Innacurate Rest Heart Rate effects Vo2 - Help!

[MeteAslan]

Hey guys,
This is the first time Im posting something here, since im pretty new here.
My problem is the following. When I wake up in the morning, i check my pulse and it says 64 or like 67 on my wristwatch (charge 3). But a couple of minutes later, when I go to my app to see how fit I am, I notice that the app registers 81 pulse. The pulse I get after I've stretched for the phone and stood up from bed.

What can I do? Am I doing anything wrong?
Shouldn't my resting pulse be the pulse i immediately take after waking up in the morning?

Thanks for your help!

[WavyDavey]

Hi @MeteAslan

There a few things you may be describing, so I'll attempt to explain them in case I'm misunderstanding. Your 64 pulse is when you awaken, and your 81 is once you stood up from bed. These are both the real-time heart rate, and nothing wrong with either of those readings.

The resting heart rate is an average of your heart rate, and will often read different than what you get upon waking up. Fitbit uses both your waking and sleeping heart rate to determine resting heart arte. Does that make sense?

[Heybales · Accepted solution]

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@MeteAslan wrote:

Hey guys,
This is the first time Im posting something here, since im pretty new here.
My problem is the following. When I wake up in the morning, i check my pulse and it says 64 or like 67 on my wristwatch (charge 3). But a couple of minutes later, when I go to my app to see how fit I am, I notice that the app registers 81 pulse. The pulse I get after I've stretched for the phone and stood up from bed.

What can I do? Am I doing anything wrong?
Shouldn't my resting pulse be the pulse i immediately take after waking up in the morning?

Thanks for your help!

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That is indeed the traditional meaning and usage of RestingHR, but Fitbit has taken it's own meaning on it. And it actually uses any resting time you have during the day as part of the computations.

Part of it's usage is to try to discern when elevated HR along with enough steps warrants kicking into exercise mode and using HR-based calorie burn.

Fine.

But if it used traditional very low morning one, it might kick on that mode too low when merely doing some moving around the office, easy walking.

And as you comment - it uses that RHR as part of calculation for VO2max, which now plays into HR-based calorie burn. (so now a low HR during exercise means it thinks you burn less than reality)

Then again, I think much more interesting would be to do true RHR as normal method, and then have non-moving HR or some other term for the daytime stuff to base that mode change on.

Because frankly it is mighty useful to have the true RHR morning after morning and allow you to discern your recovery is lacking and stress going the wrong way, or body fighting off a bug, ect.

That would be much harder to see with Fitbit RHR, unless you personally knew to manually go look at HR right before waking up, and then manually log it. ugh.

[MeteAslan]

Thank you for replying Davy, 
But im sorry to say, I still dont get it.

[WavyDavey]

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@MeteAslan wrote:

Thank you for replying Davy, 
But im sorry to say, I still dont get it.

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Maybe I misunderstood your question. Was it about your heart rate, or resting heart rate?

[MeteAslan]

Hi
Its about the resting heart rate

[WavyDavey]

Edit: see you already got your answer.