[Note: This post is part of a larger series about the The Best Cures and Remedies for Heart Palpitations]

When I first started having heart palpitations and ended up at the ER, I completely stopped exercising. I thought that if I tried to workout I would have a heart attack. I was running fairly regularly too, and I enjoy being active, so it was hard to slow down. But I thought it was for my good. I was wrong. In hindsight, I think that it only made my anxiety and fear worse, not to mention my heart palpitations. I wasn’t able to burn off any of the stress that I was having from work and from the heart palpitations themselves.

Photo Credit: said_w

My Cardiologist Told Me To Exercise

It wasn’t until I had a bazillion tests done and met with my cardiologist that I finally got back into exercising. And it made a big difference. I now had a way to “reset” my heart back to it’s normal rhythm. Eventually the heart palpitations would come back, but I could always run outside or jump on a treadmill and 20-30 minutes later I would feel a lot better.

I Relied Too Much on Exercise

I thought exercise was my magic cure all. However, I was miserable at night and couldn’t sleep with all my heart skips. There were also times I couldn’t get to the gym, like during work, and it was rough. I ended up doing crazy things like 20 minutes of jumping jacks at 3am just to make the heart palpitations go away. It wasn’t very practical. Since then, I have found other things that help reduce my heart palpitations – like eating smarter and smaller meals, breathing exercises, meditation, etc… Exercise is still the best way to get my heart back to a normal beat again, but now it’s not the only way.

Rhythmic Exercises Help Heart Palpitations the Best

Not all exercises are created equal. Some are better than others for heart palpitations (at least in my experience).

Not surprisingly, rhythmic exercises are the best for getting your heart back on beat. The idea is that you are doing consistent movements at a steady, increased heart rate (more beats per minute). So rather than something like sprints where your heart rate goes up and then back down, you do an exercise that keeps your elevated heart rate constant for an extended amount of time. I find it is a great way to get my heart back in rhythm.

Here are Seven Types of Rhythmic Exercises that Can Help Reduce Heart Palpitations

1. Power Walking
2. Jogging
3. Running
4. Rowing
5. Cycling
6. Swimming
7. Dancing

My preferred method of exercise is running, although I try to also try to sneak in as much cycling and swimming as my schedule allows. I can’t say that I ever dance much (unless you count the times I walk into my boys room barefoot and there are a minefield of legos everywhere), so that’s about the only one I haven’t really tried. I’m a terrible dancer so there wouldn’t actually be much rhythm anyways

Wear a Heart Rate Monitor

Wearing a heart rate monitor has also made a big difference when I exercise. Once all my heart tests came back negative or inconclusive my doctor said that I was clear to exercise, but I should wear a heart rate monitor. I’m glad I did too. It gives me a peace of mind and helps me know if I am exercising in the proper target heart rate zones. I highly recommend that you use one. Here is the one I use (My Watch). I love it. It’s simple and really easy to use. I will have to write a post about it some time.

Some Tips on Exercising with Heart Palpitations

1. Talk to your doctor first and make sure they say it’s ok.
2. Wear a heart rate monitor (See the one I use HERE).
3. Do something that gets your heart rate up to around 60-80% of your max heart rate.
4. Try to stay consistent and rhythmic in your exercise for at least 20 minutes or more. Ideally, 30-40 minutes would be great.
5. Try to do it at least 4-5 days per week.

NOTE: Certain Activities Can Actually Cause Heart Palpitations After Exercise

Occasionally, I will experience heart palpitations after I exercise and I believe it is for two reasons. The first is that I am lifting weights and that puts stress on my body (possibly even aggravating the vagus nerve). The second is that after a more rigorous workout my adrenaline levels are still high for a while but my heart rate is slowing down. It is during this time that heart palpitations can return for a bit. But knowing that makes me fear them less, and for me, the benefit of exercising and burning stress far outweighs the possibility of exercise induced heart palpitations.

So don’t be discouraged! It is possible to exercise with heart palpitations (if your doctor says you can, of course). You just have to be more careful and keep an eye on your heart rate. Since developing heart palpitations, I have completed five triathlons and six 5ks. I have grown to love running, cycling, and swimming. I love how good they make me feel when I’m done exercising.

So how about you? Does exercise help your heart palpitations? Does it make them worse? What kinds of exercise do you do?

WHERE I AM NOW IN MY BATTLE AGAINST HEART PALPITATIONS

I can’t believe how much things have changed since I first started this blog. I feel like a whole new person. It’s been an incredible journey. I’ve gone from thousands of heart skips a day to to next to nothing for weeks if not months at a time. I used to obsess about every skipped beat, every heart palpitation, but now I rarely think about it. I would have never believed it was possible all those years I struggled with heart palpations. As I have written before (you can read more about my story HERE) it was awful. It was a nightmare that affected my family, my work, and my relationships. It consumed me. 

Finally, after nine years, I found a routine and system that works for me and my heart palpitations have pretty much went away entirely (here are some heart palpitations cures and remedies that I found helpful). I still occasionally experience some every now and again, but it’s rare. I feel like I’m the healthiest I have ever been and I’ve learned to manage stress and anxiety like I never thought I could. I still monitor my health pretty closely, and I try to do an annual physical just to make sure everything is good, but overall I feel like I am in a really great place. I hope that is encouraging to you all who are still experiencing a ton of heart palpitations tight now. I know it feels discouraging times, but if things can turn around for me, anything is possible!

