Anxiety is weird. Not weird in a funny way but more like weird in a terrifying ‘am I dying or am I just having an anxiety attack‘ kind of way. Our brains are powerful things and can make our bodies have physiological responses to stress, anxiety and depression. One of those annoyingly terrifying symptoms are heart palpitations which can feel like your heart is beating too fast, skipping a beat or rolling around in your chest.
When our hearts do something funky that make us acutely aware of its existence, the immediate thought is usually you’re having a heart attack. Which can lead to more anxiety, thus more heart flip flops. It becomes a vicious cycle until you either get it checked out or it stops on its own because your brain decides to do you a solid and let you forget your heart was being weird five minutes ago.
It is really very interesting to know your brain has that much power over what your body does when you’re just sitting there existing. But for those that experience the unwelcome excitement of anxiety related heart palpitations, there’s a neat trick to get your heart back to feeling normal.
Jesse Katches posted a video to TikTok revealing a unique way in controlling heart palpitations brought on by anxiety. In the video Katches plays someone having heart palpitations and the person who supposedly called an ambulance due to his own palpitations which resulted in a paramedic teaching him the neat trick.
Katches tells the other person to clasp their hands together but leave out their thumbs and blow, before explaining how the trick works. He says there’s a nerve running down the middle of your body that helps control your heartbeat, stimulating the nerve can sort of tell your heart to chill out. It’s fascinating and a trick to keep in your pocket if you experience this symptom.
Watch the full video below:
@jessekatches1 Anxiety heart palpitations 😬🫀 #mentalhealth #anxietyrelief