HealthHealth Conditions

7 Reasons Why You May Get Heart Palpitations and a Headache at the Same Time (and How To Relieve Both)

Explore the causes behind heart palpitations and headache, including lifestyle factors and medical conditions, and learn when to see a doctor.

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Photo: Getty Images/Westend61
Published Apr 3, 2024

Written by 

Marygrace Taylor

A throbbing headache is never a fun time. It can creep up on you and totally derail your day, forcing you to put that growing “to-do” list to the side. Add other symptoms like heart palpitations to the mix and you may not only feel annoyed (we see you, pile of tasks) but also a little worried.

Experts in This Article

David Cutler

board-certified family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center Santa Monica, California

Laura Natbony

founder and medical director of Integrative Headache Medicine of New York in Manhattan

Mark Taub

medical director of emergency services at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center

But fear not. While heart palpitations and headaches can be caused by many different things, most of them aren’t serious, says David Cutler, MD, a board-certified family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.

Here, learn more about the link between headache and palpitations, and how to relieve a simultaneously pounding head and heart, according to doctors.

You’re stressed or anxious

Tension that’s left unchecked can affect your body in all kinds of ways. “Stress can lead to tension headaches, while anxiety may cause your heart to beat faster or irregularly,” says Dr. Cutler. At the same time, anxiety can cause symptoms like the following, per the Mayo Clinic:

  • Restlessness
  • Jitteriness
  • Sweating
  • Weakness
  • Fatigue
  • Shortness of breath
  • Dizziness
  • GI issues like nausea or diarrhea

Another clue you’re potentially dealing with anxiety is if you get a racing heart at night, or in moments where you’re not distracted.

What to do: Try adding calming activities like yoga, meditation, or journaling to your daily routine, to reduce your stress levels and lower your heart rate. You can also try incorporating exercises aimed at improving your heart rate variability, which may help with palpitations from stress.

Additionally, it may be helpful to reach out to a mental health professional for more support. Talk therapy, anti-anxiety medication, or a combination of both can help, too, per the Mayo Clinic.

“Stress can lead to tension headaches, while anxiety may cause your heart to beat faster or irregularly.” —David Cutler, MD, family medicine physician

You’re dehydrated

Not drinking enough water is a known headache trigger, but did you know it can also make your heart beat faster? When you’re dehydrated, you might also notice symptoms like fatigue, dry mouth, or darker pee than usual, per the National Library of Medicine.

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What to do: The good news is that mild dehydration is usually easy to fix. “Start by sipping water or an electrolyte drink to gently restore your levels,” says Laura Natbony, MD, founder and medical director of Integrative Headache Medicine of New York in Manhattan.

If you’ve been breaking a sweat, or have been  out in hot weather, “taking a break in a cool, shaded area can also provide relief, as can using a cool cloth on the head and neck,” she adds.

Seek emergency medical attention for signs of severe dehydration like confusion, fainting, or rapid breathing.

You’ve had too much caffeine

Overdoing it on the coffee or energy drinks can hurt your head, make your heart race, and leave you feeling jittery and tense. “Caffeine is a stimulant that affects your central nervous system. For some, it can cause the blood vessels in the brain to narrow, leading to headaches,” says Dr. Natbony. Too much caffeine can also increase your heart rate and blood pressure, resulting in palpitations, she adds.

What to do: You should start to feel better as the caffeine clears out of your system, which can take several hours, per the National Library of Medicine. In the meantime, drink some extra water—it’ll help you avoid getting dehydrated, as caffeine can dry you out.

And if caffeine is causing headache and palpitations, consider cutting back on the amount you drink. Most people can tolerate up to 400 milligrams of caffeine per day, or the amount in about 32 ounces of coffee, notes the Food & Drug Administration. (The caffeine in energy drinks can vary widely, so check the label before drinking.)

You have an infection

Having a cold or the flu leaves you feeling lousy from head to toe, so it’s not unusual to get slammed with a headache and heart palpitations, says Dr. Cutler. “Any illness that causes fever can result in a headache,” he adds. And if you end up dehydrated, that could trigger heart palpitations.

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Plus, when your internal temperature increases, so too does your heart rate, per the Cleveland Clinic.

What to do: Your game plan can include drinking plenty of fluids to make sure you stay hydrated. Taking an over-the-counter (OTC) pain reliever—like ibuprofen or acetaminophen—can help keep your temperature down and stave off a headache, too, per the Cleveland Clinic.

