Worrying reason you might be hearing your heartbeat when you put your head on a pillow

If you're going to sleep and lay your restful head down on the pillow, one of the last things you want to be hearing is your heartbeat.

Of course, it's good if it's still there, as you don't want that night's sleep to be your last, but there might be a concerning reason why you're hearing your own heartbeat when your ear is pressed against the pillow.

Dr Anthony Youn once explained that if you hear this every once in a while, then it's probably your carotid artery and this was pretty normal, with it being the blood supply for your brain, face and neck.

However, if you were always hearing it, then he warned that it might be something called 'pulsatile tinnitus', which is a rhythmic noise which can be heard in the head or ears which pulses at the same rate as a heartbeat.

Tinnitus is typically hearing noises in your ear, such as a steady ringing or buzzing sound, with the sound able to come and go, as well as change in volume between bouts.

Pulsatile tinnitus can be annoying, but it's the reason it's happening you need to investigate (Getty Stock Images)

Pulsatile tinnitus is a little different, as tinnitus.org explains it's more of a rhythmic sound, and it can be identified by trying to feel your pulse and seeing if it matches the sound in your ears.

If the noise is in time with your pulse, then it could be pulsatile tinnitus, and it is easier for doctors to find a cause for the condition.

Generally, it occurs because of a change in the blood flow in the vessels near your ear, and there are all sorts of reasons why blood flow might change, such as having done strenuous exercise, having an overactive thyroid gland or having an irregular flow due to a hardening of the arteries.

There are also people whose stapedial artery is still open after birth, causing them to hear noise in their ear, and it can also be a sign of tumours in the head or neck, which have caused abnormal blood vessels to develop.

Other things may be the cause of pulsatile tinnitus, and anyone can get it, though it's most often young and middle-aged women.

Some of the causes of pulsatile tinnitus are benign, but it's worth getting it checked out (Getty Stock Images)

The causes of pulsatile tinnitus can often be treated, though there are certain cases, such as being caused by particular blood vessels that are untreatable, which sadly cannot be dealt with.

Sound therapy, relaxation therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), counselling, mindfulness meditation, or Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) are all possibilities for treatment as well.

Doctors will typically use CT scans and MRI scans to get a better picture of what's going on inside your head as they seek the root cause of the tinnitus.

In cases such as anaemia or the thyroid gland, blood tests might be used.

The sound itself might be an annoyance, but the thing that really needs to be looked at is the reason it's happening in the first place.

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