I’ve written on the topic of stress and just how bad it is for you, including for your heart. I’ve also written a little bit about resting heartrate, but I really haven’t written specifically about stress and heartrate. Well, here goes.
When I was on Christmas vacation, completely (and I do mean completely) stress free, my resting heartrate was in the very low 60s. When I had a blood pressure test a week later, the sphygmomanometer gave my heartrate at 59.
Well, the last few days, my wife and I have had a fairly big decision hanging over our heads. Nothing earth shattering, but a decision that will have an effect on many aspects of our lives, so thinking through the pro and cons, and the potential effects and problems, has been a little stressful.
And my resting heartrate has been 66 – 69. Even doing breathing exercises to bring it down would only drop it to 64 – 65. Then this morning I got a piece of information that greatly eases the decision, and by doing so greatly reduces the stress of it all.
And after I got that piece of information I watched my heartrate drop, in real time, to 59.
And every time I’ve checked it since (while sitting down) it’s been between 59 and 62.
Stress. It sucks the life right out of you. So do something about it.