WHAT’S NEXT FOR LIFE OFF BEAT

So what’s next for this blog? My hope is to do a better job detailing what has helped me over the past few years. I hear from a lot of you that are right in the midst of a difficult struggle. I would love to help you all as much as I can since I was helped by so many people on my journey (and still am). I realize that everyone’s heart palpitation journey is different and what works for me may not work for everyone else, but hopefully you can apply something of what I have learned to your own situation.  I plan on writing more articles and I may try branching out to different formats for the blog too like audio or video as well 

I would love to also build a better way to communicate and collaborate as a community. There are so many similar experiences that it would be great if it was easier to find similar stories and share tips and tricks you all have learned in your own journey. 

And I’m still trying to improve in all the key areas (sleep, exercise, stress management, life management, diet, etc) so I will likely write about that some as well. I have some fun ideas that I will try to roll out as the year goes on. 

If you would like to follow along, be sure to sign up for my email list and I will send you an email when new articles are posted (no spam, I promise).  
And if you have any ideas for the blog or topics you would like to see covered, be sure to let me know in the comments below! 

Photo Credit: Gerard79

So in order to consolidate things, I have tried to put together a running list of possible “cures” for heart palpitations that I have found in my research across the internet. For each palpitation remedy I have written or will write a post with more details so you can comment on whether that specific cure worked for you or not.

I’m not saying that these work for everyone (or that you should try any or all of them), I am just saying that someone, somewhere on the internet has claimed that it worked for them (I will do my best to provide links to where I found it so you can dig deeper if you would like). There are many different types of heart palpitations and many different causes, so what works for someone else may not work for you. Also, many of these cures were likely the result of multiple factors and not just one single thing. And as always, please don’t try any of these without first consulting your primary care physician and/or your cardiologist.

My goal is to try and find the BEST cures for palpitations (as determined by actual people). The only way to do that is with your help. So please be sure to let us know what has worked best for you and what hasn’t worked!

If you would like to get an email every time I discuss a new cure, be sure to sign up for the Life Off Beat mailing list – you can do that HERE. No spam, I promise (and of course you can unsubscribe at any time).

So without further ado, here is the list I have put together so far. Please let me know if I left anything off!

Possible Heart Palpitation Cures

(Click on the specific cure for more detail)

• Sleep | Can More Sleep Cure Your Heart Palpitations?
• Exercise | 7 Exercises That Help Stop Heart Palpitations
• Hydration | Can Dehydration Cause Heart Palpitations?
• Breathing Exercises | 4 Breathing Exercises I Use
• Meditation | How I Use Meditation To Relieve My Heart Palpitations
• Yoga | 3 Reasons I Do Yoga for Heart Palpitations
• Chiropractor | Can a Chiropractor Help Reduce Heart Palpitations?
• Cold Showers
• Hypnosis
• Tapping
• Posture
• Blow up a balloon
• Breath into a bag
• Eat in Moderation
• Essential Oils
• Valvasa Maneuver
• Cold Water

Supplements

• Magnesium | My Favorite Supplement for Heart Palpitations
• Electrolytes | Could An Electrolyte Imbalance Be Causing Your Heart Palpitations?
• B12
• Multi-Vitamin
• CoQ10
• Calcium
• Zinc
• Carnitine
• GABA
• Holy Basil
• Peppermint
• Berberine HCL
• Fish Oil
• Vitamine E
• Garlic
• Aloe Vera Gel
• Hawthorne
• Theanine
• French Green Clay
• Valerian Root
• Taurine
• Arginine
• Potassium
• Black Haw Root Bark
• Cayenne Pepper
• Sunervon
• Iodoral
• Phytonutrients
• Lavender Oil
• Bitter Orange Oil

Foods

• Blackstrap Molasses
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Lemon Juice
• Oil Pulling
• Chamomile Tea
• Peppermint Tea
• Lemon Balm Tea
• Honey
• Grape Juice
• Guava
• Cayenne Pepper
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Alkaline Diet
• Paleo Diet
• Dash Diet
• Peppermint

Food to AVOID

• Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
• Aspartame (nutrisweet)
• Milk Products
• Sodium Nitrates
• Peanut Butter
• Caffeine
• Sugar
• Ma huang/Ephedra

Medicines

• Beta Blockers

Medicines That Could CAUSE Heart Palpitations

• Decongestants
• Antihistamines
• Pseudoephedrine

Did I leave anything off? Do you have any cures that worked for your or for someone you know?

I bought mine on Amazon and the cost was only $95 (I admit that can be lot of money, at least for me, but compared to a doctor’s visit and a EKG test, it seemed reasonable). I was skeptical at first, but I’ve actually been really impressed at what this little device can do.

