Luke Humphries has opened up on his previous battle with anxiety and panic attacks (Image: Getty)
Darts star has opened up about his battle with anxiety and how he once feared he was having a heart attack after being rushed to hospital.
As , Humphries has earned close to £2million over the last two years after winning the World Darts Championship in 2024.
He earned his nickname ‘Cool Hand’ and the Newbury man is a difficult one to faze when the chips are stacked against him.
But earlier in his life, the 29-year-old was drawn into a year-long battle with anxiety. It reached a level serious enough that he was taken by ambulance to hospital to check if his heartbeat was irregular.
“The first time it happened to me I was in a darts exhibition, just before I was professional,” Humphries said on the ” podcast.
“Everything was fine, I was playing Phil Taylor. I beat him that night. Maybe I was a bit nervous in the game. I never had these sort of anxious feelings before.
“I went to the hotel and woke up a few hours later, my heartbeat racing. You know it was going really fast. I’d never touched my chest or heart before in my life.
“I touched it and it felt out of rhythm, it put me in this panic. I couldn’t sleep again through the night. Two days later, it happened again.
Luke Humphries won the World Darts Championship in 2024 (Image: Getty)
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“I had to go in an ambulance because I felt really faint and all this type of stuff. They [the hospital] told me my blood pressure is quite high and your heart rate rhythm is fine but it’s quite fast and that was when it all started.
“That’s when I had a year’s worth of panicking all the time. Every time my heart went I thought I was having a heart attack. I was thinking ‘my life’s over’.”
Humphries reached his breaking point when he suffered an anxiety attack whilst playing against James Wade, where he was 5-2 up but admitted he “couldn’t wait to get off the stage.”
“It sort of went into a massive spiral. But it never happened in darts. Then it creeped into darts,” he added.
Luke Humphries felt a wave of anxiety during his tie with James Wade (Image: Getty)
“I got into a winning moment against James Wade. I think I was 5-2 up against him. Then all of a sudden the amount of anxiety and panic that came over me was insane. I just couldn’t wait to get off the stage.”
But after losing four stone during the pandemic and undergoing Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Humphries was able to get his career and life back on track.
“Then I went and seen someone like CBT, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. We talked about where the root of it come from and where did it maybe arise from, it probably came from years of me being overweight maybe,” he said.
“That had an effect on my confidence levels. That’s why I used to feel anxious. I think I was overweight in those moments, this is where it was all stemming from I think.”