out of breath then i'm sure you'll find a way through!
good luck.
good luck.
It's pretty obvious what your problem is-your fear came about after someone else had the heart attack and you think the same might happen to you. I don't have any suggestions to overcome it though. I deal with health anxiety also. You can try talking to somebody close to you or some therapy sessions to help out.
I move around my house all the time anyway, I am never still at home, I clean and vacuum, etc. But today, we cleaned the garage and mowed the lawn, raked, for the past couple of hours, now we are done and I am scared I moved too much!! How do you get over this fear? I started walking last week around the lake but I got really dizzy. The docs say I need to move more, that I am extremely healthy. Ever since my fried had a heart attack, I have been scared to move. He was riding a bike w/his kids and then later on had a heart attack. He is fine now, also had many negatives against him, 120 pounds overweight, ate horribly, smoked a lot, didn't exercise, etc. I am 33, eat VERY well, active, but I do smoke so I am scared. So everytime I move a lot I start getting sensations that scare me, like a sudden cramp in my chest, lightheadedness, dizziness, probably all anxiety but how do you know?? Sorry for rambling but have no where else to do it!
Exercise is KEY to relieving your anxiety!!! Start out small...put on music and walk around your house, then move to walking up and down your street to music then around the block, then several times then hit the streets! Exercise increases your serotonin levels, which are vital to warding off anxiety. Doing it to music will help take your mind off the actual exercise. Do it everyday and drink plenty of water. You will love how you feel. Just remember: baby steps.
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