AliveCor is a small rectangular device that records ECGs and your heart rate. All you have to do is place your fingers on the little metal pads. It sends the data to a free AliveCor app you download on your smartphone. You can also stick the device on the back of a phone case for easier use, but I actually found it worked best when I set it flat on a table next to the phone. If you did decide to stick the device on your phone case, you can also rest the phone case electrodes on your chest and get a reading that way. Once your ECG/pulse rate is recorded and saved, you can add notes as well as send your recording to your Cardiologist. You can also have a specialist look at your readings as well for a small fee (around $12).

I won’t do a step-by-step review of the product today, but I have included some images below to show you what it looks like. It’s very simple and easy to use, and seems pretty effective. It’s obviously not going to replace a full EKG (yet) and I don’t think it’s necessarily going to detect a heart attack (and of course there is always the risk of false positives as well), but I was really impressed with this little device.

Overall, I think it’s a really great product. It seemed really reliable to me and most of the reviews I read were very positive. If you have heart palpitations or an arrhythmia, I definitely think it’s worth looking into. As I mentioned above, I use it to track my palpitations and make notes on when they occur and why I think they may be happening. I think it’s also helpful to keep a record for your doctor/cardiologist. Remember, they are trying to solve a mystery with limited information. In my opinion, the more information you can give them the better.

So check out AliveCor and let me know what you think!

Have you already tried AliveCor? Is it worth it? Do you find it’s helpful?

[Note: This post is part of a larger series about the The Best Cures and Remedies for Heart Palpitations]

When my heart palpitations were at their worst and my spirits were at their lowest, I started telling people about my situation in hopes of finding someone with a solution (you can read my story HERE). An acquaintance of mine suggested that he may be able to help since he was a chiropractor. He laid out a compelling argument that heart palpitations could be caused by nerves being pinched in my spine. I had back and arm pain, especially when I was anxious, that mimicked a heart attack (or so I thought), so this sounded reasonable to me.

I visited his office and his staff was incredibly kind. However, his practice honestly felt like a sham. It was very expensive and once my name was called I would go lay down on a bed that rolled/massaged my back. The doctor would then come in and give me “electronic” acupuncture, which was painless and felt like he just put a tiny flashlight to different parts of my body. I was then told I would need to do this three times a week. Yikes!

So I blew it off and swore I would never go back to a chiropractor and their voodoo medicine again. I related my skepticism of Chiropractic medicine to a church home group I was in and a guy there happened to be a chiropractor. He said that there are different types of Chiropractors (good and bad ones just like other doctors), but that his practice placed more emphasis on sports and physical therapy. He didn’t promise to cure my heart palpitations but did reiterate that they could be the result of a compression of nerves in my back.

So I went to his office and the difference was amazing. He adjusted my back and neck and I felt incredibly better. I can’t say that it instantly cured my heart palpitations, but it certainly helped my back pain and did help lessen the severity of the palpitations. According to some of the articles I read, if your spine is out of proper alignment you can get altered blood flow to the brain and increased sympathetic stimulation in the nervous system that can drive up blood pressure and put your nervous system into overdrive, thus resulting in heart palpitations. I’m not sure how much of this is medically verified (which concerns me), but I have come across a number of articles online since that have claimed that going to a chiropractor has cured their heart palpitations, so I thought I would add it to my list of potential cures.

If you have gone down all the traditional routes of trying to stop your heart palpitations and nothing has worked, this may be a good route to try (with the consent of your doctor/cardiologist of course). Just be sure you talk to your friends and family and find a Chiropractor that knows what he/she is doing and is someone you can trust. It can be expensive but if it can cure your heart palpitations, or at least alleviate some pain or lower your blood pressure, it may be worth it.

What do you think? Have you found chiropractic medicine to help alleviate your heart palpitations?

I think one of the first things that my doctor asked me about when I started having heart palpitations (you can read my story HERE) was if I had been running a lot or felt dehydrated in any way. The reason was because having an electrolyte imbalance is a very common cause of heart palpitations. It’s generally the first thing listed in articles online about the causes of palpitations.

What are the electrolytes?

When I hear the word electrolytes I think of sports drinks like Gatorade that supposedly replenish electrolytes for athletes. I also assumed that if a person was low on electrolytes that it generally meant that they needed more potassium or sodium (just eat a banana, right?). I didn’t realize that it also includes elements like chloride, calcium, sulfate, phosphate, bicarbonate, and magnesium. These electrically charged ions are critical to muscle function (including the heart). The electrical impulse they create help contract the heart and keep it pumping at a normal rate and speed, so If there is an issue with the body’s electrical system then it can cause slower beats, skipped beat, fast beats, etc.

What are the symptoms of Electrolyte imbalance?

As mentioned above, one symptom can be heart palpitations, but other things to look out for are muscle twitches, muscle spasms, headaches, anxiety, and restlessness. It can look different for everyone, so I would suggest checking out a full list of possible electrolyte imbalance symptoms if you are worried that you have an imbalance.

So How do you find the right balance of electrolytes?

I think then best place to start is your diet. Everything needs to be in moderation, especially products that are high in sodium. It’s shocking how much sodium can be in foods. If you are worried that you have heart palpitations caused by an electrolyte imbalance you should let your doctor/cardiologist know and it may be good to get blood work/urine sample done and see exactly where your levels are at.

