Listening to Your Heartbeat

Have you ever been lying in bed, minding your own business, when suddenly, your heartbeat seems to be auditioning for a live performance inside your pillow? Don’t fret; it’s pretty common! This tick-a-tack orchestra is simply your body reminding you that it’s working just fine, especially after a workout or during a check-up.

But if your heart decides to host nightly concerts, it might be time to sit up and take notice.

What the Doctor Says

Enter Dr. Anthony Youn, that physician from Detroit who somehow made health tips the hottest thing on TikTok. In one of his viral videos, he compares hearing your heartbeat on your pillow to “a little person inside your pillow with the bass turned up too loud.” Quite an image, isn’t it?

Dr. Youn reassures us that hearing your heartbeat occasionally isn’t usually cause for worry. He says, “If, every once in a while, you’re laying on your side and you hear your heart beating, it’s most likely your carotid artery basically sitting against your pillow.” These carotid arteries are those crucial highways running down each side of your neck and sometimes send signal flares to your eardrums.

When to Be Concerned

But let’s not get too cozy. If this beat is persistent and follows you when sitting or standing, we might have something called pulsatile tinnitus on our hands.

Pulsatile tinnitus is like having your own private drumline. It manifests as a continuous sound such as buzzing or even a rhythmic heartbeat when there’s absolutely nothing external going on. Cue the eerie music.

Dr. Youn says that while this condition is generally “benign,” it’s wise to visit your healthcare provider just to make sure nothing’s up.

Possible Underlying Causes

Your heartbeat might just be trying to send you a memo! Reasons behind this condition can range from that monster we call high blood pressure to rapid blood flow.

Other culprits include atherosclerosis, which could mean your arteries are hardening and disrupting the blood flow.

And let’s not overlook possibilities like anemia, pregnancy, or even tumors knocking on the door.

Anyway, ignoring symptoms or persistent changes can turn innocent beats into something worthy of a medical investigation. So don’t put those beats on hold.

Why Listening to Your Body Matters

Time to get cozy with your body because listening to it could save you a trip or two to the ER. While most of these heartbeat serenades are harmless, keeping your ears sharp for these changes can lead to timely detection and treatment of any sneaky health gremlins.

If your heart wants to be more than just the low-key background music of your life, listen up. A little appointment here and there with your healthcare provider could do wonders.

In the end, your body has its way of talking to you, sometimes a whisper, sometimes a drumbeat, but it’s always worth listening to its rhythms and rhymes.