High heart rate when walking

[nbee]

My heart rate when walking briskly on the school run often hits 160 - 180 bpm (I'm 48) which seems too high considering I'm not out of breath or sweating and feel normal.

My fitness levels (I would have thought) are fairly good. I do classes at the gym 5-6 days a week. My heart rate in body pump rarely goes above 130 and averages around 100. Spin classes will go up to 150 and average around 125. Body attack is the most cardio class I do and my heart rate will be in peak zone for about 40% of the workout and average around 140.

Resting heart rate is 68. 

Any ideas? Maybe I'm not as fit as I thought?

[Reedy7777]

Yes the heart rate monitor and therefore calorie count can be very inaccurate when walking. You can either tighten it or if you are wearing a jumper covering it with your sleeve to block the light out I found also works

[DDance]

Changing the mode from WORKOUT to WALK made all the difference. Heart rate
is reasonable now and not overinflated.

[Debroo]

As someone with anxiety, I was hoping seeing my HR would give me some reassurance.  I have a hard time exercising as it is because of my racing thoughts during, seeing my HR go to 180 during a relaxing walk didn't help.  I turned right around and had to go home thinking something was wrong.  I'm glad to see I'm not the only one seeing these numbers during a walk.  

[Exdoc]

Recently suffering with bad fatigue & low fever for over two months following Covid jab, I have noticed heart rate spikes up to 140 when sitting quietly at home or 160 on gentle stroll.  Looking back the spikes have sometimes been there, sometimes not, through the last two years - but never as unprovoked as now.  I bought a small wearable ECG and its trace shows that the heart-rate spikes are down to extra heartbeats: sometimes one-off, sometimes in runs.  Also the ECG trace shows the extra beats are from the main chamber of the heart (the ventricle, not the atrium) and are coming from several different parts of the ventricle.  So the Fitbit is accurate, it's my heart that's the problem.  Awaiting 24-hour ECG and echocardiogram.

[Reedy7777]

The fitbit not reliably accurate and its sensors can be manipulated by a
number of factors.

[Debroo]

So sorry to hear you're having issues. I know what it's like to feel the
fatigue and down and out for an extended period of time. I'm glad you were
to get more insight through tests and I pray there's a good solution and
you feel tip top soon.

[Heybales]

---

@Reedy7777 wrote:
The fitbit not reliably accurate and its sensors can be manipulated by a
number of factors.

---

For some.

And then read the post right above yours to see that it is entirely accurate for others.

About the only sweeping statement that is usually true - is the general statement that sweeping statements are not true.

[Reedy7777]

"Not reliably accurate" does not mean never accurate, you should learn to
speak english it mikght save you from embarrissing yourself in future.

[coegalon]

Dear Nbee

My problem is exactly the opposite: when I am jogging and my heart is racing at 150 or 160 bpm, my Fitbit indicates 130 bpm.... it is very frustrating. I tried everything: tightened the wrist band, tried a new wrist band, bought the expensive wrist band from Fitbit but the problem is still there... So now I just rely on counting my own heart beats within a given time period but, of course, this is not as convenient...

[Stephers13]

I have noticed it is wildly innacurate too. So as someone with SVT i have had heart rate as high as 230 bpm on a 30 day heart rate monitor for my specialist. It happens when i am just sitting there. You wouldn't be dead just very uncomfortable lol. I have had vtach as well, and none of these things were picked up by fitbit. The human heart has gone up to 300 bpm recorded in someone with svt. So i rely on this mostly as a step counter. The manual pulse is the BEST pulse. No watch is ever going to be as accurate as a manual pulse. This is coming from my specialist. Lol

[Exdoc]

Although my cardiologist basically said the same as yours, he was impressed when I produced an ambulatory ECG (taken with a cheap Chinese-produced gadget, but nevertheless with spells of reasonable quality) which confirmed I was having episodes of marked sinus tachycardia.

[sccsmooth]

I would consider having it checked out by your MD.  I'm considerably older (quite old) and my walking briskly (jogging for me) might be at the same amount of exertion, and a heart rate up around 160 (or a little higher) is something I experience frequently.  I feel OK, and I'm assuming you do, also.  My resting heart rate is around 48 and I've noticed that my frequent high heart rates, while jogging, seem to drive my resting heart rate lower.  You might see if this happens for you, as well.  Jogging or brisk walking while it's cool or cold can add considerably to the high heart rate, as well, and is probably beneficial.

[Brianf1]

It doesn't. I'm on this forum because my HR went 178 with the walk setting. I'm fairly fit and I felt fine. So that setting doesn't change the wild fluctuations. 

[sccsmooth]

Your heart rate while walking can vary greatly, like walking-jogging alternately and cold weather can make my walking heart rate rise from around 100 BPM with slower walking in warm weather to 155 BPM or so while doing my sort of fast walking/jogging.  I wear an old Charge 2 which stopped tracking my sensitive sleeping monitoring long ago, but has been consistent over the years regarding my heart rate.  It has monitored my heart rate at as high as 175 for brief periods of time (a few minutes).  Long ago, I learned from a doctor that if your heart rate goes very high like this while you're exercising and it drops quickly if you quickly slow way down or stop, this is an indication of a healthy heart -- it is able to take advantage of the slow periods with muted activity.