Resting Heart Rate

[SpokeyDokey]

Medicated via ccbs to high forties.

Interesting that lots of people think a low HR is good. Presumably because ultra fit athletes have a low resting HR.

However there are many reasons for a low HR .....and they aren't all good !!!

There are probably too many variables in a small sample to draw meaningful conclusions tbh.

To me, based on what my GP says, a healthy heart is a healthy heart no matter what the RHR is.

As ever, people can get obsessed by metrics, and not just in the world of cycling. And there can be a tendency to latch onto the indicators exhibited by very high-performance athletes in whatever sport they participate.

For myself, my RHR value that I use is not based on when I am asleep or when I have just woken up, but somewhere during the day when I will have been active, or even taken some planned exercise, and I am simply at rest on a sofa etc.

Probably, not scientifically the best time to measure RHR but it seems more 'real world' to me.

The above is possibly a load of old tosh but, at the end of the day, I pay only casual regard to the mass of metrics available to us in this age of smart watches etc. Suffice to say, that the only indicator that I really care about is that my old heart is still beating... ❤️❤️❤️

 

[vickster]

There are probably too many variables in a small sample to draw meaningful conclusions tbh.

To me, based on what my GP says, a healthy heart is a healthy heart no matter what the RHR is.

As ever, people can get obsessed by metrics, and not just in the world of cycling. And there can be a tendency to latch onto the indicators exhibited by very high-performance athletes in whatever sport they participate.

For myself, my RHR value that I use is not based on when I am asleep or when I have just woken up, but somewhere during the day when I will have been active, or even taken some planned exercise, and I am simply at rest on a sofa etc.

Probably, not scientifically the best time to measure RHR but it seems more 'real world' to me.

The above is possibly a load of old tosh but, at the end of the day, I pay only casual regard to the mass of metrics available to us in this age of smart watches etc. Suffice to say, that the only indicator that I really care about is that my old heart is still beating... ❤️❤️❤️

Without my Apple watch I likely wouldn't have known I had AF. Yes I could tell my heart wasn't quite right as it felt very fast after getting off the sofa and walking upstairs but I wouldn't have had a clue that it was >180.
It alerted me to chat to a Consultant friend who said to contact the surgeon who had operated on my knee a few weeks previously as it could be a sign of a clot from DVT (ruled out by doppler and later cardiac CT).
The AF was recorded on monitor a few days later in resus (was >160 when I turned up to A&E with high watch readouts) but no print out obtained, it's not been caught on other ECGs or the longer term monitoring so the captures from the watch showing the AF have been helpful for the specialist. I can also monitor what % of the time my heart is in AF through the week as I don't get symptoms (even when it's super high thus far I've just felt a bit odd and light headed) but it's still present and might need treatment if that % is consistently higher across the week than a few percent.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Without my Apple watch I likely wouldn't have known I had AF. Yes I could tell my heart wasn't quite right as it felt very fast after getting off the sofa and walking upstairs but I wouldn't have had a clue that it was >180.
It alerted me to chat to a Consultant friend who said to contact the surgeon who had operated on my knee a few weeks previously as it could be a sign of a clot from DVT (ruled out by doppler and later cardiac CT).
The AF was recorded on monitor a few days later in resus (was >160 when I turned up to A&E with high watch readouts) but no print out obtained, it's not been caught on other ECGs or the longer term monitoring so the captures from the watch showing the AF have been helpful for the specialist. I can also monitor what % of the time my heart is in AF through the week as I don't get symptoms (even when it's super high thus far I've just felt a bit odd and light headed) but it's still present and might need treatment if that % is consistently higher across the week than a few percent.

My best mate awaits his procedure for AF.
Currently his HR is throttled back with beta-blockers.

As an aside the cost of the same procedure in the US is around $178000!

 

[vickster]

My best mate awaits his procedure for AF.
Currently his HR is throttled back with beta-blockers.

