Understanding heart rates

[black'n'yellow]

He looked at my blood pressure results for the last few years (I try to have an annual check up) and told me that my pressure was 'ridiculously' good and advised me to 'throw the monitor away'.

I've just asked my mate who is a GP - and he couldn't tell me what a 'ridiculously good' BP is...

 

[Arsen Gere]

Just to finish my contribution here.
I was at the doctor's about a skin problem and told him about my concerns with my HR jumping quickly above 145 BPM. He looked at my blood pressure results for the last few years (I try to have an annual check up) and told me that my pressure was 'ridiculously' good and advised me to 'throw the monitor away'.
So, it looks like I am stuck with this spiking for whatever reason. I do notice though that it coincides with me putting extra effort on my legs e,g, cresting a hill out of the saddle, the base of a hill before I settle into a rhythm.
I won't throw it away but I'll just have to accept my readings for what they are.

So what the doc is telling you is go home, there is nothing to worry about, so good news. What I had not said is I have seen an elevated heart rate 200 at 47 years old on someone with a dodgy valve, but hers goes up and stays up and I did not want to worry you. It was not jumping like yours so not the same thing.

If you look at the standard rythm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinus_rhythm you can see the big peak that these HRM's look for , the R-R interval. It may be that as you start to up your effort the P or T peaks increase a bit. With a bit of signal modifcation from other activity like muscles, watches and background stuff it may be that one of these other peaks is getting read as an R when it is a P or T. Hence people suggesting different methods of using the HRM.
Perhaps your heart has some kind of resonace effect where it needs to be pushed over a frequency where it just takes off. Who knows. But as your doc says who cares and I think you are right to just live with it.
Even fit healthy kids have a lot of heart rate variability and it can be sudden http://heart.bmj.com/content/51/2/179.short .

 

[Scruffmonster]

If you're that concerned, get a proper test done.

 

[Enw.nigel]

I've just asked my mate who is a GP - and he couldn't tell me what a 'ridiculously good' BP is...

I think ' ridiculously good' was his manner in trying to reassure me that there was nothing wrong with my heart. My annual BP reading in August with the Practice nurse was 129/77 - my age 63 in case this is relevant.
The doctor checked me over with the stethoscope and took BP readings again which were similar to the August reading. His diagnosis - don't worry.

Thanks 'Arsen Gere' for the links. Some interesting points in the articles. My 'spikes, as an example, jump from 145 BPM in 2 steps to 166 or 3, 4, 5 steps to 178 or 186 or 198 in a matter of seconds. It appears to give one reading in the 150,s, one in the 160's and so on. The reading then returns to 'normal' within 4 or 5 seconds. Definitely not staying up like your female friend.
Curious, isn't it.

 

[Arsen Gere]

I think ' ridiculously good' was his manner in trying to reassure me that there was nothing wrong with my heart. My annual BP reading in August with the Practice nurse was 129/77 - my age 63 in case this is relevant.
The doctor checked me over with the stethoscope and took BP readings again which were similar to the August reading. His diagnosis - don't worry.

Thanks 'Arsen Gere' for the links. Some interesting points in the articles. My 'spikes, as an example, jump from 145 BPM in 2 steps to 166 or 3, 4, 5 steps to 178 or 186 or 198 in a matter of seconds. It appears to give one reading in the 150,s, one in the 160's and so on. The reading then returns to 'normal' within 4 or 5 seconds. Definitely not staying up like your female friend.
Curious, isn't it.

Just come across this thread when googling for something else, might be worth a read. This bloke is getting static build up on a turbo from a butyl inner tube, he switched to a latex one and the problem went away - kind of. But people are reporting all kinds of interference. http://forum.tacx.com/viewtopic.php?t=16365

 

[Garz]

Just to finish my contribution here...

He looked at my blood pressure results for the last few years (I try to have an annual check up) and told me that my pressure was 'ridiculously' good and advised me to 'throw the monitor away'.

Did you tell the Dr how much the unit cost and that you wanted to set up a routine based on the figure?

A decent Dr would have been able to help you with your HR levels as his equipment is pretty accurate!