fluctuations in resting heart rate?

Mine is generally in the mid 50’s. It goes up to around 60 when I’m sick, not getting enough rest/recovery, or I’m full of life stress, and spikes to ~65 after extremely active days.

It has also gone up a bit (upper 50’s) when I’ve had long periods when I wasn’t able to run (due to serious injury) and while I do other stuff to “maintain my fitness” it’s not quite the same. My RHR drops again after I am able to run again.

Other than that, mine pretty much hangs out 54-56. I find it a pretty good status check for me (outside that “normal” range means something is up). If mine went up and stayed up, I would pay attention to other indicators (knowing that a higher RHR for me usually means sickness or lack of adequate rest/recovery). So if I started to feel drained or workouts weren’t great or something, I might pay more attention. It could also be response to weather changes (idk-I really have no idea but that’s about how long ago it got stupid hot here).

But since these are consumer devices, and it could be a software update, or you’re wearing it 1/4 mm off from where you were (I don’t think they are that sensitive but just saying it’s not a lab device).

Things that put mine up are dehydration, heat, illness and the day after drinking alcohol.

I think as I’ve lost weight my band on my watch is slightly looser but not enough to go down to a different hole on the band. Not sure if this might impact too.

Also every now and then I’ll have a day which is completely off eg normally resting lowest is 56 reading I have but then One day it had 40bpm as the lowest. I think this was a misreading from poor contact but it did affect the average

Mine varies, but I am a woman of child bearing age so my HR changes depending on where I am in my menstrual cycle. It often drops several BPM right before my period shows up. I’ve been tracking it for over a year now. It’s fascinating.

amandaeve wrote: »

ryenday wrote: »

My resting heart rate hovers around 48 bpm give or take 3 beats in either direction for the past year or so. (So says my Apple Watch) While I do get regular moderate exercise, no one would ever mistake me for an athlete. I wonder about that - seems low for a 53 yr old non athlete.

I feel like mine's low, too. I am active, but I wouldn't call myself "elite" which is my heart rate category (54). I wonder if certain medications slow heart rate or if some people are just genetically slower, like genetically having low blood pressure.

In my understanding, that's not crazy low. If an reasonable healthy adult resting heart rate is 60, and the average healthy adult (as I look around me ) is not very fit, then 54 seems good but not alarming. RHR improves (lowers) with fitness.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/expert-answers/heart-rate/faq-20057979

Note that they say trained athletes could be closer to 40bpm.

[curmudgeon] Part of the problem here, IMO, is that you're thinking of yourself as "not an athlete". [/curmudgeon]

If you exercise regularly, and aim to improve your fitness and performance, you're an athlete.

Dictionary.com's definition of athlete: "a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill."

Own it. I see the fit-looking woman in the cycling photo in your avi: You can't hide!

When I had cataract surgery last year at an outpatient surgical facility, my (pre-sedation) heart rate kept setting off the bradycardia alarm (it was set to go off if someone dropped below 50). I had to resort to waving my legs around above the bed while waiting to stop the recurring beeping. My surgeon assured me this was completely fine - he seemed kind of oddly amused and pleased, actually - and called it something like "fitness induced bradycardia". I'm a li'l ol' lady (age 62) recreational athlete. My RHR varies over time, but would get down to the low 50s when I was training even while obese, and usually runs high 40s to low 50s these days depending on what I've been doing recently (plus hydration, weather, etc.).