Hyperfocus and heartrate

[Grondhammar]

In my early 20s I went to my GP and told her that I consistently had a 35-45 bpm heartbeat that would lead to heart palpitations. Instead of an eyeroll, she responded by asking and listening. We determined that I was experiencing this at times when I was very focussed on some activity. It didn't matter what it was... walking and pondering something, chopping wood (and again, pondering something), cooking, typing, reading.

Over years of self-observation, I came to realise that, at those very focussed times, it was like my body just forgot to breathe. I'd notice that my breathing had stopped, and almost like I was observing myself would wait and suddenly my body would decide "time to breathe!" and my heart would jump back to 65-70 bpm -- thus the palpitations.

I've learned to manage this by applying meditation techniques and body awareness. But it still surprises me sometimes.

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[Jumpinbare]

I have Central Sleep Apnea, where my nervous system goofs off and doesn't tell me to breathe when I'm sleeping. But I have also observed times (focused on something, as you said), where I realize I haven't been breathing because of the sudden intense need to do so. Maybe there's only so much bandwidth, and silly things like breathing get out-prioritied by more interesting stuff.

 

[Outdated]

I always had low blood pressure and a slower heart rate than most.

When I was 19 I had an extended stay in a hospital to have a growth removed from my chest, and in there the nurses got all excited about my sleep patterns and they called in a specialist to study me. They said that what I do is much closer to hibernation than what most people think of as normal sleep. My heart rate slows, my blood pressure drops and my body temperature drops.

I've always been a very heavy sleeper and rarely remember having any dreams.

 

[Tired]

I always had low blood pressure and a slower heart rate than most.

When I was 19 I had an extended stay in a hospital to have a growth removed from my chest, and in there the nurses got all excited about my sleep patterns and they called in a specialist to study me. They said that what I do is much closer to hibernation than what most people think of as normal sleep. My heart rate slows, my blood pressure drops and my body temperature drops.

I've always been a very heavy sleeper and rarely remember having any dreams.

Sir, you are a bear.

 

[Outdated]

Sir, you are a bear.

Many years ago on a freezing cold winter's night the girl I was living with had pulled more and more of the covers over herself in her sleep. Eventually she fed the entire lot over herself and on to the floor next to the bed.

All of a sudden having no cover at all woke her up. She said at first she was blaming me for stealing it all but she got scared when she reached across me looking for where it all was. She said my body was really cold to touch. Then she turned the bed side lamp on to see what was going on and she said my whole body had gone blue in the cold. That freaked her out, she thought she'd killed me, and it made it worse when it took a long time to wake me up.

From my point of view, I had just been woken up in the middle of the night for no reason I could fathom and I wasn't too happy about it.

I know from experience that when my body thinks it needs help it wakes me up again, I'm quite sensitive to shifts in weather and a big change will wake me up straight away every time.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Background: The sympathetic nervous system is excitatory and the parasympathetic nervous system is inhibitory.

Hyper-focus, especially when the mind enters the "flow state"...where the mind looses its sense of self-awareness and time. It down-regulates the sympathetic and up-regulates the parasympathetic. A similar phenomenon occurs during deep states of meditation.

Given that many of us may have varying degrees of anxiety, which up-regulates the sympathetic system, leading to higher heart rates, constriction of the blood vessels leading to increased blood pressure, increased blood sugar and insulin...if left unchecked over the long-term can lead to adverse health conditions. For the autistic and/or anyone with an underlying anxiety condition, finding time for activities that lead to these hyper-focus or "flow states"...clearing the mind of any external worries or concerns...may be beneficial.

Low heart rates, in and of themselves, are not a health risk provided there isn't a critically low blood pressure and circulatory issues that effect organ function. Highly-trained endurance athletes often have heart rates in the 40s-50s at rest...as well as low resting respiratory rates.

 

[Grondhammar]

Background: The sympathetic nervous system is excitatory and the parasympathetic nervous system is inhibitory.

Hyper-focus, especially when the mind enters the "flow state"...where the mind looses its sense of self-awareness and time. It down-regulates the sympathetic and up-regulates the parasympathetic. A similar phenomenon occurs during deep states of meditation.

Given that many of us may have varying degrees of anxiety, which up-regulates the sympathetic system, leading to higher heart rates, constriction of the blood vessels leading to increased blood pressure, increased blood sugar and insulin...if left unchecked over the long-term can lead to adverse health conditions. For the autistic and/or anyone with an underlying anxiety condition, finding time for activities that lead to these hyper-focus or "flow states"...clearing the mind of any external worries or concerns...may be beneficial.

Low heart rates, in and of themselves, are not a health risk provided there isn't a critically low blood pressure and circulatory issues that effect organ function. Highly-trained endurance athletes often have heart rates in the 40s-50s at rest...as well as low resting respiratory rates.

Having woken up a couple of hours ago with my oft-experienced intense desire to hide in bed for the rest of my life, the tie-in with anxiety is way more than interesting. I wonder if a super-slow heart rate is my body trying to be kind to me and even out the times when I'm experiencing the opposite. That's a nice thought. Thank you.

And thanks @Outdated for sharing your experiences. That statement "when my body thinks it needs help it wakes me up again" was a perspective-shifter for me.

I'm going to work on being aware of (and grateful for) times my body does things on its own that it finds helpful.

 

[Outdated]

I'm going to work on being aware of (and grateful for) times my body does things on its own that it finds helpful.

I call it Hind Mind, the bit that watches over me when I sleep. One time I stayed overnight on a remote property with my brother and his daughter, during the night his dog chased a possum in to the house and cornered it in the room where I was sleeping. My brother and his daughter were both in there too trying to drag the dog away and rescue the possum. I slept through it, never heard a thing, had no idea any of that had happened.

Another time I was sound asleep and the tiny little click sound of the latch on my front door woke me instantly, I had forgotten to lock it. There was no wondering about it, I knew what the sound was and I was on my feet and moving to intercept before I'd even really woken up. Slammed in to the intruder so hard he bounced straight back out the door, which I promptly shut and locked. Then I went back to bed and just as I was drifting back off to sleep I realised it was someone I knew, a sort of friend. All of that had happened automatically without any real conscious input from me, Hind Mind did it.