Heart Rate Zones, ease my anxiety

[jillavery27]

Can someone explain heart rate zones to me and if I should be concerned if sometimes my HR gets higher during exercise than other times?

I am a 37 yr old female that is somewhat active, I do a lot of dog walking and playing disc golf. My RHR varies from 68-73 depending on what my hormones are doing.

I'm so clueless when it comes to heart rate zones and if I should be concerned or not. Yesterday while playing disc golf (think of a pretty active hike) my HR went up to 160 for a bit after climbing a hill, which is the highest I've ever seen. I could still comfortably talk and wouldn't of thought anything of it if I hadn't looked at my fit bit. I then checked often and I was 120-140 for a while (while still moving around, brisk walking but with lots of breaks) before coming back down into the low 100s and 90s. Usually I get down to the low 100s much quicker. 

This seems normal from internet research? But I get freaked out any time my HR gets high, even when I'm exercising. 

[russsss]

@jillavery27.  1 fitbit is NOT a medical device, it may or may not be totally accurate and is affected by any number of variables (how tight ooor loose the band is, where it it placed on the wrist etc)  2 the data we see is something totally out of our experience pre fitbit so all of a sudden we see all these numbers and have no way to judge their meaning or accuracy  3 I have experienced more or less the same thing and on more than one occasion mentioned this to my cardiologist (major heart attack so I'm prone to freaking out when I see 180 when it normally would be 105 or110) ... from the doc ... did you feel anything unusual, sweating, shortness of breath, dizziness etc ... my answer ... nope  from the doc ... if your pulse was really 180 you would know it .  4  on several occasions when this occurred I took a manual pulse rate immediately and found it was about where it should be ... try that next time .  5 this never occurred on the treadmill although my pulse rate more or less uniformly increases with speed and incline increases without any spikes ... and ... I know why ... because of balance issues and increased speeds my arms are holding on to the top, hence not moving .   6 on a walk, when I noticed it was high I stopped moving the fitbit arm and after a bit it lost the pulse rate and then returned to normal.  ... is it the motion ?  can't say for sure  ... last visit to the cardiologist he replied that his wife has the same issue with her fitbit 

     not a doc by any means, just an opinion .... try a manual pulse when it happens but 160 for someone normally active is most likely ok anyway hope this sort of helps 😀

[jillavery27]

This helpful, thank you!

[DeniseFI]

I could have written this post EXACTLY!  My resting HR is exactly the same, including the variation based on hormone fluctuations throughout the month. And also the event - going up a hill on a walk and noticing it being WAY high when I didn't feel it at all. Boy did my anxiety skyrocket. I actually turned around and went right home. 😞

I have had this happen a few times now and all I can say is if you notice this, as a fellow anxiety sufferer, find your pulse and check your measurement yourself. Every time it has said my pulse was that high (150+), it has been wrong. My actual pulse was somewhere around 120. I think the accuracy just can't be relied upon for individual momentary measurements like that, and when in doubt, I always check with my finger on my wrist. It really does help ease the anxiety. And never google, lol.

[StephenK91]

I'm definitely not a medical expert and I want to reiterate what someone else has said; Fitbit are not medical devices and may or may not be accurate.

Having said that, if your Fitbit has accurately recorded your bpm, it does seem normal to be honest. 

[StephenK91]

I had to laugh cos I got the same advice regarding a 170bpm figure i caught on my Fitbit. Yes, I could definitely feel my heart was fairly  fast but the only symptoms I had were anxiety 😂 no sweating, no pains, no dizziness etc etc.

Unfortunately, I had smoked... I believe tobacco may have initially spiked my bpm but my anxiety exacerbated it further. I've since quit smoking. 

I noticed a trend on this forum: people have become obsessed checking their bpm and sometimes freaking when they may not need to. I'm guilty of this but it's just finding a healthy balance of being aware of what your heart is doing but not obsessing. Like I say to anyone though, if your worry is too much - Get checked to be safe anyways. 

[Corney]

jillavery27:  Generally speaking ones training is calculated using this formula:  220 minus your age, multiplied by 75%.  I learned that training zone HR is also the fat burning zone.  Another way to assess your exercise zone is if you are exerting yourself but can still carry on a comfortable conversation you are in your training zone.  As your fitness level improves, you can stress your body more and still stay in your training zone or still carry on a comfortable conversation.  I hope this helps you.

[JuanJoFitbit]

Hi everyone! Just an aside note, I'd like to share this help article, which explains more information about how your Fitbit devices calculate your heart rate zones.

See you all around.