I personally think that even small imbalances in electrolytes can keep your heart palpitating. So something like anxiety, stress, lack of sleep, or dehydration can knock your heart off rhythm, but small imbalances in your body’s electrical system can keep the skipped beats coming. That is one reason why our diet is so important in fighting heart palpitations. A good diet can lower stress, help you sleep better, keep you hydrated, and balance your electrolytes. During the worst days of my constant heart palpitations, I kept a food journal and it was incredibly helpful (I used myfitnesspal and highly recommend it). Honestly, my diet has never been the same since. I learned a ton about what I was putting in my body and I think it went a long way to helping reduce my heart palpitations and get back to a sense of normalcy.

What about Supplements for Electrolytes?

There are definitely supplements that can help with an electrolyte deficiency. I’ve tried a few (some good ones seem to be LyteShow, Ultima Replenisher), and I wrote about the importance of magnesium before HERE. There are benefits to taking them if you feel like you need them. But I would still start with your diet first. The last thing you want to do is take too much of a particular supplement and swing the imbalance of electrotypes from one element to another, especially potassium which can be very detrimental to heart rhythm if taken in excess. So be sure to talk to your doctor and make sure you establish a plan that is right for you and your particular situation.

It’s also a good idea to stay hydrated when you are out in the heat or exercising. I love to run and cycle, but down here in the Southwest it is easy to get dehydrated quickly. I occasionally drink the regular sports drinks, but there is so much sugar in them that I try to find other alternatives like Vitamin water or coconut water (with added sodium), and nuun tablets.

So what about you? Do you think an electrolyte imbalance has caused your heart palpitations? What do you do to keep things in balance?

All it does it expand and contract with geometric shapes. You can sync your breathing to it and really helps with anxiety. When I’m anxious, my heart palpitations go wild, so anything to calm me down is a blessing. It’s a small thing, but I have put it on my phone and look at it when I’m really feeling anxious.

There are a number of breathing techniques to try to help stop heart palpitations (I’ve covered some of them HERE) but this is a great place to start.

HERE IT IS (The Breathing Exercise GIF for anxiety):

What do you think? Have you tried this? Do you like it?

If there was one supplement that I would recommend that you take to help cure, manage, or stop your heart palpitations, it would be magnesium. When I was researching possible cures to help my awful heart palps, by far the most frequently stated cure for just about any type of irregular heartbeat was magnesium. I even read that if you go to the hospital for a panic attack or suspected heart related issue the first thing they do is start you on a magnesium drip. Comment after comment, article after article, would list magnesium as the best place to start when you have heart palpitations. Some said it completely stopped their heart palpitations, others said it reduced them drastically. So of course magnesium was one of the first supplements I tried when my palpitations were out of control.

My Magnesium Mistake

Unfortunately, I made a mistake on my first purchase. Apparently a pretty common one too. I had no idea that there were different forms of magnesium and it was important which one you took. If I remember right, I just went to Walmart and grabbed the cheapest bottle of magnesium I could find. I started taking it and didn’t really see much benefit. It wasn’t till later that I read about the different forms and purposes of magnesium (I plan on writing more about the different types of magnesium soon). I finally ended up with a type of magnesium I like (it blends taurate, glycinate, and malate). It’s called Triple Calm Magnesium, but I explain more below why I like it so much.

The Benefits of Magnesium for Heart Palpitations

Most of our diets are insufficient in magnesium. Unfortunately, that can cause a lot of issues since magnesium plays a role in over 300 different chemical reactions in the body. And a number of studies have shown that a deficiency in magnesium contributes to a number of mental and physical health issues, including…wait for it…heart palpitations.

Magnesium is an often forgotten electrolyte, so when we are deficient in that area it can throw off our heart rhythm. Stress levels plays a role as well. Studies have shown that periods of extreme stress can also greatly reduce our magnesium levels.

So if your magnesium levels are too low, you can experience muscle cramps, heart palpitations, and even sudden death (yikes!). We can, and should, get our magnesium naturally (though vegetables, leafy greens, etc) but we rarely make it to our daily suggested allowance which is between 300-420mg depending on your age. So that is why I take a magnesium supplement.

My Favorite Type of Magnesium for Heart Palpitations

As mentioned above, I tried a cheap type of magnesium (it was magnesium oxide, which doesn’t absorb well) and then tried a magnesium citrate powder (which wasn’t that bad but when taken regularly or in high quantity it has a laxative effect – hello disaster pants!!), so I finally switched to a blend of magnesium taurate, glycinate, and malate. Magnesium Taurate has been shown to be a great support for cardiovascular functions, Magnesium Glycinate is supposedly wonderful for relaxation and Magnesium Malate is great for muscle and nerve function. All are highly absorbable and easy on your stomach. Yay! I’m sure there are a lot of good magnesium supplements out there, but I really like Triple Calm and highly recommend it. I can definitely tell a difference when I take it. My heart palpitations aren’t as bad and I feel like I sleep better too which is wonderful.

How about you? Have you tried magnesium? Do you find it helpful?

When I was looking around the internet for cures for my heart palpitations, I continually came across recommendations to do yoga. I saw a few articles that said that doing yoga greatly reduces irregular heartbeats. However, I also saw some comments on blog posts that said that they experienced more heart palpitations when they tried to do yoga, so I wasn’t sure what to do.