You’re taking certain medications

Pseudoephedrine, a common OTC decongestant used for coughs and stuffy noses, can sometimes make your heart beat faster, per the University of Iowa. While taking this medication won’t necessarily give you a headache, you might be dealing with existing head pain from your allergies or illness.

What to do: If you’re a generally healthy person and do not have any existing heart conditions, it’s okay to take decongestants as prescribed (or suggested on the label) to relieve congestion. If, however, your heart palpitations last for more 30 minutes, or if you notice symptoms like shortness of breath or lightheadedness, call your doctor. They can let you know whether it’s safe to continue taking the medicine, per the Cleveland Clinic.

You’re not sleeping well

It’s pretty normal to get a headache when you haven’t had enough sleep. Too little shut-eye can also make you stressed or tense, which can trigger symptoms like heart palpitations, per the University of Iowa.

On a greater scale, getting proper amounts of sleep is important for your heart health, and can help reduce your risk of things like heart attack and stroke down the line, per Johns Hopkins Medicine.

What to do: A pain reliever like ibuprofen or naproxen (Aleve) can help curb your headache in the short term. But in order to really feel refreshed, aim to get seven to nine hours of sleep per night, recommends the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). You can try to achieve this by:

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  • Going to bed at the same time every night
  • Establishing a relaxing bedtime routine (think: reading, journaling, stretching)
  • Creating an ideal sleep environment (i.e., making it dark, cool, and quiet in your bedroom)

You have an underlying condition

Sometimes headaches paired with heart palpitations are a sign of a more serious underlying health problem, like a thyroid disorder or anemia, says Dr. Cutler.

One particular condition that can cause both at the same time, called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), is characterized by a rapid change in blood pressure when going from sitting or lying down to standing, per the Cleveland Clinic.

Though rare, another condition that can cause both head pain and palpitations is called a cardiac headache (also known as cardiac cephalalgia), which can happen during a heart attack. Common cardiac headache symptoms include a sharp pain on one or both sides of your head, often described as “explosive” or like a “thunderclap,” according to a March 2016 review in Acta Cardiologica Sinica.

What to do: If you get headaches with heart palpitations often, let your doctor know. They can run blood work and other tests to rule out and treat any underlying conditions. Treatment for heart palpitations and headache will also depend on the condition you have. POTS, for example, is treated by drinking fluids throughout the day and adding more salt to your diet, per Johns Hopkins Medicine.

And if you think you’re having a cardiac headache (from a heart attack), call 911 and get to the nearest ER as soon as possible to be treated.

Can heart palpitations and headache be from COVID?

Any viral illness that makes you dehydrated can end up giving you heart palpitations and a headache, including COVID, says Dr. Cutler. So again, try to keep sipping those fluids when you’re sick.

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It’s also possible to continue having headaches or heart palpitations even after you’ve recovered from COVID. In that case, your symptoms might be a sign of something called long COVID, according to the Mayo Clinic. Other common symptoms include the following:

  • Fatigue
  • Shortness of breath
  • Joint or muscle pain
  • Diarrhea or stomach pain

Experts are still not exactly sure why some people get long COVID and others don’t, and they’re still learning how to best manage it. Despite this, it’s best to let your doctor know if you think you’re dealing with long COVID. They can run diagnostic tests (like a blood test, liver function test, or chest X-ray) based on your symptoms and recommend possible treatment options, according to the Mayo Clinic.

What causes heart palpitations and headaches after eating?

A headache and heart flutters after eating can happen for a few reasons. “Eating too much in one go can put strain on your body, causing a dip in blood pressure that might result in headaches and heart palpitations,” says Dr. Natbony.

For some, specific foods may also be a trigger, especially sugary foods, additives like MSG (found in fast food), and tyramine (an amino acid found in aged cheeses and cured meats), adds Dr. Natbony.

