A doctor has issued a stark warning that hearing your heartbeat when your head hits the pillow could mean you have ‘concerning’ health issue.
Dozing off to sleep should be a time for relaxation. Your breathing might slow down, your muscles ease up all whilst your heart rate also comes down.
Of course, hearing your heartbeat is normal and is often even seen as a good sign everything’s in working order.
For instance, you might hear your heart working away during a medical check-up or after playing sports or some other intense physical exercise.
However, medical professionals have warned some people that they might have an underlying health issue – and they are more likely to notice their heartbeat more regularly, particularly when lying down on a pillow.
Dr Anthony Youn, a physician from Detroit who is famously known for sharing his health tips on TikTok, from pressing issues like skincare to weight loss, recently shared his thoughts on the issue.
His video details the moment the ‘little person inside your pillow has the bass turned up too loud’, referring to the rhythmic thudding noise you might hear in your eardrums from your heartbeat.
He explained the phenomenon is normal, adding: “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 arteries are one of the heart’s major blood vessels and sit on either side of the neck before passing by the inside of the ears.
However, it can be a n alarming sign if you’re all too familiar with the sound.
Dr Youn told his 8.4 million followers that if you’re constantly hearing the noise, whether lying down or standing, it could indicate you have a condition known as pulsatile tinnitus.
Penn Medicine defines this condition as a variant of tinnitus, where sufferers might encounter the perception of a constant sound without an external source, like buzzing or a ringing noise.
Similarly, pulsatile tinnitus presents itself as a rhythmic sound that resembles a heartbeat and can be heard in the head, ears or both.
Although the doc stressed the condition is usually ‘benign’, there can be some concerning causes and suggested booking an appointment with your healthcare professional just in case.
That’s because the condition could be caused by high blood pressure or is a sign that your blood is flowing too quickly.
It can also be a sign of atherosclerosis, which refers to the hardening of arteries as the blood flow becomes disturbed rather than flowing smoothly.
However, hearing your heartbeat on your pillow could also be caused by other factors, like anemia, pregnancy or even tumours.
