Anxiety and Exercise

earmuff111

I unfortunately suffer from nocturnal panic attacks. Often the next morning I will forego a workout because I'm afraid of stressing my heart, but I was wondering what people's take is on anxiety and cardiovascular exercise, especially when there are palpitations involved. For what it's worth, I had an EKG a few weeks ago and everything was normal (knock on wood/thank God). I guess I'm wondering if my fear of cardio after a panic attack is unreasonable. Thank you.

editorgrrl

This is a question for your doctor, not a bunch of random strangers on the internet.

earmuff111

I know, I've had my heart checked out. My doctor has told me to keep exercising as it will ultimately have a positive effect on anxiety, but it still makes me nervous sometimes.

sjaykay13

I've struggled with anxiety, panic attacks and stress most of my life, and I'm only 23!!! I've tried medications but the only thing that really helped was EXERCISE. I know how hard it is to feel comfortable going with your mind and heart racing, but the feeling after that workout is amazing. I never in a million years thought that I would NEED a workout, but I do, I need my workouts to stay straight most days. Find a gym or exercise that you are comfortable/familiar with and start there. And when you go, you don't need to push yourself too crazy. Just go for a walk or 20 mins on the elliptical.

if you doctor is telling you to exercise, than it's safe to exercise!!!

editorgrrl

I've had my heart checked out. My doctor has told me to keep exercising as it will ultimately have a positive effect on anxiety, but it still makes me nervous sometimes.

Trust your doctor! Find fun exercise activities that you enjoy: dancing, Zumba, hula hooping, walks with friends... Start slowly, have fun, and stop if you find it too stressful. Every little bit helps, so don't overdo it.

MissySpring

I'm so sorry that you're suffering from anxiety. It can be debilitating. I, too, have massive panic attacks. Luckily, mine didn't start until I hit 40. Boy, what a huge surprise! I thought I was having a stroke...scariest moment of my life. Exercise makes a huge impact on how often I have them. Swimming is my go to activity when I feel overwhelmed. It's an amazing calorie burner, you don't feel sweaty, and it's calming.

Bamacraft

For piece of mind get second opinion and get tested for other things (thyroid, hormones, allergies, asthma etc..) The effect of exercise and anxiety are nearly identical WRT breathing heart rate etc..lots of articles about why exercise kicks in an anxiety attack for some people. When you get anxious and nervous your breathing harder, heart rate increases, you get more in tune with your body (especially heart rate), the lightheaded feeling etc.. When you exercise your body starts dong the exact same thing but is a nornal response to exercise. However, those with anxiety/panic attacks dwell on the fact that you are experiencing a panic attack, you worry, you get anxious and dwell on heart rate etc.. and then the feeling of impeding doom kicks in. Any little pain or discomfort in chest/breathing freaks you out. double whammy and you stress out making everything worse. Sometime the rapid breathing from exercise + anxiety will lead to lightheadedness or feeling faint. Its a viscious cycle. I've battled this for nearly 4 years now and it isnt fun. active runner and lift 4 days a week. 3 ER visits, 2 MRIs, lots of blood work, ultra sounds of thyroid and heart, glucose test, stress test, heart monitor, 2 echocardiograms, hormone test, PT...i could go on and on. all normal and the only thing that works is xanax (not recommending it j/s) and today i still think somethings wrong. I look forward to exercising and in my mind i am ready but if any little thing happens while working out BAM, i am scewed for the remainder of w/out and until i get home in bed or something. I feel for ya. get a second opinion and other test just in case. Funny thin is i usually feel better a day or two after getting my results then it slowly returns...hope you resolve the issue.

jazzcatastrophe

In my experience, exercise really helps. I would start off with light cardio first (power walking, etc) and as you get more comfortable, move to more intense things. I've found that when I start feeling panicky, going for a 15 minute power walk around the block helps me prevent or lessen a full-blown panic attack from happening, because I'm sort of tricking my body by voluntarily pushing my heart rate up with exercise

janeite1990

If your doc oked it, your heart should be fine. I think exercise helps anxiety. I do elliptical and weights with the tv going at 5 in the morning.

To me, anxiety is partly about my mind being in overdrive and thinking about so many negative possibilities. Combining exercise and tv keeps my mind distracted from bad thoughts. Having that one hour each day of good focus makes the rest of the day better. It may take a different activity to work for you, maybe walking with music. I say, find a form of exercise that takes you out of yourself, or out of the moment, or however you think about it.

qtgonewild

last night i had an issue on the elliptical after 20 mins. i thought i was about to have a panic attack for some reason. but i just told myself to breathe and kept going. ending up doing the full 60 mins when i thought for sure i would step off of it at 22 mins.

