Wide awake and heart pounding.... Again :(

[leahxox]

Last night I was up until 530 am because I was so anxious, so tonight I decided to try and go to bed a little early since I was exhausted all day. I didn't take a nap because I wanted to be able to fall asleep tonight.

Fell asleep around 130, and then I randomly shot up awake at 215 with my heart going crazy. And now it's been pounding and skipping beats for the past 2 hours. Every time I doze off even slightly my heart starts pounding and wakes me up... I'm freaking out thinking there's something wrong with my heart even though everyone says there isn't. Why does it randomly wake me up like that then? Ugh. I'm so tired and upset :( I hate this.

[blondieqtpie]

There is nothing wrong with your heart I'm sure.. This has happened to me while having an anxiety or panic attack.. Ill wake up suddenly with it and when I try to sleep my heart races and my mind races and its like ' oh crap not again!!' Especially when you are soooo tired and need the sleep. The worst is of you have to work the next day
Do you do anything to help you calm down? Deep breathing? Meditation? Reading? Watching tv? Playing games ( I've scoured and still do scour my App Store for games to help me relax or get sleepy )
Grab some milk or wine, and take some deep breaths and sit back in bed and concentrate on slowing down your heart. Do something to take your mind off... Vent here!
I know sometimes anxiety and panic symptoms seem like other health concerns but more often its your anxiety/ panic.

[kateb]

I'm really new here and came here looking for support for myself, so I don't think I'm very qualified to give advice haha! But I have had experience with this exact thing where I was trying to sleep and my heart was having palpitations and I couldn't calm it down. I am lucky enough to have a supportive boyfriend so normally I go and get a hug and have a cry, and that often helps me to calm down, but if he is not there or asleep, I have to figure it out myself.

I think blondie is right that maybe getting up for a minute might help, cos you will be doing something and maybe breaking the cycle. Drinking some tea or milk sometimes helps me too, and distracting my brain from racing thoughts by watching something. However, some people find that more stimulation doesn't help. When I'm in that kind of frame of mind, I do try some mindfulness/meditative exercises.

The best one for me to quickly calm down my breathing/heart rate is to turn on the light (for some reason being in the dark makes me panic more) and then lie down and close my eyes, and visualise the number 1, holding it really clearly in my mind. Then I visualise the number 2, again taking time to really clearly 'see' it in front of me. It can be in colours, carved out of wood, large, small, whatever - you can give it as much detail as you like. Then the number 3, 4 etc. all the way up to 10. Really take your time over it. Then when you get to 10, start thinking about the number 9 again. And just slowly go back down to 1. If your thoughts drift, that's ok, just notice it and then quietly bring them back to just thinking about the numbers, and keep on counting up then down. I don't know if that will work for you, but for me once I've done a few cycles I am often much calmer - sometimes I fall asleep while I do it, cos as soon as my brain relaxes, I just drop asleep. Maybe better than counting sheep!

The other one is a little bit more complex and is more for BEFORE you start freaking out, to help you fall asleep while you are already in a moderately calm state. It is imagining that you are looking down at yourself lying in the bed. Then imagine that your toes are slowly becoming invisible/disappearing - very gradually, move up your body, imagining your feet are slowly fading away into nothing, then your ankles, your calves etc. all the way up to your head. Again, you can take a long time over this - it is quite a difficult thing to imagine, but ideally once you have finished you will feel a lot better - I always feel like I'm sort of heavy and comfortable and don't want to move!

I often find that my heart rate is strongly linked to my breathing, but I only notice once I start meditating and my breathing starts slowing down.

Again, I'm no expert - you may have already tried this as well, or it might be a bad idea for you - you will know best! :) But if it helps someone I'm happy!x

[Applecherry]

Sorry you're dealing with that, having an anxious mind-set makes it harder to sleep. Most likely you just keep waking up cause your sleep pattern is a little different and your body is adjusting to it. If you get back in bed and close your eyes, you'll drift off again. It'll be okay.

