It starts in the throat. Or maybe the chest. For me, it’s usually a sudden, electric flutter that feels like my heart is trying to win a race it wasn't invited to. You know the feeling. You’re sitting there, maybe just scrolling on your phone or finishing a cup of coffee, and suddenly—thump. Thump-thump-thump. It’s fast. It’s loud. It feels dangerous.
I can feel my heart racing mistakes i've been making have honestly become a bit of a pattern for me, and if you’re reading this, they’re probably a pattern for you too.
We live in a world where we’re constantly told to "listen to our bodies." But what happens when your body is a liar? Or at least, what happens when your body is screaming "emergency" while you’re just trying to watch a documentary about mushrooms on Netflix? Most of us react in ways that actually make the palpitations worse. We feed the beast. We turn a minor physiological blip into a full-blown afternoon of panic.
The "Check and Re-Check" Trap
The first mistake is the most seductive one: the constant monitoring.
I used to be obsessed with my smartwatch. Every time I felt that flutter, I’d tap the screen. 95 bpm. 105 bpm. 118 bpm. I’d watch the little line graph move, and my brain would interpret that rising number as a countdown to a medical event.
The problem is a feedback loop. When you check your heart rate because you're worried, the act of checking increases your adrenaline. Adrenaline, by its very nature, makes your heart beat faster. So you see a high number, you get scared, your heart beats faster, you check again, and—well, you see where this goes. Dr. Martin Seif, a clinical psychologist who specializes in anxiety, often talks about how "checking behaviors" are actually fuel for the fire. You think you're gathering data to calm yourself down, but you're actually just teaching your brain that your heartbeat is a threat that needs constant surveillance.
Stop touching your pulse. Seriously. It’s the hardest thing to do, but it’s the only way to break the cycle.
Mistaking Palpitations for Pathology
We need to talk about what heart palpitations actually are. Most of the time, that "racing" feeling is just Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVCs) or Premature Atrial Contractions (PACs). They feel like a skipped beat or a hard thud.
I spent months convinced I had a structural heart defect. I’d lie awake wondering if my mitral valve was leaking. But here’s the reality: almost everyone has these. According to the Mayo Clinic, PVCs are extremely common and usually harmless in people with otherwise healthy hearts.
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The mistake I was making was assuming that "intensity" equals "danger." It doesn't. A heart can beat very fast for a very long time—think about a marathon runner—without sustaining damage. The heart is a rugged muscle. It’s not a fragile glass ornament. When I feel my heart racing, I have to remind myself that my heart is just doing its job, albeit a bit too enthusiastically because of some stray cortisol.
The Caffeine and Cortisol Collision
I’m a hypocrite. I tell people to manage their stress while I’m on my third espresso before noon.
If you’re wondering why you feel like you’re vibrating, look at your intake. But it’s not just coffee. It’s the "hidden" stimulants. I was taking a decongestant for my seasonal allergies that contained pseudoephedrine. I didn’t realize that pseudoephedrine is basically liquid "heart-racing-juice" for people prone to anxiety.
I was also skipping breakfast. When your blood sugar drops, your body releases—you guessed it—adrenaline to help mobilize stored glucose. So, I was caffeinated, decongested, and fasted. My heart wasn’t racing because I was dying; it was racing because I had chemically and biologically forced it to.
Things I’ve Changed Recently:
- Swapping the second cup of coffee for herbal tea. It sucks for the first three days, then it’s fine.
- Checking my supplements. Some "pre-workout" powders are basically heart palpitations in a plastic tub.
- Eating a high-protein snack in the afternoon to avoid that 4:00 PM "blood sugar crash" panic.
Catastrophizing the "Why"
When the racing starts, the "Mistakes I've Been Making" usually involve the narrative I tell myself.
"My grandfather had a heart condition."
"I’ve been feeling stressed lately, maybe this is a stroke."
"What if I faint right here in the grocery store?"
This is catastrophizing. You take a physical sensation (A) and jump straight to the worst possible outcome (Z). You bypass B through Y entirely.
The physical sensation of a racing heart is often just a "misfire" of the autonomic nervous system. It’s your "fight or flight" response turning on when there’s no tiger to fight and nowhere to fly. When I feel it now, I try to name it. "Oh, that’s my sympathetic nervous system being weird again." By labeling it as a systemic glitch rather than a terminal illness, you take the power away from the sensation.
