Question: I'm a 68 year old female in good health, but suffer a lot if anxiety. Two weeks ago I had a stress/ echo done that came back completely normal.
Now I've noticed a slow heart beat when resting. Usually my heart rate is around 70 or 80. Last night it was 52 when I went to bed. It scared me so bad that I didn't sleep even when I got up and walked around, it only went to 58.. This morning it's back to 70 again. But I'm terribly worried. I gave caught slow heart beats like that in the past. I don't take any medications, so it's not that. Should I be concerned? As I said, my stress/echo was normal 2 weeks ago.
Thank you for any reassurance you can give me. I'm worried.

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it so much. What do you mean by incorrect evaluation? Does that mean my stress test could have been evaluated incorrectly? Please explain for me.
I have noticed slow heart beats in the past ---- always at the time I go to bed and when I'm completely relaxed.
The reason for my stress/echo was because of skipped heart beats, but the test came back normal, so the doctor said they are benign.

I recently started doing deep breathing exercises in the mornings. I've always been anxious but have become worse after my husband passed away 4 years ago. But I think I'm slowly improving again.

I'm just so concerned about the slow heart rate that I had last night, because it usually doesn't run that low. I wouldn't have known it if I hadn't checked my blood pressure, which also reads my heart rate.

Please tell me about what you mean by possible incorrect evaluation. I hate to think that my stress/echo was interpreted wrong. Thank you so much for your help.

I'm sorry that I misinterpreted your answer. But no problem. It was totally my fault.

My stress/echo test was evaluated by a cardiologist, in whom I have complete trust. He was unaware of my slow heart beat though, because it wasn't a problem for me at the time. It just popped up here in the past day. But if you tell me that 52 is normal, I'll believe it and try to put it out of my mind. I was going to call the cardiologist tomorrow, but I guess there's no reason to do that now.

I'll definitely keep doing my deep breathing exercises. I believe that they really do help with overall feelings of anxiety. I've been on a low dose valium for years and years for sleep, but my doctor wants me to stop taking it and focus on meditation and deep breathing, so I'm tapering. I have it down to 1 mg a day now. I believe I could probably just stop at this point.

Thank you so much for all of your help and patience. I feel relieved that you tell me 52 is normal.