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Low resting heart rate (too low?)

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Hi

 

I just bought a Fitbit Charge HR and have therefore started keeping an eye on resting heart rate.

 

The dashboard so far says 55, 60 and 62 for the resting heart rate stat for the first few days (first day was a half day as I got it in the afternoon)

 

If I look at the graph, particularly at night, it goes down into the 50s and even took a momentary dip to 49 last night.

 

Out of curiosity I googled healthy heart rates and ended up reading that below 60 is considered 'bradycardia' and a possible cause for concern unless you're an athlete. For my age (33) and gender (male) I'm between the "excellent" and "athlete" categories for this resting range.  But I'm definitely not an athlete.  I go for a 30-45 minute brisk walk most lunch hours, do about 30 minutes of bodyweight exercises every 2-3 days (I achieved an intentional 75lb weight loss from obese to lean but neglected to do any strength training so ended up a bit 'skinnyfat' - well underway with fixing that now) but otherwise am sat on my backside at my desk all day, which is one reason I got the band.  It's rare that I do anything massively 'cardio' - sometimes trek up a mountain but we're talking "plod up one a few times a year admiring the scenery" not "run up a few times a week" as I'd expect an athlete to do.

 

You're generally advised to watch out for dizziness.  It's not usually a problem for me, but I did get dizzy a few weeks ago whilst gardening (which I put down to overexertion and dehydration at the time), I didn't faint but my head and vision got a bit wobbly for a few seconds.  I've only ever noticed this when getting carried away with gardening (not just plucking a few weeds... it's overrun with brambles so better described as terraforming tbh) and I think once when doing a lot of bending around laying a carpet.

 

Is the consensus that there's any cause for concern?  I know the only real answer is "go and see your doctor, we are not your doctor" and I know all the disclaimer stuff that the Fitbit isn't a heart health tool and no post is official health advice etc, but I'd rather not go dashing straight there potentially wasting his time on something I've read on the internet 😉

 

Edit: Current HR 56 sat at desk.  Wikipedia is a little less alarmist and seems to suggest down to about 50 may be ok.

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"Low heart rate" isnt really bad, its "erratic heart rate" thats the killer.

Low and erratic is especially bad, but high and erratic is worse than low.

If you only beat once every 1.5 seconds a missed beat leaves a 3 second gap.

But if you beat 60bpm and skip two beats thats just as bad.

 

Any over the counter HRM is ill suited to diagnose erratic beats

 

Mines been recorded as low as 40bpm, but I've lost 4 stone, so its reasonable to assume my heart has less blood to pump and less distance to pump it.

*********************
Charge HR 2
208lbs 01/01/18 - 197.8lbs 24/01/18 - 140lbs 31/12/18

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"Low heart rate" isnt really bad, its "erratic heart rate" thats the killer.

Low and erratic is especially bad, but high and erratic is worse than low.

If you only beat once every 1.5 seconds a missed beat leaves a 3 second gap.

But if you beat 60bpm and skip two beats thats just as bad.

 

Any over the counter HRM is ill suited to diagnose erratic beats

 

Mines been recorded as low as 40bpm, but I've lost 4 stone, so its reasonable to assume my heart has less blood to pump and less distance to pump it.

*********************
Charge HR 2
208lbs 01/01/18 - 197.8lbs 24/01/18 - 140lbs 31/12/18
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Oh well I wouldn't know if it's erratic, but have no reason to suspect it is.

 

Looking on reddit's /r/fitness it's sounding fairly normal for someone who's young and works out a bit, despite the term "athlete" being thrown around.  So it's probably ok. 

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I have always had a resting heartrate in the 40s.  Usually around 46.  I was a competitive swimmer for a long time, and am still very active.  In part due to the low heartrate, I am a better long-distance athlete than sprinter, and it is very difficult for me to get my heartrate up above 160, and when I do I feel like I'm going to pass out.  The 150s are my peak.

 

My doctor says my heartrate is "olympic."  He has never expressed any concern, and said generally speaking, unless you are having palpitations or other abnormalities, a resting heartrate in the 40s and 50s is a good thing, not a bad thing.

 

I would also note that the Charge HR (I have one too) is often 5-10 beats lower than actual heartrate, although I think that disparity is more common while heartrate is elevated.  It may be very accurate at rest.

