Slow heart rate - bradycardia

WandaVaughn

Does anybody else deal with this issue? I went for my physical a few days ago and my pulse was 40. I'm an almost 53 year old woman, at a healthy weight, and a runner. It still seems very slow to me.

lgfrie

If you just went for your physical, your doctor must've weighed in on this? I would go with what he says about it. Bradicardia is not unusual at all for people in good shape who are getting regular exercise. My pulse is sometimes in the mid-high 40's at night; never as low as 40, but that's a matter of degree not of kind. Lower at night if I've had a vigorous workout that day - the connection is pretty clear.

CardinalComb

Seems really low. Shouldn't you be at about 65 bpm? Are you a top tier marathon runner? What did your doctor say?

Lietchi

It's pretty low, but not extremely surprising either for a runner. Only you know if it's unusual or not: is this a new thing, your heart rate used to be higher? Or has it always been on the lower end of the spectrum?

My HR drops to the 40's during my period and is in the 50's otherwise. And I'm not even very fit (yet), it's just genetic I think. Even obese and unfit my RHR was still in the 60's. Some people just have a lower heart rate, and combined with regular exercice it can lead to a RHR like yours.

heybales

CardinalComb wrote: »

Seems really low. Shouldn't you be at about 65 bpm? Are you a top tier marathon runner? What did your doctor say?

Top tier marathon runner is hardly the required fitness state to be in for low RHR.

Bunch of evening group ride cyclist in a discussion all had below 50 with most below 45, at various levels of training volume.
Read some reddit discussions of new runners comparing and you'll see similar comments.

I drop to 45 pretty quickly for true RHR (not Fitbit's figure of resting which includes daytime awake figures) after starting cardio again after winter lifting.

Genetics and some fitness is all that's required - not top tier marathoner.

65 actually strikes me as rather high for a proclaimed runner with no other comment of fitness level.

RunsWithBees

My resting pulse rate is 44, I’m a runner and age 46 but have no symptoms of a slow heart rate so it’s just “my normal”. If you do have bradycardia you would have very noticeable symptoms: fatigue, dizziness, lightheadedness, confusion, fainting, shortness of breath, difficulty exercising, etc. Are you having any of these symptoms and did your doctor actually diagnose you with bradycardia?

ccrdragon

CardinalComb wrote: »

Seems really low. Shouldn't you be at about 65 bpm? Are you a top tier marathon runner? What did your doctor say?

No... I am still in the obese BMI range but I ride road bicycle 5 days a week and my RHR is in the low 50's. I expect that as I lose more of the weight, that will come down into the 40's.

sijomial

Bradycardia is a description not an issue or a medical problem UNLESS it brings additional problems along with it.
Simply means low heart rate - if you don't have any adverse symptoms there's nothing to deal with.
I cycle a lot and my RHR is typically in high 40's, it has zero impact on me, just means my "pump" is working well.

Common sense advice from the NHS.....

What's a normal heart rate?
Most adults have a resting heart rate between 60 and 100bpm.

The fitter you are, the lower your resting heart rate is likely to be. For example, athletes may have a resting heart rate of 40 to 60bpm, or lower.

See a GP to get checked if you think your heart rate is continuously above 120bpm or below 40bpm, although it may simply be that this is normal for you.

NorthCascades

CardinalComb wrote: »

Seems really low. Shouldn't you be at about 65 bpm? Are you a top tier marathon runner? What did your doctor say?

How did you come up with 65 bpm instead of some other number?

AnnPT77

RunsWithBees wrote: »

My resting pulse rate is 44, I’m a runner and age 46 but have no symptoms of a slow heart rate so it’s just “my normal”. If you do have bradycardia you would have very noticeable symptoms: fatigue, dizziness, lightheadedness, confusion, fainting, shortness of breath, difficulty exercising, etc. Are you having any of these symptoms and did your doctor actually diagnose you with bradycardia?

This.

I set off the bradycardia alarms at an outpatient surgery center a couple of years back (before any sedatives!). My surgeon was actually pretty enthusiastic about it: "It's fitness induced bradycardia! You're probably fitter than the whole lot of us here!"

IMU, it's still technically bradycardia, but if fitness induced, not a problematic health condition.

My resting rate per my tracker is usually in the low 50s, but frequently drops into the mid-40s during sleep. I'm active but far short of an elite marathoner. (I'm a recreational rower, usually 30-60 minutes of cardio 6 days a week, right now 3 days of strength training on top of that - nothing extraordinary.) I'll be 65 next month.

I read a book** about a couple who row/kayak near the arctic circle. The author mentioned resting awake in her tent when well into one of these SS cardio intense trips, pinned down by weather, and finding that her resting heart rate was 36. Healthy, just super active.

** Excellent book, "Rowing to Latitude" by Jill Fredston.

WandaVaughn

Thanks for the replies. I try not to worry about the low heart rate. The doctor didn't seem too concerned, so I shouldn't be.

sijomial

WandaVaughn wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I try not to worry about the low heart rate. The doctor didn't seem too concerned, so I shouldn't be.

If he had used English and said you have a lower than normal heart rate instead of using the medical term derived from Greek (the brady part means slow and the cardia part means heart) you wouldn't presumably have been concerned.

There's a world of difference between slower than average HR with adverse symptoms (which your Doctor would have mentioned) and slower than average HR with no symptoms.

Onedaywriter

I have Bradycardia. My resting heart rate is approx 40 - 43 bpm. I had it even when very out of shape. Drs have told me not to worry about it unless it becomes an issue.
My heat rate seems to rise when I workout, but I do have a hard time reaching “ target” heart rate. No biggie though.

Fflpnari

My heart rate will go into the 30's while im awake. cardiology isnt concerned.

djaxon1

Only been exercising 14mths resting hr 47-49 , goes down to 42 sleeping . 62yrs , bmi 27
Youngest daughter's is mostly 90+

T1DCarnivoreRunner

Runners have lower heart rates and I would expect most doctors know this. Last time I was in the hospital, the lowest setting before it alarmed was 45 bpm and they changed the alarm on the heart rate monitor so that it only went to the nurse station rather than beeping in the room. Otherwise, I was just going to have to figure out how to sleep through the alarm.

Fun fact: Garmins (or at least the Fenix 3 HR) will not display if your HR is less than 20. It just shows that there is no pulse. I know this from when I was dipping once and noticed it would cut out below 20. Manually checking my pulse came out to 17 bpm as that was happening.