How to prevent headaches and heart palpitations

Preventing a simultaneously pounding heart and head will depend on what’s causing both in the first place. That said, here are some general tips you can try to manage headaches with heart palpitations, and feel better overall, per Dr. Natbony:

  • Stay hydrated: Your fluid needs will likely change depending on your body size, activity level, and the climate you live in. You’ll know you’re properly hydrated if your pee is clear or pale yellow, per the National Library of Medicine.
  • Pay attention to your caffeine intake: Drinking 400 milligrams or less of caffeine per day is generally okay, but pay attention to how it makes you feel. If you’re too jittery, get a headache, or have palpitations, try drinking a bit less and see if you feel better.
  • Eat a balanced diet: Staying properly nourished throughout the day can help prevent side effects like headache and heart palpitations. Get plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains. And try to “avoid large meals that can strain your system,” adds Dr. Natbony.
  • Exercise regularly: Try to be active every day, but don’t push yourself to extremes. “Intense physical activity can trigger palpitations and headaches in some people, too,” she adds.
  • Find ways to manage your stress: Deep breathing, yoga, and meditation are solid go-to’s, but try to find what works best for you, and what brings you the most relief.
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When to see a doctor

When to go to the doctor about heart palpitations and headache will depend on the duration and severity of your symptoms, and whether you’re at increased risk for heart issues.

“Healthy people without heart problems having occasional palpitations should discuss the symptoms with their primary physician. But patients with heart problems should call their cardiologist,” says Marc Taub, MD, emergency physician and medical director of emergency services at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, California.

And of course, call your doctor right away and go to the nearest ER if you feel severe symptoms like chest pain, trouble breathing, fainting, or prolonged heart palpitations that aren’t going away, adds Dr. Taub.

FAQ

Can heart palpitations cause headaches?

“Heart palpitations won’t usually make your head hurt,” says Dr. Taub. But it’s possible to have heart palpitations and then also get a headache from something unrelated. A common scenario is someone with a heart condition that causes palpitations, says Dr. Cutler. That person might take a medication like nitrogylcerin to control their heart beat, but a side effect of that medicine can be headaches.

Bottom line? One won’t necessarily cause the other, but related or unrelated factors can contribute to feeling both heart palpitations and headache at the same time.

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Why does my head hurt when my heart rate increases?

Chances are you’re dealing with an underlying issue that’s causing both symptoms. Stress, dehydration, too much caffeine, and too little sleep are common culprits. But because headaches with heart palpitations can sometimes be a sign of something serious, it’s a good idea to let your doctor know if you’re getting both regularly.

Should I go to the ER for heart palpitations?

Not necessarily. Plenty of non-serious things can make your heart feel fluttery, including stress or anxiety, so there’s no need to panic. That said, you should seek emergency medical attention if the palpitations are intense, aren’t going away, or happen with chest pain, trouble breathing, or fainting, says Dr. Taub.

—reviewed by Jennifer Logan, MD, MPH

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HealthHealth Conditions

‘It’s Amazing How It’s All Connected.’ Here’s How Trauma Can Affect Your Pelvic Floor

Trauma and your pelvic floor are connected. Here's how trauma affects your pelvic floor, according to health experts.

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Photo: Stocksy/Marija Savic
Published Feb 2, 2025

Written by 

Heather Mayer Irvine

Content warning: This story contains references to suicide and physical and emotional trauma, which may be upsetting or triggering for some readers.

Experts in This Article

Alexandra T. Milspaw

an international consultant and educator for chronic pelvic and sexual pain

Lauren Garges

a women’s clinical specialist and the director of the pelvic health rehab program at St. Lukes University Health Network

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The only thing that stopped Zoe* from taking her own life was the love she had for her two children. But the indescribable chronic pain she was experiencing was all-encompassing. And none of her doctors—nearly a dozen—knew what was wrong. Worse, perhaps, they wrote her off, condescended her, passed her around from physician to physician. “They washed their hands of me,” Zoe, now 48, tells Well+Good.

After a year of medication and doctor visits and dismissed cries for help, for what was first suspected (never confirmed) to be a urinary tract infection that morphed into excruciating pelvic pain, Zoe found herself speaking with a pelvic floor physical therapist. She was diagnosed with a hypertonic—tight, overactive—pelvic floor. Now, the healing and treatment could begin.

What is the pelvic floor?

The pelvic floor is made of important muscles and tissues that hold pelvic organs, including the bladder, bowel, and uterus. Lauren Garges, PT, DPT, a women’s clinical specialist and the director of the pelvic health rehab program at St. Lukes University Health Network, likens the pelvic floor to a hammock of muscles. And, like the muscles in your neck, legs, or back, they can be too weak or too tight. But when a person experiences trauma, acute or over an extended period of time, it can lead to pelvic floor dysfunction, explains Garges.