I tried it and my heart palpitations were so bad at the time (you can read about my story here) that it didn’t matter what kind of yoga I was doing, all I could focus on was the skipped beats which were happening about every third beat. So I stopped yoga. It wasn’t until later, after my heart palpitations slowed down a bit, that I came back and tried it again. And I’m glad I did.

The Benefits of Yoga for Heart Palpitations

Yoga has a number of benefits. You can find articles all over the internet touting the wonderfulness of daily yoga, but the three best, in my opinion are:

1. It helps lower blood pressure. Studies have shown that doing yoga two to three times per week made a significant different in blood pressure compared to just dieting alone.

2. It helps you sleep better. Many studies (including this one from Harvard) have found that eight weeks of daily yoga significantly improved sleep quality for people with insomnia.

3. Stress Relief. One of the best reasons, in my opinion, is that yoga helps your body stay calm when things are in a state of stress. Essentially, you are temporarily putting your body in relatively uncomfortable positions while practicing calm and slow breathing. Over time your body gets better at managing stress.

There are many different types of yoga, and I am certainly no expert. I actually just googled “yoga for stress” and after watching a few videos found two that I liked (I have posted them below). I’m trying to get better at it, but right now it still feels a little awkward and more like glorified stretching than anything else, which is fine with me.

Here are two yoga videos I would do when I was trying to find ways to help stop my heart palpitations.

1. Yoga for Stress Relief

2. Yoga at Your Desk (It’s shorter and I could do it at work)

My Favorite Stretch for Heart Palpitations

Around this same time, I also bought a foam roller for my back and I’m really glad I did. I know this isn’t exactly part of “yoga”, but I incorporate it into my routine and I think it helps immensely! This is the one I got from Amazon if you are interested. It’s nothing fancy. But I keep it right by my desk and a couple times a day I lay down and roll out my back and do some simple stretches with it. It helps my posture and helps open up my chest. I love love love it. Highly recommend getting one if you don’t have one already (they are fairly inexpensive and definitely worth it). I also got a yoga mat (this one) but I don’t think it is essential. I have hard wood floors in my office, so I needed a soft spot to stretch out. It’s nice and squishy.

I wish I had some other cool stretches for you, but I don’t at this point. I need all you yoga experts to give me some tips in the comments. Let me know if you have a great stretch or routine that you think would be beneficial to those of us with heart palpitations. If you are new to yoga like I was, I highly recommend you try out the videos above. Adrienne, from Yoga with Adrienne, seems to know what she is doing.

And on a side note, there was this one video that kept popping up that said you could heal your heart palpitations in minutes with a certain Heart Mudra (a “mudra” is a hand pose or just a position in yoga). It was essentially placing your thumb on your middle and ring finger with your pinky up and your index finger down on the inside part of your thumb. Here is the video if you are interested. I tried it and I can’t say that it helped any. I am skeptical but I thought I would pass it along. Anyone else try this? Was it effective?

So does yoga help cure heart palpitations or help you management them better? Does it make your heart palpitations worse? Is it a waste of time? It took me a while, but now, personally, I think yoga helps. I do think that it’s a good way to push pause in the day and reduce some anxiety and stress, which in turn helps reduce heart palpitations.

What do you think? Love it or leave it? Let me know in the comments!

Meditation is (or was) a foreign concept to me. Prior to heart palpitations I never tried it. It seemed like some mystical aspiration for gurus or hippies. But after developing heart palpitations, I kept stumbling on to articles extolling the calming virtues of meditation. And then I saw an article that said Jerry Seinfeld credited much of his success to his daily meditation. Really?! Seinfeld! That sealed the deal. I had to check into this whole meditation thing. So I tried it. And of course I loved it. Apparently there are a zillion different ways to meditate (ranging from bizarre to bare minimal) but I finally found a way that works for me.

How I Meditate with Heart Palpitations

I already wrote about the breathing exercises I do (you can see that post HERE). I occasionally combine both my meditation and my breathing exercises, but I prefer to do them separately if I have the time.

Like my breathing exercises, I always have a hard time focusing when my heart palpitations are going crazy. So I use a massager and place it on my chest if I am laying down or propped up on my back if I am sitting up (this is the massager I use). The vibrations from the massager make it harder for me to feel each heart skip. Otherwise, all I can think about are the palpitations and my “meditation” time is anything but peaceful.

How I Prepare for Meditation

I also try to find a nice, quiet, comfortable spot in the house (sometimes I go into our closet where it is nice and dark and other times I sit by a window in the warm sunlight). I typically like to lie down, but occasionally I will bring a giant comfy pillow (like this one) and sit up with my legs crossed and my back against the wall or a couch.

I love good smelling candles, so I will also light candles when possible. I really think that certain smells can be comforting and bring us back to familiar, restful places. I love Eucalyptus & Peppermint candles (especially this one) and Cinnamon Candles (this is another one I’ve used and enjoy). The Eucalyptus candle is supposedly great for stress and reminds me of my house growing up, and the cinnamon candle reminds me of the Christmas holidays and just makes me happy.

