The first time it happend, I was panicking really hard and I thought about screaming for help, but I thought maybe I use all my energy and die on the spot, so I focused on slow breathing anyways. I have not been to a Dr yet and not panning on going as it does not happen often, it has only only happened to me twice. This happens for about one or two hours every night until I finally pass out from exhaustion. I feel like I can’t breath for a few moments, then kinda shake and things are ok again, only to be followed by the same thing a couple more times in the next hour or two! Just as my body relaxes and I begin to fall asleep, I find myself not breathing. I get this strong wierd feeling and it feels like my heart is stopping, really hard to describe it. While I'm falling asleep, or I'm already asleep it feels like my heart is stopping. The strong ones are really quite loud in my head! I exercise regularly and have a good diet. Then everything is normal again. Answer. I'll be in bed, relaxed and just about to drop off and then I feel like my heart skips a beat. Well, now I know it is not my heart because I just got out of the hospital this morning and after doing the full run up on me including EKG, blood work and stress test....all they can tell me is I am having anxiety.....well DUH!!! I then begin relaxing and my breathing slows down; I feel myself wanting to breath, but my body won’t until I “wake” myself up enough to breath again. Sometimes I will be just standing there and it feels like my heart stops beating for a split second. Note that I can still breath fine and I do not wake gasping for air, although sometimes (i think) it feels like I awake holding my breath. It's over in a second but my body is like 'wait, what the..?' I took my blood pressure and it is fine. My body does not allow me to wake up. Waking up gasping for air can feel like you're suffocating or as if you can’t draw a complete breath. The vagus nerve is an important component of the parasympathetic nervous system and is partially responsible for controlling your heart rate. Feels like my heart is stopping … Why does it feel like my heart stops when I'm trying to sleep or something? Can anxiety cause this? Over the past few years I have developed a sensation that feels like a balloon being blown up in the middle of my chest when I start to fall asleep. Something I should be worried about? I've googled but not really found an answer. It's really scary. I think I had one during dinner one day, too. It is aural as well as sensory . Question. Heart stopping moments before sleep. (45 Posts) Add ... Another sensation I get frequently is what feels like an electrical current zinging through my head, horizontally from one ear to the other. I have been facing something like this for a while: when I go to sleep, I feel like my heart stops and then I wake up and it's hard to breathe. Heart palpitations at night can be caused by the way in which the sufferer sleeps. It has been happening for a about a week now. • What if an episode of stopped breathing stays that way – and you never wake up – and die in your sleep? People who sleep on their left side or back may inadvertently put pressure on their vagus nerve. ( no meat, only fish) There is no pain just this annoying feeling on numbness So, when I’m trying to fall asleep, I feel a deep thud in my chest, like my heart is misfiring. Or is it that when you sleep your heart rate is so slight I may not feel it. When I'm sleepingon my back, and this started happening not everyday but one day and then two days after that. Zocdoc › Answers › Why do I feel like my heart stops sometimes? I suffer from anxiety and when I try to fall asleep my left side of my body goes numb and my heart stops. It is like my body is paralysed whilst my brain is trying to wake me. "Why do I feel like my heart stops sometimes?" • This scary problem is even more puzzling to those who are physically fit, healthy and not overweight and especially younger than middle age.