 

If you are concerned, check in with your doc, but honestly, I would not be too concerned with a lower heartrate - that tends to signal a healthy heart.  The following is from the American Heart Association website:

 

"But a heart rate lower than 60 doesn’t usually signal a medical problem. It could be the result of taking a drug such as a beta blocker. A lower heart rate is also common for people who get a lot of physical activity or are very athletic, Stein said. Active people often have lower heart rates because their heart muscle is in better condition and doesn’t need to work as hard to maintain a steady beat.

 

“Moderate physical activity doesn’t usually change the resting pulse much,” Stein said. “If you’re very fit, it could change to 40. A less active person might have a heart rate between 60 and 100,” he added. That’s because the heart muscle has to work harder to maintain bodily functions, making it higher."

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I had some palpitations a couple of years back but was obese then (no idea what HR was) and a drinker of very strong cups of coffee - I noticed it was only while I was drinking it or shortly afterward - so am not overly concerned about any links to the low resting HR I'm presently experiencing.  Thanks for the thoughts on it all.

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a few days ago, i had a "fitness test" via Polar HRM, and my bpm hit 43 minimum and about 50 max. it said my VO2 max value was in the "very good" line.

 

so i guess its not bad, as a matter of fact i want to reach "elite" with an even lower resting heart rate

 

 

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@reuel wrote:

a few days ago, i had a "fitness test" via Polar HRM, and my bpm hit 43 minimum and about 50 max. it said my VO2 max value was in the "very good" line.

 

so i guess its not bad, as a matter of fact i want to reach "elite" with an even lower resting heart rate

 

 


Make sure you answer the Athlete hours of exercise a week correctly, some miss that.

Also want the morning after a rest day, since it is reading some heart rate variability to help decide some factors.

 

And if you have a better clue about HRmax then standard 220-age, manually input that too prior to test.

 

It's a combo of resting, max, athlete hours, and BMI (height/weight) that are used to calculate VO2max.

So need to redo the test after weight loss. Which automatically makes VO2max go up, even if fitness hasn't improved.

 

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16168867

 

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The best thing to do to determine what is happening is to see a cardiologist and get a few tests done (holter monitor, cardiac stress testing, etc.)

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Thanks for the input all, it must've been an anomoly with that one day (maybe with it being a half day, or possibly the Fitbit doing some early calibration) as my resting heart rate has ranged in the 60s ever since. I have seen it below 60 occasionally when checking but am not overly worried.

 

Screenshot 2015-05-12 22.11.23.png

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Per my Charge, my resting heart rate during sleep goes as low as 38 (yes, 38). My daily average ranges from 48 to 50. I'm female, age 53, on meds for hypothyoid, and weight about 195 (have lost over 75 pounds in past 3 years). I have a sendentary job but I exercise daily for 1 to 2 hours (Strength, HIIT, conditioning). When doing HIIT, my HR never gets above 140, even though I push it hard (to point that breathing is difficult and I can't talk). Should I be concerned about my low resting HR - especially during sleep? Don't want to not wake up one morning.

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@GettingFIt53 wrote:

Per my Charge, my resting heart rate during sleep goes as low as 38 (yes, 38). My daily average ranges from 48 to 50. I'm female, age 53, on meds for hypothyoid, and weight about 195 (have lost over 75 pounds in past 3 years). I have a sendentary job but I exercise daily for 1 to 2 hours (Strength, HIIT, conditioning). When doing HIIT, my HR never gets above 140, even though I push it hard (to point that breathing is difficult and I can't talk). Should I be concerned about my low resting HR - especially during sleep? Don't want to not wake up one morning.


If you have been doing the exercise for years (job doesn't matter) and are really fit, then having a low restingHR isn't that unusual. That is a tad below low though.

 

You could respond really well to aerobic training though, and low HRmax indicates you have a diesel type heart (slow beating but big volume, compared to Honda heart) likely - which is genetic, training doesn't change that.

 

The concern is when it beats that slow, is it missing some beats too, or getting bad rhythms going.

 

If you feel like spending the money, a VO2max test not only will give some good figures and HRmax measurement - but they test for any heart irregularities too while HR is increasing. They'll stop the test if any indicated, otherwise away you go.