As an aside the cost of the same procedure in the US is around $178000

Ablation? Cripes! Might be £7-8k here? I have private healthcare but have no intention of taking the specialist up on his kind offer of a procedure with loads of potential risks (low likelihood for each but they add up) for an essentially asymptomatic condition. He said it will progress and will become harder to treat, I'm definitely holding off for now regardless

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Ablation? Cripes! Might be £7-8k here? I have private healthcare but have no intention of taking the specialist up on his kind offer of a procedure with loads of potential risks (low likelihood for each but they add up) for an essentially asymptomatic condition. He said it will progress and will become harder to treat, I'm definitely holding off for now regardless

Yes! Ablation. Crazy.

My mate is 62 and has been told he will need the procedure at some stage and it is best to do it whilst he is relatively young.

 

[MontyVeda]

I seem to recall on R4 the other week a mention that smart watches/fitness trackers aren't very accurate regarding heart rates.

 

[vickster]

I seem to recall on R4 the other week a mention that smart watches/fitness trackers aren't very accurate regarding heart rates.

My electrophysiology specialist is quite happy to review data from Smart watches. Mine was pretty closely aligned with what I was seeing on the hospital monitors at rest

 

[Mo1959]

I seem to recall on R4 the other week a mention that smart watches/fitness trackers aren't very accurate regarding heart rates.

They’re certainly not quite as accurate for exercising. Better with a chest or arm strap. Very occasionally when running my Garmin latches on to my cadence rather than heart rate so it looks like your heart rate has suddenly shot up. I am inclined to think a good indicator of heart health is how quickly it drops following exertion rather than resting rate.

 

[Jody]

I seem to recall on R4 the other week a mention that smart watches/fitness trackers aren't very accurate regarding heart rates.

Must be as Apple/Android had to wait for approval in the States before the AF technology was put live.

My electrophysiology specialist is quite happy to review data from Smart watches. Mine was pretty closely aligned with what I was seeing on the hospital monitors at rest

Same here when I visited a few weeks ago with an ectopic beat issue. It had been going on for days so caught a few traces on my watch so I could show the doctor.

 

[BrumJim]

I've got a medical implant with a 3 year battery life that monitors my heart. Unfortunately I haven't yet worked out how to link it to Strava. Or indeed how to access the data.

 

[presta]

that can't be fun

When unmedicated my AF runs in the range 180-260, but I used to be pretty unfazed sitting in the armchair chatting to the paramedics. Nowadays it doesn't cause tachycardia much at all, and yet it makes me feel absolutely evil. On the AF forum I noticed that patients all fell into one of two categories: those who brushed it off and those who felt dreadful, and I always suspected that it was the fit who felt ok and the couch potatoes who felt ill. Now that I've seen the change in my own symptoms as I've become less and less fit, I'm even more convinced that I'm on the right track.

Medicated via ccbs to high forties.

Calcium channel blockers? Do you get any foot oedema?

unless they have symptoms commensurate with the ailments that correlate with a low HR, what's not to like?

The prevalence of AF in the general population is around 2%, browsing this forum I suspect that it's a lot higher on here. A poll might be interesting, perhaps.

people can get obsessed by metrics

I think the merit of RHR lies in the changes rather than its absolute value, sudden rises and falls can be indicative of overtraining or illness etc. Heart rate recovery in the first minute or two after ceasing exercise is particularly interesting, as a failure to recover fast enough is prognostic of increased mortality.

Without my Apple watch I likely wouldn't have known I had AF. Yes I could tell my heart wasn't quite right as it felt very fast after getting off the sofa and walking upstairs but I wouldn't have had a clue that it was >180.

Mine varied throughout an episode, within the first few seconds of the start my heart would thrash around so violently and erratically that you could see my chest bouncing, but would then settle down, although there was still no mistaking the feel. However, after it had been going for hours and hours it could get to the point where I couldn't feel it at all, even though it was still 180+.

My best mate awaits his procedure for AF.

I'm still waiting for the ablation I was offered in July 2013.

Might be £7-8k here?

The figures I've seen bandied around on the AF forum are circa £20-25k IIRC.

They’re certainly not quite as accurate for exercising.

They don't necessarily show arrhythmia, either. When my correct heart rate (as indicated on an ECG) was 210, an infra red oximeter indicated 70. The problem was that every third beat was stronger than the ones in between, so the monitor wasn't counting the weaker ones.

 

[vickster]

The figures I've seen bandied around on the AF forum are circa £20-25k IIRC.

