How can I stop worrying about my health? 5 expert tips

What’s on this page

• Have you got health anxiety or cardiac anxiety?
• Why worrying about your health isn't always helpful
• 5 expert tips for managing your health worries
• 4 signs it might be time to get help
• Susan's story: "How I manage anxiety after my heart attack"

Whether you’ve had a heart attack, surgery or been diagnosed with a heart condition, it’s normal to feel more concerned about your health. But sometimes, this can get in the way of living your life.

Why worrying about your health isn't always helpful

Dr Katie Murray, a psychologist at Imperial College NHS Trust in London, explains that health anxiety and cardiac anxiety can sometimes lead to 'catastrophic thinking'. This is when your mind jumps to the worst-case scenario.

“Someone might notice that their heart rate has increased slightly after walking up a hill or feel a little breathless and immediately think that they’re having another cardiac event,” explains Dr Murray.

Your heart may race, or you feel breathless or sweaty

Dr Vicky McKechnie

Her colleague, Dr Vicky McKechnie adds: “Confusingly, some symptoms of feeling anxious (such as noticing your heart racing, feeling breathless, being sweaty) can feel similar to symptoms experienced during a cardiac event, like a heart attack.”

Because of this, anxiety can lead to something called 'avoidance behaviour'. Dr Kelly Buttigieg, also a psychologist at Imperial, explains: “People can fear that normal physical activities might trigger another cardiac event, and so they might avoid exercise that can actually help improve their health.”

5 expert tips for managing your health worries

1. Talk to your doctor or nurse

If this sounds familiar, speak to your cardiac rehab specialist or GP. They can help you to understand whether symptoms you’re experiencing are due to a heart problem, and how to manage them. You can also ask your team for guidance on which activities are safe for you, tell you how regularly you should monitor your health, and point out reliable sources of information.

If you get invited to cardiac rehab, don’t miss the opportunity. It can be a helpful place to talk to someone about your recovery and get support to get back to exercise and your normal life.

• Get more information about cardiac rehabilitation
• Find out which 3 activities are best for heart health

2. Set a 'worry time'

If difficult thoughts pop up regularly, it can help to write them down.

“Whether in a diary or on your phone, record your worries as they come up. You might wish to set aside a particular time of the day or the week, it could be just 20 minutes, to sit down with these thoughts,” says Dr Buttigieg.

Is there a more helpful or realistic way that I can think about this?

Dr Kelly Buttigieg

“In a calmer moment, you might think, ‘Is there a more helpful or realistic way that I can think about this?’” explains Dr Buttigieg. “For example, someone might worry about sensations in their chest. Then they gently challenge this by reminding themselves of advice provided by their doctor and have a more balanced thought: ‘My latest medical tests show no new problems and my cardiologist suggested I’m likely to be feeling these sensations because I’m worried.’”

• Read more about how writing can help during your recovery

3. Practice relaxation or mindfulness

Dr Buttigieg has seen how practising relaxation techniques has helped her clients to feel less anxious. She recommends techniques including:

• diaphragmatic breathing, also known as deep or belly breathing
• progressive muscle relaxation (where you tense and relax muscles while breathing in and out)
• practising mindfulness or meditation, such as our six-minute guided mediation 

4. Make goals easy to achieve

“If you’re working to overcome anxiety, you might need to do things that make you feel a little anxious, in order to overcome it. But it’s counterproductive to force yourself to do things that make you very anxious,” says Dr McKechnie.

Sharing goals with loved ones can help

“Say someone is too nervous to walk far, even though their health professional has told them they are okay to do so. They could start by saying, ‘I’m going to walk 300 metres up and down the road; I’ll take my phone with me and tell someone where I am. I’ll do that for a few days, until I feel confident, then gradually increase the distance.’”

Dr Murray adds: “Sharing goals with loved ones can help. Support groups where you can talk with people in a similar situation can help you see that others share similar worries.”

• Find a BHF support group or ask your doctor or nurse if they can suggest a support group

5. Get reliable health information - but don't overdo it

When you’re worried about your health, it can be natural to look for reassurance. Getting health information from reliable sources can help reduce your anxiety. But if we continually look for reassurance this can cause problems.

Constantly looking for reassurance can cause problems

“This might mean constantly looking up information on the internet, checking your pulse 20 times before leaving the house, or asking for another echocardiogram when there’s no medical reason to,” explains Dr Buttigieg.

When there is a genuine need to seek health information, it’s best to stick to trustworthy sources. For reliable information about a heart or circulatory condition, visit our pages on heart conditions, tests and treatments.

Sometimes people also worry about their blood pressure, cholesterol levels, or other factors which are known to affect heart and circulatory health. While it can help to understand and reduce your risk, it may not be helpful to overthink them. Ultimately, one of the best ways to protect your heart is to make healthy and sustainable lifestyle changes over the long term.

4 signs it might be time to get help

It’s natural to feel some anxiety or be worried after a cardiac event, surgery, or diagnosis. But it may be a good idea to speak to a professional if your worries are:

• preventing your return to normal life, even several months after your heart event (for example, you’re afraid to leave the house or go back to work)
• regularly keeping you awake at night
• making you spend a lot of time thinking about your condition or seeking reassurance about it
• very out of proportion to what your medical experts say (for example, if you find yourself going to A&E very often and each time you’re told that you don’t have any heart problems).

You can ask your GP for a referral for psychological therapy, or, if you live in England, you can refer yourself through NHS talking therapies. You may be offered talking therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The charities Mind and Anxiety UK also have free, confidential helplines you can speak to for extra support.

Susan's story: "How I manage anxiety after my heart attack"

Susan Bass, 66, had a heart attack at her home in London in October 2019. She was taken by ambulance to hospital, where she had seven stents fitted. After leaving the hospital, she’s had to find ways to feel less anxious about leaving the house alone and returning to work and exercise. 

“I’d always been a confident person but when I came home from hospital, I was so frightened. I would panic that I was having another heart attack every time I got hiccups, got out of breath, or had indigestion.

"When I had my heart attack, I didn’t realise what was happening at first and had thought it was just indigestion. I was scared to go out alone and made my husband come everywhere with me.

"I work as a front of house manager at Wembley Arena. When I went back to work after six weeks I panicked that the security metal detector arches would do something to my stents, and I worried that returning to exercise might dislodge the stents. Obviously, that couldn’t happen, but I was having these ridiculous thoughts.

I told one of the psychologists that I was struggling. I found talking to her helpful.

Susan Bass

"At cardiac rehab, I told one of the psychologists that I was struggling. I found talking to her helpful.

"I’ve found ways to calm down when I start thinking about worst-case scenarios. I distract myself by dancing around my kitchen, or concentrating on mind puzzles. Guided breathing exercises also help. I use my Fitbit watch, but there are phone apps you can use too. It guides me to breathe in to the count of four, hold my breath for four, and out for four. That’s something I can do anywhere.

"For months I would wake at four in the morning – the time I had my heart attack. I started writing down the thoughts that were upsetting me when I woke up and it made me feel better. Now I write the things I want to do instead – things that motivate me to get on with my life.

I started writing down the thoughts that were upsetting me when I woke up and it made me feel better

Susan Bass

"Things are moving in the right direction. I’m able to go out by myself if I tell someone where I’ll be. I’ve gone back to doing my Zumba class a few times a week, which I love. I still get anxious, but I’ve learned ways of dealing with it. The fear will probably always be there, but I’m not letting it define who I am."

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