 

You'd have to choose treadmill or cycle (if they have both) - and recommend spend some weeks doing the specific type of training like the test will be.

While you may be fit, most people aren't used to running up at perhaps 20 degree incline, and can cramp out much faster than system is ready to give up - and that doesn't really count then.

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I bought my fit bit two weeks ago and was shocked to find my resting heart rate during the day is around 48 bbm and at night during sleep as low as 37. I am in my fifties and do exercise typically 5-10 miles running per week and some swimming but by no means an athlete.I know someone who is a doctor and she said as long as your heart rate varies and responds to exercise, which mine does, there should not be a problem.Having said that she still seemed surprised at how low it is! During 10k runs it gets up to around 163 and my readings are always constant for all activity types be it rest sleeping or running.
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I agree, if you weren't an athlete and working on on a regular basis, then a resting heart rate below 50 may be something to be concerned about.  But a trained athlete's heart beccomes a more efficient pump which means it had to beat slower to deliver the amount of blood you body needs.  A trained athlete's heart is bigger, but its walls are not thicker. so it can pump more blood with each beat, where as a weight lifters heart is also bigger but the increased size is due to an increase in the walls thickness, to account for the increased pressure it must endure while the individual strains to lift heavy weight.  The weight lifters heart is not a more efficient pump, therefor his resting heart rate is not lower and does not equate to being more physically fit.

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Im another one who has been supprised by how low my resting heart rate is.  When I first got my fitbit it was between 60 and 66.  In the 3 weeks since then, as I have been exercsing more, this has decreased to 47.  Im not overly concerned but supprised as I am no athelete at all.  I only started exerciseing 3 weeks ago for the first time in years. 

HR.JPG

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I'm not an athlete, but a jogger in his 60's, and have had a very low HR for years (even before jogging, although I was usually a fairly active person). I think of myself as actually having two "resting heart rates" because they are so different: (1) at rest during the day which most people think of as "resting", like watching TV or sitting, when it is 45, and (2) in the middle of the night while sleeping when it is 35. My doctors think although this is low, it's perfectly OK as long as my pulse reflects my activity level. I've heard of a runner whose pulse at rest was reported to be 29!  OTOH, my wife's normal HR is around 90, and her Dr. isn't concerned with that either. It's an irregularity (like A-Fib) that IS a concern.

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My husband is very active and his resting heart rate is extrememly low, usually between 43 - 46.  When he was in the hospital for shoulder surgery and they had his heart rate hooked up, the alarm kept going off so they finally just shut it off.  The staff wasn't concerned only annoyed that they had to keep coming in and resetting it.

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I had the same problem when I was recently in the hospital for spine surgery, @Litespeed.  At first the nurses were pretty concerned about my low heart rate with the amount of pain I was in, but I told them that it was actually higher than normal. After a couple days, they finally accpeted it as being normal.

 

 

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I have the same problem when I am in hospital - they think I am having problems when I am absolutely fine. My resting heart rate has been 53 since I was a teenager but since I have gotton fitter the last 20 years or so it has dropped and is generally in the high half of the 40's. When it drops to 42 or so I start to get dizzy but it is rare for it to do that. Although I am fairly fit, the tendency to low pulse rate is inherited I think, as my mother had a low one too (and she was not especially fit)
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Helen | Western Australia

Want to discuss ways to increase your activity? Visit Get Moving in the Lifestyle Discussion Forum.

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@NellyG, as a general rule a low heart rate doesn't typically fall under the category of genetic inherited traits, it is usually related to cardiovascular fitness, or in rare cases with a medical condition.

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I dont doubt what you say, shipo, but if my mother and I shared a medical condition it didnt affect her longevity. She was 94 when she died, and although she was never 'fit' (no aerobic activity beyond a meandering walk a couple of times a week, even when she was younger, and certainly never played any sport, danced etc), she was always active. I am reasonably fit but wasnt in my youth and even then my resting pulse was 53. So maybe we both lucked out on the pulse side of things with unrelated low pulse.
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Helen | Western Australia

Want to discuss ways to increase your activity? Visit Get Moving in the Lifestyle Discussion Forum.

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