Blimey
£10-16k ish at Cleveland here https://clevelandcliniclondon.uk/patients/payments/self-pay/heart-vascular-thoracic

Have you followed up if you've been waiting 10 years?! My dad certainly didn't wait that long for St Georges either time (first time he couldn't have due to a clot).

Self pay always higher than the insurer cost

 

[kingrollo]

When unmedicated my AF runs in the range 180-260, but I used to be pretty unfazed sitting in the armchair chatting to the paramedics. Nowadays it doesn't cause tachycardia much at all, and yet it makes me feel absolutely evil. On the AF forum I noticed that patients all fell into one of two categories: those who brushed it off and those who felt dreadful, and I always suspected that it was the fit who felt ok and the couch potatoes who felt ill. Now that I've seen the change in my own symptoms as I've become less and less fit, I'm even more convinced that I'm on the right track.

Calcium channel blockers? Do you get any foot oedema?

The prevalence of AF in the general population is around 2%, browsing this forum I suspect that it's a lot higher on here. A poll might be interesting, perhaps.

I think the merit of RHR lies in the changes rather than its absolute value, sudden rises and falls can be indicative of overtraining or illness etc. Heart rate recovery in the first minute or two after ceasing exercise is particularly interesting, as a failure to recover fast enough is prognostic of increased mortality.

Mine varied throughout an episode, within the first few seconds of the start my heart would thrash around so violently and erratically that you could see my chest bouncing, but would then settle down, although there was still no mistaking the feel. However, after it had been going for hours and hours it could get to the point where I couldn't feel it at all, even though it was still 180+.

I'm still waiting for the ablation I was offered in July 2013.

The figures I've seen bandied around on the AF forum are circa £20-25k IIRC.

They don't necessarily show arrhythmia, either. When my correct heart rate (as indicated on an ECG) was 210, an infra red oximeter indicated 70. The problem was that every third beat was stronger than the ones in between, so the monitor wasn't counting the weaker ones.

Foot Odema - no - but then again I've only been on them a couple of months....

 

[kingrollo]

There are probably too many variables in a small sample to draw meaningful conclusions tbh.

To me, based on what my GP says, a healthy heart is a healthy heart no matter what the RHR is.

As ever, people can get obsessed by metrics, and not just in the world of cycling. And there can be a tendency to latch onto the indicators exhibited by very high-performance athletes in whatever sport they participate.

For myself, my RHR value that I use is not based on when I am asleep or when I have just woken up, but somewhere during the day when I will have been active, or even taken some planned exercise, and I am simply at rest on a sofa etc.

Probably, not scientifically the best time to measure RHR but it seems more 'real world' to me.

The above is possibly a load of old tosh but, at the end of the day, I pay only casual regard to the mass of metrics available to us in this age of smart watches etc. Suffice to say, that the only indicator that I really care about is that my old heart is still beating... ❤️❤️❤️

I was staggered when I was doing my treadmill stress test that BP got up to well over 200 (under medical supervision of course)

Anyway stress test came back negative. I was chatting to cardiac Dr some while later - he said spikes in BP aren't really a concern. It is sustained BP over a period of time that damages your organs and heart.

That's why initially BP at rest is considered the bench mark.

There is some debate about this as some medical professionals feel that the spikes are significant....who knows .....

Once you reach a certain age ....(Imo) The more tests and stats you acquire the more likely you are to find something untoward. It becomes a bit of a lifestyle choice - do you want to spend your leisure time at the hospital, Dr surgery, testing for certain conditions, medicating certain conditions, testing for side effects of medication ....it just goes on and on.....

Your body will deteriorate over time - no matter how much you play by the rules ....having recently being diagnosed with coronary artery disease - I feel lucky that have nominal symptoms - and have been cleared to exercise .....I've cleaned up my diet (although not bad in first place) and take the meds ....my thoughts are "today I feel okay" I will worry about the other shoot when it rolls in ....

 

[presta]

Foot Odema - no - but then again I've only been on them a couple of months....

My advice would be watch out. It creeps up on you, gradually getting worse over the years, but if it seems mild and not particularly bothersome you may not notice the damage it's doing until it's too late. The oedema goes when you stop taking it, but it would appear that the damage it causes doesn't.