Pelvic floor dysfunction is an umbrella term that refers to a host of issues, including urinary incontinence, pain during intercourse, constipation, and urinary frequency and urgency, Garges says. If left untreated, pelvic floor dysfunction can lead to chronic conditions, including back and hip pain. It can be hard to diagnose at this point because the root of the problem, in the pelvic floor, presents itself in the hip and back.

How trauma can affect the pelvic floor

Not only does the pelvic floor hold numerous organs, but it’s also where the vagal nerves are rooted. These nerves are part of the autonomic nervous system, which controls digestion, heart rate, and immune system, explains Alexandra T. Milspaw, PhD, an international consultant and educator for chronic pelvic and sexual pain.

The human fight-or-flight response to stress is linked to the autonomic nervous system, which means it’s impossible for a person to experience fight-or-flight without the pelvic floor tightening, Milspaw says.

Garges, who frequently refers her physical therapy clients to mental health professionals, says that trauma is incredibly individualized and subjective. Giving birth, for example, falls into the realm of trauma.

“Birth trauma would be the physical things that need to heal—torn muscles, stitches, nerve damage,” Garges says. “Some people recover quickly, in three to six months, but for others, it can persist for much longer, and that’s when you should see someone who can treat it.” Birth trauma can also be emotional, if, say, a woman’s healthcare team didn’t listen to her wishes, or the labor and delivery were traumatic.

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Garges also treats patients who have suffered from sexual assault or abuse, and she describes vaginismus, a type of dysfunction, as a protective mechanism—the body is literally closing itself off. (This can happen after other forms of trauma, too.)

But not all trauma, Garges explains, has to be physical for the pelvic floor to experience distress. “Emotional trauma presents physically in the body, tightness in the muscles,” she says, reiterating that the pelvic floor is made up of muscles. Someone who’s stressed or anxious might have tension in their shoulders and neck, others in their pelvic floor muscles.

Physical tension and stress create a cycle of inflammation that isn’t typically visible on imaging or through bloodwork, Milspaw says, which can make diagnosing these complaints and concerns incredibly challenging. “Anxiety or stress or a head injury can lead to a tight pelvic floor, which can cause [gastrointestinal] upset, which creates inflammation, which can be felt in the brain, and then we’re trapped in this cycle until we can turn off the switch at both ends at the same time,” Milspaw explains.

Eventually, Zoe started working with a pelvic floor physical therapist, who told her, “Your brain has learned this pattern [of pain],” Zoe recalls. “It goes far beyond the acute symptoms, which have resolved. Now your neurons are remembering this pain pattern.”

So in addition to pelvic floor physical therapy, which includes manual therapy, exercises, and breathing techniques, Zoe started seeing Milspaw for counseling. She says although she was surprised at the connection between mental health and pelvic floor dysfunction, “ultimately it made sense. If your nervous system is in constant fight-or-flight mode, it’s bound to have physical effects.”

What happens if trauma goes unchecked

The body is designed to protect itself, sometimes at all costs. This became apparent to Dianna B., 55, when she found herself begrudgingly speaking to a therapist at the request of her husband who was seeing a sex therapist. The couple, who had four children, had stopped having sex when Dianna was 43 and her sister was diagnosed with breast cancer.

On top of that, Dianna had a traumatic second birth, one that required 75 internal stitches. For years, she experienced unidentified pain near her where her stitches had been and bathroom accidents—bowel movement and incontinence. She was sure she had an anal fissure (tests showed she didn’t). “I sat there crossing my arms, saying, ‘I don’t have a mental health issue. I have a physical issue,” Dianna recalls.

Eventually, Dianna started to open up. She recalled being held down by her legs when she was 10 years old while doctors took bone marrow from her hips to give to her older sister who had leukemia. “She was going to die unless she got a bone marrow transplant,” Dianna tells Well+Good. “I was her donor.”

These repressed memories, Dianna says, came flooding back during therapy, and she started to see the correlation: She held trauma in her legs from her childhood and was retraumatized during her second delivery as an adult. “It’s amazing how it’s all connected.”

Milspaw, who has been working with Dianna for years, explains that if a person experiences intense stress, anxiety, or depression for a period of just 10 days, the hardware of the brain starts to change. For example, a 2021 study1 published in Translational Psychiatry, found that trauma exposure during childhood could contribute to structural changes in the developing brain. “It can shrink and deteriorate,” Milspaw says. “This hardware is specifically related to emotional regulation, memory, executive function, and communication.”

