heart rate increase/decrease

[fridge]

hey I'm just writing because I'm worrying about my heart here when I should be sleeping.
basically I've had a lot of worry lately about increased heart rate and such and I've had it checked out with all tests coming back fine. Tonight however whilst trying to sleep I started checking my pulse and realised it was speeding up and slowing down quite noticeably. I've noticed now that it speeds up when I breathe in and slows down when I breathe out, but like I said it's quite noticeable how much it's slowing down and speeding up. Is this normal?? I've not noticed it before and I'm now worried about having an irregular heart beat or something similar

[Fudge]

Hey Fridge,

I've noticed this also and have come to believe its perfectly normal. I've had EKG's before because of chest pain I suffered while being very anxious. And despite all the pain and what I thought was irregular, the tests always came back normal. Now, its been about 4 years since my last EKG, so I'm pretty sure my heart is ok, as I'm sure yours is too.

I think the one thing we as anxiety ridden people need to realize is that its our hyper sensitive behavior through our unrealistic thoughts which is the cause of our problems. Its not our bodies (unless for a small % of people) and its not our external situations. Its the fact that we give into our unrealistic thoughts and buy into them, while we further legitimize them by assuming their truth is proved by our feelings and bodily symptoms which are caused as a result of them. The thing we need to learn and continually practice, however, is that its these thoughts which are the root cause of our suffering, nothing else. And as such, it is these thoughts which we need to battle every day and night when they occur. I'll admit, its bloody hard to do, as I know for myself that mess up a lot and lose sight of the truth, but if we keep fighting it and exposing the falseness in these thoughts, it further us awau from stepping onto the anxiety roller coaster which takes us for a terribly painful ride. So for you Fridge, and everyone else who may be reading this, every time you have these terrible thoughts arising, ask yourself.. "is it my body ( or my situation) or is it my thoughts which are causing my problem to occur?". Then try to break it down and analyze it as best as you can. Try to understand whats happening and if its valid thinking or not.

Hope this helps.