How I Meditate

Once I get situated, I put my headphones on (this may be a meditation no no, I don’t know) and I start listening to music or pre-recorded reminders that I made. I use noise canceling headphones because I have a house full of boys and it’s pretty much the only way to ensure a quiet environment (if you are interested, here is the pair of headphones that I use and love. They are awesome).

For music, I typically listen to Explosions In the Sky since they are nice ambient music (It’s also great music to work to). I also listen to calming music on iTunes Radio, but I hate that there are occasional advertisements that chime in, so I have bought some calming music for my meditation playlist.

If I don’t listen to music, I will occasionally just take one thing and say it over and over like a typical mantra, but my absolute favorite thing to do is listen to a playlist of reminders/mantras that I have pre-recorded. This may sound silly, but since I’m prone to panic attacks when my heart palpitations get out of control, I like to remind myself of some of the things I have learned along the way (I will write another post about the actual reminders/mantras that I use soon) along with inspirational sayings and verses from the Bible that I’ve recorded. The verses are a great reminder that we have a purpose in life, God is good, He is the giver of peace, and he is in control.

To record my reminders, I use an app called Memorize Anything. It allows me to record a saying on my phone then put a tag on it. I have a tag called “Meditation” and when I go to meditate I can play all my reminders and verses in order or randomly (which I love). It’s been a great app for me, so I highly recommend it. You can find it HERE on the app store.

The goal for me in meditation is to eliminate the bad and put in the good. It helps me come back to center and focus on what matters.

When I Meditate

I try to meditate before the kids get up, but often times I find it even more helpful to do a quick 10-15 minute meditation break at either 10am or 3pm (or both if I have the time). It a nice break from the stress of work.

Some Meditation Tricks That I Have Learned

1. Get Comfortable.

I found myself fighting around a lot trying to get comfortable when I first started meditating. Find or invest in a good pillow or chair to help you settle in (personally, I love this one).

2. Start Small.

I started with just 3 minutes. I didn’t want to make a goal of meditating 30 minutes a day and then beak it after the first couple of days. Three minutes is nothing. It’s an easy way to start and you can build from there.

3. Do it in the same place.

Try to find a quiet place that you go to each time you want to meditate. I actually have two places and it works out well. One is in our bedroom closet since it is quiet and dark and the other in a room that has a lot of sunlight (I love sitting in the sun, there is something so peaceful about it).

4. Track your progress.

I started by making a spreadsheet and marking the time and quality of the meditation, but now there are plenty of apps that help you do that quickly and easily. Here is a cool one called Equanimity – Meditation Timer & Tracker

5. Use Technology.

I put my phone on “Do Not Disturb” mode so I won’t be interrupted, but as I mentioned above I will often listen to music or listen to my reminders on my phone. But now a days there are also a number of really awesome apps and gadgets that really help you relax and monitor your meditation. One is called Muse. It is a headband that monitors your brainwaves and helps guide you back to a state of calmness. It’s a little bit of an investment, but really helpful! Here is their website and here is their headband.

And that’s about it. I guess I don’t really get to some higher state of enlightenment, but meditation does help me come back to a state of calm and peace, which is essential for battling heart palpitations.

How about you? Do you meditate? What types of meditation have you found helpful for heart palpitations?

When I first got heart palpitations, I scoured the internet looking for cures (as I’m sure many of you have or are doing). One of the first websites I came across was one that practically guaranteed that my heart palpitations would go away. I was pumped. But once I finally found their “solution” I was sorely disappointed. Their solution was basically to buy their book/video teaching me how to breathe properly. Breathe properly? Ha! That’s crazy talk. I breath just fine thank you very much. So I passed on their product and moved on to other sites. But the more I looked for cures and remedies, the more I came across people who said breathing exercises helped reduce their heart palpitations significantly. Maybe it wasn’t crazy talk. Plus I was desperate and willing to try anything.

So I did. I jumped into the world of breathing exercises. I tried to be religious about practicing proper breathing techniques. I made a spreadsheet and marked off my time each day. After all, breathing exercises are a great way to relax, right? Well… not for me. After a couple of weeks, I was still having terrible heart skips, and I was anything but relaxed. I was frustrated. I wanted to concentrate on my breathing, but all I could hear and feel was my heart skipping over and over again. It was terrible. My frustration would make my heart skip even more. I would come out of my “relaxation time” ready to punch someone in the face. It was bad.

But then I found a couple of tricks that seemed to work for me. Hopefully they will work for you too.

1. I do breathing exercises with a massager

This may sound strange, but hang with me here. As I mentioned, I couldn’t concentrate and relax when doing breathing exercises. I couldn’t get over the feeling of having thump thump…skip…big thump… heart palpitations every three beats until I stumbled across this strange solution. I had been standing at my desk working all day and decided to use a massager on my back (one of the percussion kinds). After a few minutes I noticed that I didn’t feel the skips as much as before. It was great. So I tried combining it with my breathing exercises and it was incredibly helpful. (If you don’t know what type of massager I’m talking about, here is massager that I use if you are interested, I love it.)