[leahxox]

There is nothing wrong with your heart I'm sure.. This has happened to me while having an anxiety or panic attack.. Ill wake up suddenly with it and when I try to sleep my heart races and my mind races and its like ' oh crap not again!!' Especially when you are soooo tired and need the sleep. The worst is of you have to work the next day Do you do anything to help you calm down? Deep breathing? Meditation? Reading? Watching tv? Playing games ( I've scoured and still do scour my App Store for games to help me relax or get sleepy ) Grab some milk or wine, and take some deep breaths and sit back in bed and concentrate on slowing down your heart. Do something to take your mind off... Vent here! I know sometimes anxiety and panic symptoms seem like other health concerns but more often its your anxiety/ panic.

I normally try and watch tv or something but when it doesn't help I get so frustrated :( venting here did help me feel a little better. I think tonight and go get a drink or something like you said... And I'll definitely check out my App Store today lol. Thanks :) xo

[leahxox]

I'm really new here and came here looking for support for myself, so I don't think I'm very qualified to give advice haha! But I have had experience with this exact thing where I was trying to sleep and my heart was having palpitations and I couldn't calm it down. I am lucky enough to have a supportive boyfriend so normally I go and get a hug and have a cry, and that often helps me to calm down, but if he is not there or asleep, I have to figure it out myself. I think blondie is right that maybe getting up for a minute might help, cos you will be doing something and maybe breaking the cycle. Drinking some tea or milk sometimes helps me too, and distracting my brain from racing thoughts by watching something. However, some people find that more stimulation doesn't help. When I'm in that kind of frame of mind, I do try some mindfulness/meditative exercises. The best one for me to quickly calm down my breathing/heart rate is to turn on the light (for some reason being in the dark makes me panic more) and then lie down and close my eyes, and visualise the number 1, holding it really clearly in my mind. Then I visualise the number 2, again taking time to really clearly 'see' it in front of me. It can be in colours, carved out of wood, large, small, whatever - you can give it as much detail as you like. Then the number 3, 4 etc. all the way up to 10. Really take your time over it. Then when you get to 10, start thinking about the number 9 again. And just slowly go back down to 1. If your thoughts drift, that's ok, just notice it and then quietly bring them back to just thinking about the numbers, and keep on counting up then down. I don't know if that will work for you, but for me once I've done a few cycles I am often much calmer - sometimes I fall asleep while I do it, cos as soon as my brain relaxes, I just drop asleep. Maybe better than counting sheep! The other one is a little bit more complex and is more for BEFORE you start freaking out, to help you fall asleep while you are already in a moderately calm state. It is imagining that you are looking down at yourself lying in the bed. Then imagine that your toes are slowly becoming invisible/disappearing - very gradually, move up your body, imagining your feet are slowly fading away into nothing, then your ankles, your calves etc. all the way up to your head. Again, you can take a long time over this - it is quite a difficult thing to imagine, but ideally once you have finished you will feel a lot better - I always feel like I'm sort of heavy and comfortable and don't want to move! I often find that my heart rate is strongly linked to my breathing, but I only notice once I start meditating and my breathing starts slowing down. Again, I'm no expert - you may have already tried this as well, or it might be a bad idea for you - you will know best! :) But if it helps someone I'm happy!x

Hi! I'm very new too, I just joined 2 days ago for the same reason :)

My boyfriend is really good about my anxiety also and trying to help me through it but I can't help but feel really guilty waking him up esp. if he has work... I know everyone around me wants to help but it's hard because I can't help but feel like a bother and they don't really understand how it feels. :(

I really like your idea though and I think I'll try the number thing, sometimes it really helps me if I have to completely focus on something else (and I'm the same about the dark lol) thanks and I hope you find what you're looking for here! xo

[leahxox]

Sorry you're dealing with that, having an anxious mind-set makes it harder to sleep. Most likely you just keep waking up cause your sleep pattern is a little different and your body is adjusting to it. If you get back in bed and close your eyes, you'll drift off again. It'll be okay.

Thank you :) xo

[pjr378]

I hope you make your way through it. I'm going through the same kind of thing. I work full-time so I have the anxiety of going to work with a clear head, as mentioned.

I've been having the heartbeat issues for about a month. I live in an apartment and there was a stretch of very cold weather when we weren't getting enough heat and finally the boiler went out and we were without it for two days. I got through it but there was a period where I kept having my sleep interrupted because of crazy dreams and I would wake up with my heart racing. I think my nerves got thrown off and my brain went off in all different directions.

I'm able to sleep more steadily now (I got 7 hours without interruption last night), but I keep waking up with the palpitations. It is driving me nuts.