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The "Hold Your Breath" Error
When people panic, they tend to do one of two things: hyperventilate or hold their breath.
I was a breath-holder. I’d feel the flutter, get stiff as a board, and subconsciously stop breathing properly. This messes with your CO2 levels, which—ironically—makes you feel dizzy and lightheaded.
Then comes the "big breath" mistake. You try to take a massive gulp of air to "calm down." But if you take too many big gulps of air without exhaling fully, you end up with too much oxygen and not enough carbon dioxide (hypocapnia). This causes tingling in your hands and feet, which makes you think you're having a stroke, which makes your heart race faster.
The fix is actually the opposite of what you want to do. You need to exhale. Long, slow exhales. Longer than the inhale. This stimulates the vagus nerve, which acts like a brake pedal for your heart.
Living in the "What If" instead of the "What Is"
The biggest mistake I’ve been making is treating my heart like a problem to be solved rather than a part of me to be lived with.
Anxiety is a paradox. The more you fight the feeling of your heart racing, the more it stays. It’s like trying to get a beach ball to stay underwater. You push it down, and it just pops back up with more force.
Acceptance sounds "woo-woo," but it’s actually a clinical strategy called ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). It’s about saying, "Okay, my heart is racing. It feels uncomfortable. I don’t like it. But I can still walk to the mailbox. I can still finish this email."
Once you stop making it the center of your universe, the brain eventually gets bored of sending the signal. The "alarm" stops ringing because you stopped acting like the building was on fire.
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When to Actually Worry (Nuance Matters)
I am not a doctor. I am a writer who has spent way too much time in cardiologists' offices being told I’m fine.
While most palpitations are benign, there are times when you shouldn't just "breathe through it."
If your heart racing is accompanied by:
- Fainting or actually losing consciousness (not just feeling "lightheaded").
- Crushing chest pain that feels like an elephant is sitting on you.
- Sudden, extreme shortness of breath that doesn't improve when you sit down.
Then yeah, go to the ER. Get the EKG. But if you’ve had the EKG, and the doctor said you’re fine, and you’re still Googling "i can feel my heart racing mistakes i've been making," then the problem isn't your heart. It's your relationship with your heart.
Actionable Steps for the Next Time It Happens
Next time you feel that flutter, don't do what I did for years. Don't run to the bathroom to check your reflection. Don't Google your symptoms.
Instead, try this:
- The Ice Water Trick: Splash freezing cold water on your face or hold an ice cube. This triggers the "mammalian dive reflex," which naturally slows the heart rate. It’s like a hard reset for your nervous system.
- The 4-7-8 Breath: Inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale for 8. The long exhale is the "secret sauce" here.
- Acknowledge the Mistake: Literally say out loud, "I am currently making the mistake of monitoring my heart too closely. I am safe."
- Move Your Body: If your heart is racing because of adrenaline, give that adrenaline something to do. Go for a brisk walk. Do ten squats. Burn the fuel that your body just dumped into your system.
- Get a Workup (Once): If you haven't seen a doctor, go once. Get the blood work to check your thyroid and iron levels (anemia can cause a racing heart). Get the EKG. If they say you're healthy, believe them. Write it down on a post-it note if you have to.
The goal isn't to never feel your heart race again. That’s impossible; hearts are reactive organs. The goal is to feel it race and not care. When you stop caring, the racing stops happening so often. It’s a weird, annoying, beautiful irony.
Stop checking the watch. Put the phone down. Take a long, slow breath out. You're still here. Your heart is still beating. That’s actually a good thing.
Immediate Next Steps:
- Audit your stimulants: For the next 48 hours, cut out caffeine and see if the "baseline" frequency of your palpitations drops.
- The "No-Touch" Rule: Commit to one full day of not checking your pulse or your smartwatch heart rate app. Observe the anxiety that arises from not checking, and let it pass without acting on it.
- Magnesium and Hydration: Many palpitations are exacerbated by dehydration or magnesium deficiency. Drink a full glass of water with an electrolyte tab and see if the physical "thud" sensations diminish.