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Milspaw says this trauma is cumulative, that “the body keeps score.” She explains that people assume if there is pelvic or sexual pain, it has to be related to sex-related trauma, but that’s just not true. “People forget the nervous system is one whole system,” she says. “The pelvis is the center of the wheel.”

“People forget the nervous system is one whole system. The pelvis is the center of the wheel.” —Alexandra T. Milspaw, PhD

What to do if you have trauma that’s affected your pelvic floor

Once people know where to turn, trauma to your pelvic floor is treatable. But there are more than a few barriers to treatment, Milspaw says. “People don’t want to touch pelvic pain with a 10-foot pole,” she says. “There is a lot going on in the pelvis, and no one wants to be responsible for it.” The example she gives is the reality Zoe faced: See a gynecologist who sends you to a urologist, who passes you to a gastroenterologist, who kicks you back to a urologist.

Part of this problem, Milspaw says, is that most healthcare professionals are not trained in pelvic health. Another part of the problem is the taboo around sexual health and pelvic pain. People, especially women, do not want to discuss their concerns—Zoe and Dianna are examples of how even when they did try to seek help, they were treated like petulant children with no obvious illness or problem. “The shame piece is huge,” Milspaw says. “You can’t talk about how your vagina hurts as easily as you can talk about how your head hurts.”

Some women think what they’re experiencing is normal because they don’t know anything else. Milspaw gives an example of a high school girl who had incredibly heavy periods—soaking through five pads an hour. She was told, “It’s your period. Get over it.”

Savannah T., 25, suspected what she was experiencing was not normal. She was diagnosed with endometriosis in her late teens and has been through a pharmacy full of medications to manage her symptoms, including debilitating pain. Savannah, a nurse, slipped into a deep depression in 2021 because of her worsening health and working in the COVID-19 intensive care unit. She had to take a leave of absence.

She searched for a pelvic floor physical therapist—something not many people know to do. “My pelvic floor physical therapist educated me on what the floor is and what it does. She validated all of the symptoms I was having,” Savannah tells Well+Good.

Pelvic floor physical therapists provide treatment that can be a mix of exercises, stretches, breathing techniques, and manual tissue release. “When it comes to manual therapy, we have to be mindful of that trauma and maintain an alliance with the patient,” Garges says, noting that a physical therapist will follow a patient’s lead, and hands-on work might not happen for weeks or months.

Garges will prescribe yoga stretches that focus on the lower back to relieve tension, and pelvic exercises like lunges, squats, and hip work. Garges and Milspaw guide their patients through breathing techniques as well.

Milspaw teaches her clients a variety of tools, including emotional freedom techniques—a type of tapping that can assist with anxiety relief—bilateral stimulation music2 to help balance brain activity between the two hemispheres, and pendulation, which can help regulate the nervous system by alternating, or pendulating, between feelings of safety and discomfort.

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Once Milspaw establishes balance and a feeling of safety in her clients, then more traditional forms of therapy, including talk therapy, she says, are more effective.

Savannah didn’t realize how much her depression, stress, and anxiety connected straight to her pelvic floor. Whenever she had feelings of distress, they could be directly correlated to an increase in her pelvic symptoms. “With the combination of pelvic floor physical therapy and working with Dr. Milspaw, I’ve seen a huge difference,” Savannah says. She still takes medications for her endometriosis, but she knows what her life looks like without her physical and mental therapies. It’s dark.

There are brighter days ahead for Savannah, Zoe, and Dianna. They encourage others to advocate for themselves, even if a doctor—or doctors—is dismissive. They knew something wasn’t right and wouldn’t quit until someone took them seriously. “It’s been a journey,” Zoe says. “I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve rebuilt myself from the ground up, from the floor up.”

Dianna, who resented her husband for insisting she see a therapist because they weren’t having sex, now says it was the best gift he could have given her. They’re not quite on the same page yet, but Dianna says there’s hope. “That’s what I’m striving for.”

*Names have been changed, where indicated, to protect privacy.

  1. Jeong, H.J., Durham, E.L., Moore, T.M. et al. The association between latent trauma and brain structure in children. Transl Psychiatry 11, 240 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01357-z

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  2. Amano T, Toichi M. The Role of Alternating Bilateral Stimulation in Establishing Positive Cognition in EMDR Therapy: A Multi-Channel Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study. PLoS One. 2016 Oct 12;11(10):e0162735. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0162735. PMID: 27732592; PMCID: PMC5061320.

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