2. I lay on my back with my feet up on a wall or on my bed

The other thing I do is lie on my back with my feet up. This helps me take deep breaths by expanding my stomach rather than shallow breaths from my chest. I put my massager on my chest and concentrate on the rise and fall of my stomach. Weird, I know, but effective, at least for me.

3. Breathing App

If you want some help with your breathing exercises, there is a great app that helps walk you through each breath. It’s called Breathing Zone – Relaxing Breathing Exercises and you can use it on your mobile phone or tablet. I use it on my iPhone and it’s really helpful. I highly recommend it.

Four Breathing Exercises That Help Me with Heart Palpitations

1. All Things Equal

This is an easy one and supposedly helps get your body in a natural rhythm. It also helps you fall asleep, so that’s good. All you do is sit up straight (or lay down) and breathe in (inhale) through the nose for a count of four, then breathe out (exhale) through the nose for a count of four. Keep it simple. This is the one I do most often. I slowly breath in through my nose and then let the weigh of my body force the air out of my lungs on it’s own. All the air comes out quickly but I linger at the end of the exhale (enjoying the silence) until I reach my count. Once you feel comfortable with a count of four move up to five, then six, then seven, etc.

2. Breath Counting

Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and then breath in naturally (don’t worry about rhythm) through your nose and out through your nose. When you breath out through your nose count “one” to yourself. Keep doing that all the way to five and repeat. Focus on the numbers (maybe even try to picture them mentally). Soon your mind will wander, but that is good. Just keep coming back to your five count.

3. The Simple Slow Roller

(i.e. The Longest Birthday Party or The Birthday Cake) The idea here is to breathe out longer than you breathe in. Inhale through the nose and count to four or more, then exhale through your mouth for one to two seconds longer than the inhale. My favorite trick is to breathe in slowly then when you breathe out through your mouth you pretend that you are blowing out a candle on a birthday cake but so softly that it wouldn’t put out the flame – hence the Longest Birthday Party Ever

4. The Bumble Bee (i.e. The Hummer)

This one might be my favorite. I especially use this when I don’t have my massager since it produces a similar effect. First you cover your ears with your thumbs and your eyes with your fingers. You breathe in through your nose, and with your mouth closed, you breathe out slowly making a deep humming sound. You do this about five to ten times and then you take a couple deep breaths without the humming. It’s nice and peaceful. Then you just repeat as needed.

So those are my four go to breathing exercises that I do when I feel stressed or anxious or when I am having a lot of heart palpitations. Hope you find them helpful!

So what about you? Do you have any breathing exercises that you love or that you find helpful?

The short answer is yes. Dehydration can cause your heart to skip. I have found that even just a little dehydration can make my heart begin to flutter. So drinking more water and staying hydrated has helped with my heart palpitations.

I used to hate drinking water. Maybe it was the funny taste the tap water had in our town, but I would rather drink anything other than water. I guess I come by it honestly because I don’t think I’ve ever seen my 87-year-old grandfather drink anything but coffee and the occasional diet mountain dew. (It’s really quite remarkable really. I don’t know how he does it).

photo credit: dreamjay

My view on water drastically changed when I got food poisoning one night from eating at an Applebees. Fluids were exiting my body in all manner of directions (curse you, Applebees!!) and I quickly became so dehydrated that I had to be rushed to the hospital. I spent the night there hooked up to IVs that helped me overcome the severe dehydration. From then on, I tried to make it a point to always stay hydrated.

I was reminded of this again when I started having heart palpitations a few years later. Many people (myself included) experience heart palpitations even from a small amount of dehydration. I didn’t want to chance it, so I made sure to get my recommended amount of water every day (I actually tracked it each day).

The result of drinking more water was incredible.

I feel like I have more energy, I don’t get near as many headaches (or sinus infections…but that could be due to other dietary changes), and the best, and most unexpected part is that it helped my digestion.

Does Drinking More Water Help Stop Heart Palpitations?

I have seen a number of comments online from people who say that drinking more water has helped or cured their heart palpitations. I think this is for two reasons:

1. They were dehydrated and dehydration can cause heart palpations. When you become dehydrated your body is depleted of minerals that help regulate the bodies natural rhythm (sodium, magnesium, potassium, etc).
2. Water helped them with digestion of heavy foods. One of the biggest things I noticed when I started drinking more water was that my body did a better job of digesting food. I felt better too. I think a big cause of heart palpitations come from irritation of the Vagus Nerve that runs throughout your body including your stomach. Which I believe is also why eating too much can cause heart palpitations as can IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome).

So I highly recommend that do yourself a favor and drink more water. I’m not saying ONLY drink water, but definitely make it a higher priority if you don’t already. I’ve even tried mineral infused water (like Smart Water) and I really like it. I’ve tried Vitamin water too and worked it into the rotation as well, especially since it has a lot less sugar than Gatorade or other sports drinks. I really enjoy coconut water too. This one is a good one to try if you’ve never had coconut water (I prefer it to others I’ve tried).

