Why is this happening to me?

[Patrick324]

I am 62.  I have had a slow heart rate for about 15 years.  I had heart tests when I was 50 and 55 (stress test, ECG, blood tests, echocardiogram).  The cardiologist said my heart was "mechanically normal" both times.  I go through intervals of several months exercising at the gym, but then stop sometimes, usually for a few months, like lately.  I am not an athlete.  My resting pulse is usually around 60.  At night it gets lower.  I just got freaked out, laying in bed, and read it at 47.  I do not get dizzy or anything with the low pressures.  I do sometimes have palpitations at night.  Any suggestions about this?  Thanks.

[cjozz]

I am 68 and have a resting rate of 50 after 4 months of high frequency exercise. Prior to my new exercise program my rate was about 70 at rest. Decades ago when I was a runner, the at rest rate was in the high 40s. I hope 50 is normal?

[Patrick324]

Thanks for the responses.  To radioastronomyobserver:  I took a course under John Kraus, of whom you may have heard, when I studied astronomy at ohio state university in the 1970s.

[RadioAstronomyObserver]

I don't know what my heart rate was prier to my heart surgery.  The angiography report says it was 58 at the start of that procedure which gives me something to go on.  At that time I was comfortable except for being naked in front of more than one woman at a time for the first time, and probably last :-(    Anyways after the bypass surgery my heart rate was a constant 77 and when home it slowly dropped.  It got me scared as it dropped down to 60 bpm over the next few weeks where I checked my pulse every few minutes.  It's still dropping and recently I had the same as you, a reading of 47 bpm.  It was a little scary, especially knowing this was shortly before going to sleep and wondered how low it gets at night, but I'm no longer terrified but will mention it to my PCP.  I don't know why it's still dropping but I have some uneducated theories such as the lack of exorcise.  Theory 2 is the medication.  Again these are "uneducated" theories.

  Unlike you I do have a BP problem.  Some mornings getting up I still feel very drowsy/sleepy and I'll grab my automatic bp cuff and get a low reading.  The lowest was 80/40.  At 101/x I feel fine but the lower the systolic number the more drowsy I feel so again, I wonder what it drops to while I'm sleeping.  Also not "overly" concerned about this am keeping an eye on it.

[ed34]

I would say you are very healthy. What you are describing is the nocturnal dip.
You may be reassured to read this research....

http://www.healthandage.com/your-heart-rate-should-slow-during-sleep

When I was admitted to hospital in 2007 due to an overdose of blood pressure medication, my heart rate dropped to 25 at times. I asked how low it can get before being classed as dangerous and the Doctor said 30. That was not very reassuring at the time. So, I would say 47 is fine. When mine dropped to 25 I did start to feel a bit light headed but my blood pressure was 61/55, hardly anything there at all.

[sukumar794]

At the age of 60 years, post MI in 2007, I have recently developed slow heart rates and was advised a pacemaker implantation. However it was not done. My present heart rate is slightly above 6o bpm constantly.I am not dizzy nor am I experiencing any other serious discomfort. From this I get the feeling that as long as symptoms are not much pronounced you could really afford to disregard your irregular heart rhythm on the hope that it will not get aggravated.