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Bodily symptoms of stress: palpitations BODILY SYMPTOMS OF STRESS: PALPITATIONS
Stress may manifest itself in a great number of different bodily symptoms. Many of these bodily symptoms have a close resemblance to the symptoms of serious organic illness. So it is natural for the individual suffering from stress symptoms to think that he may in fact have some serious, life-threatening illness, rather than the unpleasantly disagreeable, but at the same time relatively harmless, symptoms of stress. It is therefore important in our self-management of stress that we understand the physiological and psychological mechanisms which produce the symptoms. We are then better equipped to cope with the situation.
Palpitations
“The tests were all normal. That does not mean anything.
They often miss things. If you feel your heart banging away, that's evidence enough that something is wrong. Real evidence. I feel I am going to have a heart attack. I know I am. Father died of a coronary when he was forty. Life is too precious. Don't want to do that. But they don't do a thing for me. Gave me some tranquillizers! I'm sick of it. I tell you I am frightened. Who wouldn't be? It's going now. Thump. Thump. Thump. Put your hand on my chest and you can feel it. Worse if I get fussed or upset. Even coming here makes it worse. What can I do to stop a heart attack? I keep thinking that this might be the start of it coming on now.”
Palpitation, the abnormal awareness of the action of our heart, is one of the commonest bodily symptoms of stress.
When we are in good physical and mental health, we are not aware of the action of our heart except for brief periods following strenuous physical exercise. This in itself is rather remarkable, as the action of our heart involves quite considerable movement within our chest. But in normal circumstances, information about this movement is not transmitted by our nervous system to our brain with sufficient intensity to reach the threshold of consciousness.
When we are under stress, two factors may operate to produce palpitation. The over-activity of nerve cells produces anxiety. The basic physiological purpose of anxiety is to prepare us for danger. There is more adrenalin in our blood. It increases our heart action, and puts up our blood pressure so that we are better able to cope with physical danger either by fighting or running away. This, of course, is a very primitive reaction which was evolved in times past, in the early days of our race, to help cope with the physical dangers of primitive life. However, the danger that we perceive as a result of stress is not a physical danger, but a mental one for which this old, primitive, outworn reaction is quite inappropriate and no help to us at all.
The second factor in stress, which contributes to palpitation, is our increased awareness due to the over-alertness of our brain cells. As a result of this we become aware of movements of our heart in a way that would not normally come to our consciousness.
The important matter for those who suffer palpitation is to be reassured that the cause of the palpitation is nervous, and is not due to any disease of the heart itself. Those who suffer palpitation often accept this reassurance, but still feel that the frequent experience of palpitation must, in the long term, have some deleterious effect on the heart. This is not so, as the normal heart has a great capacity to increase its activity, as in strenuous exercise, without any harm coming of it.
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