Drinking Too Much Water at Once Can Actually Cause Heart Palpitations

Quick word of caution: I made the mistake of drinking too much water at once (I still sometimes do this unfortunately). I would gulp down a whole class of water in a couple of seconds or drink a big glass right after a meal. This actually made my heart palpitations worse. To help fight this, I bought a Nalgene Bottle (which lets me take smaller sips throughout the day wherever I’m at) and an insulated water bottle that I try to keep with me when I am working out and exercising. I use this Nalgene Bottle when I work (its sturdy and I like how it shows how much I have been drinking, plus it allows me to drink small amounts while I work rather than guzzle water during a break) and I use this insulated water bottle when I workout. I love it. If you run or cycle, I highly recommend it. It’s awesome.

So what do you think? Has drinking more water helped your heart palpitations?

It has been a crazy busy year with work, but things are slowing down. I am ready to jump back in and get back writing about managing heart palpitations. This has been my best year yet with my PVCs, so I can’t wait to fill you in on all that I have learned and experienced.

This comes at a great time for me too since my wife and I are expecting our fourth child in a few weeks (yep, we now have four boys!!). So things are about to get a little more crazy around here which means my heart palpitations generally get worse. So I need to be prepared!

“You know what it’s like having four kids? Imagine you’re drowning. And someone hands you a baby.” – Jim Gaffigan, “My Dad is Fat”

So over the next few weeks and months I will be posting about all the possible cures for heart palpitations as well as how I have been managing my heart skips. I will also try to provide some in-depth reviews on some products I find helpful and other products that I think are a scam so you don’t end up buying them like I did.

I hope y’all are doing well. I know the struggle is real and incredibly frustrating, so I hope you all are finding peace and success in your journey with heart palpitations!

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Ahhhh sleep. It seems so simple. Almost too simple. Surely just a few more minutes of sleep each night won’t cure my heart palpitations, right? Wrong. Sleep is important. I would argue that if you have heart palpitations, the first thing you should consider adjusting is your sleeping habits.

Photo Credit: WallyMC

A large percentage of heart palpitations are caused by stress and anxiety. The less you sleep, the more you are prone to become anxious.

I can’t honestly say that getting more sleep instantly cured my heart palpitations. It didn’t. But it did help…a lot. And now that my palpitations are under control, getting the right amount of sleep is essential to keeping them under control. If my palpitations start coming back, the first thing I do is try to get more sleep, and more often than not that does the trick.

Unfortunately, when I first got heart palpitations, I couldn’t sleep. The palpitations were horrible. Really horrible. Every third beat was a terrifying reminder that I may be having a heart attack. I would lie awake for hours feeling my pulse, wondering if I should go to the emergency room or not. Sleeping less only made things worse. For some strange reason, I was convinced that if I sat up in bed the palpitations weren’t as bad. So I tried to sleep sitting up as if I were in an airplane, and we all know how well people sleep on airplanes. It went from bad to comically bad. I was miserable.

My wife finally forced me to try some relaxation techniques. I did breathing exercises, listened to calming music, and bought some great fiction books to take my mind off the heart skips. I also started taking magnesium before bed and I’m glad I did. It helped me relax a little. I tried all sorts of types of magnesium (pills, powder, etc.) but the one I liked best was Triple Calm Magnesium. I would take it with a hot cup of decaf tea and read my book till I was finally ready for bed. I even bought a sleep tracker to monitor my sleep patterns and the quality of my sleep.

My wife also bought me a sunrise wake-up light, and it is awesome. To me there was nothing worse, or more stressful, than hearing the morning alarm go off. I told my wife that I wish I could just wake up to the sun every morning, so she found an alarm clock that simulated the sunrise. It’s a bit pricey, but I have used it just about every day for three years and there is no going back for me. I love it.

I also wrote down a mantra that I made myself say over and over when I began to feel anxious while trying to sleep and memorized verses of scripture. It may sound funny, but it helped.

Honestly, it didn’t happen right away, but in a few weeks, I began to sleep normally again. My habit of staying awake worrying over palpitations gave way to a new sleep routine habit. It was the first major step in managing my heart palpitations.

SIDE NOTE: I didn’t try any sleep aids. They terrify me. I’ve read too many stories about people who took Ambien and started having crazy side effects like sleep driving or hallucinations. No thanks. There are even multiple (yes, multiple) websites devoted to stories of what people did while on Ambient. Crazy. So I just stuck to more natural remedies.

So what do you think? How has sleep (or the lack of sleep) affected your palpitations? Any tips or tricks to falling asleep?

Photo Credit: Justin Visser

This is where I made a big mistake. When I first got heart palpitations, I panicked. I went to the ER where they did some basic tests and found nothing wrong. I went straight home and googled “how to cure heart palpitations.” But I had skipped a step. I was looking for a cure without knowing the cause. It was like having a broken down car and googling “how to start a car that won’t work.” There are a number of reasons a heart will palpitate. Not every situation is the same and trying each possible solution is time consuming and potentially can make matters worse. So before we go into the possible cures for heart palpitations, it’s important to understand the different causes of heart palpitations.

Generally the causes of heart palpitations can be grouped into six main categories:

For me, it was difficult to diagnose the cause of my heart palpitations. I was in denial about my anxiety and stress, and I never put much thought into what I ate or how I sat at my desk at work. So I finally narrowed it down to a few things by process of elimination.

So what about you? What do you think is the cause of your heart palpitations?