LuLuChick78

I have a "condition" called SVT which causes an extremely rapid heart rate (260 bpm for me) when triggered. Exercise used to be my main trigger but as my cardiovascular health improved so did my frequency of episodes. I am now off of my beta blocker and only experience an episode every few months instead of multiple times per week.

I know this is not the same condition you were diagnosed with, but I feel my story is relevant enough to share with you.

I agree with your doctor and everyone above who said it - exercise will help.

melindafritz1976

exercis e helps with anxiety
i have generalized anxiety disorder

ThriceBlessed

I know, I've had my heart checked out. My doctor has told me to keep exercising as it will ultimately have a positive effect on anxiety, but it still makes me nervous sometimes.

If the panic attack is over, I think exercise is fine, and you should listen to your doctor.

If you are truly just too afraid to exercise vigorously, then walk. It is much more mild cardio, but it still has a lot of benefits for your body.

It sounds to me though, that maybe you should look into some continued counseling, and/or perhaps some anti anxiety medications. I mean, you have panic attacks, but even when the attack is over you are still anxious, on edge, still worried that a little exercise will trigger heart trouble inspite of the fact that your doctor tells you otherwise. To me, that just shows an ongoing, continual struggle with anxiety.

Now a question: If hearing your doctor encourage you to exercise doesn't set you mind at ease, why would a bunch of strangers on the internet telling you the same thing set your mind at ease?

wilsoje74

I know, I've had my heart checked out. My doctor has told me to keep exercising as it will ultimately have a positive effect on anxiety, but it still makes me nervous sometimes.

Can you talk with your doc about treating the anxiety?

feltlikesound

I suffer from anxiety, and have issues properly attributing anxiety-similar feelings. For example, in a steamy shower where you might feel short of breath, I begin to feel panicky and a sick sense of dread. Similarly, cardio exercise can make me feel agitated and anxious as my body attributes the physical feelings (elevated heart rate, etc) to what has conventionally been the cause for many years of my life -- anxiety. This has lessened substantially with time, but I enjoy strength training much more than cardio, as I feel more empowered, positive, and in-control. I also have taken an approach to cardio where I go for longer times while monitoring my heart rate with my HRM. I have grown accustomed to what I am physically comfortable with, heart-rate wise, and have also pushed this over time so now I rarely tie anxiety and exercise unless I am having a bad day or am physically not up for my workout (i.e. when I had a headcold and my heart-rate shot up whenever I attempted cardio).

My fitness regime has also helped immensely with my anxiety, and I feel much more "together" and stable on my gym days. Everyone in my life has noticed.

I hope some of that was remotely helpful, since really I have no ADVICE...just relating.

bcf7683

I know what you mean with the heart palpitations... About a year ago I started having problems with anxiety and it landed me in the ER with ridiculous chest pain. Had an EKG, blood work, heart ultrasound, xrays, the works (and a hefty bill), and everything came back fine- so now I know when it happens that it's purely anxiety induced.

Weird thing with me is the only time I've ever had an "attack" is when I'm AT the gym. The first time it happened I was in the middle of a jump rope circuit and my heart started flying out of my chest (WAY worse than it should've been). I stopped working out, freaked out, and asked my friend at the gym who is a trainer to take my blood pressure- it was through the roof, but calmed down in a few minutes. After that, I was pretty apprehensive of any cardio because I didn't want it to happen again. I avoided it for awhile, but it hadn't happened since then so I gave it try and I was fine. But it has happened again (a few times) when I've been lifting. When it does happen, I just stop and take some deep breaths and not let myself get worked up because I know it's going to stop. It's scary as hell the first few times it happens, but once you know what's actually going on, you can control yourself and your breathing until you've calmed down.

ETA- I talked to my doctor about how this happens while I'm working out- paired with the earlier episode that landed me in the ER that resulted in completely normal results and my problems with anxiety, she said it's fine to continue working out when it happens. It's pretty much just an annoyance that interrupts my workout now rather than something that will actually make me stop and go home.

knittnponder

I've battled anxiety for years! Learning my triggers has helped immensely with keep them at bay and I can manage them without medication. Exercise does help because it helps you burn off the adrenalin that is coursing through you from the panic attack (your flight or fight response is triggered.) If your doctor has given you the green light you should do exercise. The previous poster (feltlikesound) has some good tips on tweaking it to suit you. I won't post all my triggers but if you want to know you can PM me.