Someone mentioned recently how their heart just races at times — “off the charts” is how they put it.
Many, many years ago, I actually learned how to slow my heart rate from pounding a mile a minute to a regular pace.
Back in high school, when I was working out for track, after a particularly hard workout, my heart would feel like it was beating out of my chest. It was pretty disconcerting. I actually felt ill when it was happening. So I had to do something. Here’s what I did:
First, I tried slowing down my breathing, but my heart would still race, and my body would feel like it was starving for air. So, I’d have to start breathing heavier again, and my heart rate would stay fast.
Then I tried taking in a deep breath and holding it… but for some reason, that just made it beat even harder. Yikes! I think that is because inhalation is linked with the sympathetic nervous system, which is all about adrenalin and fight-flight-freeze responses. Taking a deep breath seemed to activate the very thing I was trying to calm down.
Then I tried exhaling completely, and holding my breath for a count of 3-5, or as long as I could hold it…. then slowly inhaling, and then exhaling and holding it for as long as I could count. Somehow the exhalation is what worked for me. It may be because exhaling is linked with the parasympathetic nervous system, which slows the heart rate.
I’m not a scientist, so I can’t say exactly for sure why this works, but I’ve come across other people talking about it — like the folks at Coherence and the new science of breath (the pic below is theirs, and if you’re into the science, I recommend you check ‘em out).
But all the mysterious science aside, based on my experience, focusing on exhalation is what helps me slow down my heart rate. I actually have a little bit of a heart murmur (no big deal, according to my doctor), so that makes managing my heart rate even more important to me.
To recap, here’s what I do:
Exhale… hold the breath and count to 3 or 5 or as long as I can go… then slowly inhale and then exhale again, and repeat the count. If I keep doing that, I can slow my heart rate from pounding a mile a minute, to a regular thump-thump-thump. Sometimes I’ve done it in the space of a few minutes. It’s pretty cool when that happens! It feels a little strange and unexpected, but it’s also very reassuring.
I can’t guarantee it will work for everyone, and please don’t take chances with your health and safety if you have cardiac/respiratory issues, but I did want to share that. It just might help.
This actually works quite well. Thanks. =)
Glad it works for you
BB
I needed this the other day. I just tried it using a blood pressure machine and in the span of 10 minutes I lowered it from 110 to 98 while keeping good blood pressure at the same time…
That’s great! Glad to hear it worked for you — I used it myself, this morning, when I woke up. My heart was racing, and I needed to slow it down… so I did, using this technique. Best of luck with your blood pressure and heart rate.
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Thanks man, exhaling technique really helps because we actually breathe too much and have way too much oxygen and less co2.Your technique is very similar to dr.Buteyko breathing pattern.
Sure – it’s funny, I’ve heard about Buteyko, but that was after I actually figured this out. If it works, it works, I guess, whoever figures it out.
Thank you. It helped. My heart had been racing for over 30minutes, I was getting very worried.
That’s great – glad it worked – it can be very worrying when that happens.
I tried this technique and it does help. I believe with regular practice it will benefit as an addition to using herbs, such as gotu cola, and vitamin D3. Thankyou.
Glad it worked for you! Everyone has something that works well for them, so good luck finding your “magic combination”
What the heck??? I search for heart rate stuff and I get a blog with this title??? I nearly have tears in my eyes… Having suffered an ‘acquired brain injury’ that resulted in a cognitive disorder I’ve gone through many doctors and have found 2 that I can work with and one of them recommended a Neuropsychologist who ran me through a battery of tests. Her conclusion was that I have a brilliant mind, but just can’t process like I used to….
So, when I happened upon this blog I was struck with a sense of belonging…. Now, it may be that when I look over the rest of the site I find that the issues you deal with are not at all the same as the ones I’m confronted with and if that’s the case, I thank you for the title.
Hey, glad you found your way here. It is pretty amazing how “hit and miss” it can be, finding info like this. Everybody is different, so some things may sound familiar… others not. The important thing is to know that you’re not alone, and that there often is a way to work around/through these things to get… somewhere. Maybe not exactly where we want, or planned, or wish, but it’s somewhere.