Does lotion affect the heart rate monitor?

[amytaylorgj]

I have the Fitbit blaze and I do the same workout everyday but one day my heart rate will be in the 150's and the next won't even reach 120 hen I know I'm working just as hard. Can having lotion on affect the reading? That's the only thing I can think of that would make them that far apart when I'm doing the same amount of work.

[Jrdubyakc]

I find that if I am sweating a lot that the HR monitor struggles to find my HR sometimes, so I imagine it could be similar with lotion and especially if you start to sweat with the lotion.  I usually take it off, wipe the bottom and switch wrists and it starts working again.

What type of workouts are you doing?  If you are doing something where your wrist bends (weight lifting, holding elliptical handles, etc) or you are moving vigoruosly and non-rhythmically (crossfit, kickboxing, p90x, etc), that can affect the ability for it to pick up the HR as well. More info about that in this help article.

[amytaylorgj]

Thank you for your reply. The workout I do is an elliptical . I usually put Scented lotion from Bath and Bodyworks after my shower the night before. Also I am working out as we speak. I wear my fit bit blaze on my right wrist and after 30 minutes on my elliptical my heart rate has not of been above 120. I switched my fit bit to my left wrist and my heart rate jumped to 145. I don't like wearing it on my left wrist but I can't figure out what's wrong with my right

[Rich_Laue]

Tje tightness amd location of the band WI alao affect the HR reported