Jump In Heart Rate In Shower??

[jondsam]

Does anybody else's heart rate increase when they take a hot shower?  My heart rate will be like 65 bpm then I get into the shower and it goes up to like 130 or 140??  Is this normal??

[bamagirlSonya]

My heart rate jumps but my blood pressure doesnt go down. One time recently my bp and heart rate jumped way high in shower, I got out and was panic attack. It was way high and scared me. Shortness of breath too. Scary

[kyrea]

Wow .....it just happened to me too.  I got in the shower felt funny when I came out like I was out of breath so I took my pulse and it was.  I have anxiety issues and I just has a holter monitor done and the dr said I was having 3 beat runs  in a 24 hour period......so I have had a lot of anxiety over this.  I hope to get a better explanation from the dr Thursday.  Thanks for all your post and comments I will sleep better tonight thanks to them.  

[DeltaDawn23]

This is a much more detailed explanation and makes perfect sense.  I never knew all this, just that my bp went down and hr went up while in a  hot shower.  I always feel better when I know the "why" of something.  Thanks for the explanation.

[tom_h]

Your heart is part of your body's cooling system.  Your skin is the "radiator", and the heart is the "water pump".  When you start pouring hot water over your skin and head, your core temperature begins to rise.  Your heart begins to pump faster as it attempts to circulate blood to the skin to cool it down.  It doesn't know you've immersed your "radiator" in hot water.  If you're in there for a reasonable amount of time, the reaction is harmless.  It really does mess up the natural oils in your skin, however.

[Clifff]

I literally just got of a hot shower and came here because my hr seemed really fast I almost couldn't count the beats. It slowed down as soon as I took a breath and relaxed right before getting out of the shower. I think it has something to do with the temp and humidity maybe lack of oxygen in the air.

[DeltaDawn23]

A hot shower will lower your blood pressure and make you feel weak and dizzy which may lead to panic.  I have had a lot easier time of it by making sure my showers are just lukewarm.  It's worth a try and it worked for me.

[steven101547]

thanks for asking this question.i have heart palps too and always wondered if it was normal when my heart rate went up in the shower,

[Zachs]

Dec 15, 2008 04:19PM
by Zachs
To: beaurline

Sometimes when I get up in the morning my heart will race as well, especially when I hop in the hot shower.  I've had many panic attacks there.  I have found that the steam from the shower takes my breath away which caused me to think that I was gasping for breath with a rapid heart rate. Scares me sometimes, but I've gotten much better with it over the months.  It doesn't happen all the time either.  If I have a hangover for sure its an instant panic in the morning because my heart is working a lot harder which I can feel.  I guess I"m just hypersensitive to my bodily functions and I wish I could just turn them off,  turn of the sensations that is. :)

Just quoting a post of mine back in December.  I have this sometimes too.  It was quite frequent though when I was experiencing a lot of anxiety.   Zach

[matt_s]

my rate will often jump when my wife joins me, but that is a story for a different forum :)

[chattychicky]

I have had this too! but I have no idea why...
Chattychicky

[jondsam]

Thank You all for your answers.  Since I have heart palps I am constantly checking my pulse even when I am in the shower. I guess its anxiety or something. It sounds like that this is normal so I feel a lot better now!  Thank you  :o)

[RT273]

Shorter answer than the rest: yep, perfectly normal. HR increases a good bit during a hot shower, like 20-40 bpm, and especially in cold weather you can get a big reaction to changing temperatures. Particularly if the water was steaming up the room.

[Wisconsin2007]

I'm usually too busy in the shower to even notice my heart rate.  Are you wearing a sports heart monitor or something when you climb into the shower?  Or are you just taking your pulse in there?

I guess I wouldn't be surprised if it got up over 100, because I usually don't take a lot of time in the shower.  Scrub up fast, rinse off fast, dry off fast and get on about the day.  A mini-aerobic exercise.  I do notice that when on the treadmill, any increase in speed or incline results in an immediate increase in heart rate (proportionate to the change in intensity), followed by the heart rate dropping back down to just slightly higher than it was before the increase.

Depending on when you took your pulse, it might have been your heart's similar adjustment to an increase in activity.

Oh, and one more thing - if you were wearing a sports heart monitor, I'll offer this - sometimes I'll take off my sports heart monitor (like a Polar) and set it and the watch on a table in the workout area.  I'll walk around as I cool down and stretch out, and sometimes notice a HR of around 110...that is, on a HR monitor that isn't connected to anything!  So you could be experiencing reverberations in the shower that almost match the signals put out by your heart and giving you a false reading.

My $.02, anyway.

[nervouslady]

heat aggrivates my arrhtyhmia.  Hot, humid weather is the worst - and I'm guessing that a long, hot shower makes for a hot, humid bathroom.   I'll also notice that hot tubs/spas do the same if I'm in there too long and get too warm.

[Jerry_NJ]

How hot is the shower?

I'd guess, and that's all it is, that any sudden change in temperature, up or down, can accelerate the HR, no idea by how much.

I'd guess my shower water is no more than 90 degrees, but "who knows"?  I've never measure the water temperature or my HR in the shower...there must have been something to bring it to your attention, i.e., fast and heavy.  I think I am pretty much unaware of my HR, even if over 120.