Pulse Decay after Exercise

[garybartlett]

I read all the emails here and therefore I know there are some bright folks around:  I am frequently impressed.  So I have a question:

I notice that after I do my 5 mile walk, it takes a very long time for my pulse rate to decay to something that would be a normal resting pulse for me, a 72 year-old 165 lb male.  I know that exercise will raise my metabolism but are there published data that show nominal pulse decay rates after moderate exercise  which for me is mostly typically in the Fitbit cardio range; never in the fat burn range; maybe,say, 25% in the peak range?

My sleeping pulse rate is in the mid-50s, my sit-and-watch TV rate is mid-60s, and I occasionally push myself to something in the order of 125 BPM on a walk.  So far as I know my heart is healthy.

Any comments from you professionals?

Regards,

Gary

[bcalvanese · Accepted solution]

If you are talking about recovery rate, this may be what you are looking for...

https://www.sharecare.com/health/fitness-exercise/article/heart-rate-recovery

[garybartlett]

@bcalvanese Perfect. Tnx!

Regards,

Gary

[GershonSurge]

@garybartlett,

Gary,

This is the best study I could find. It was done by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. One part of the Cleveland Clinic is renowned for reversing heart disease in the late stages. 

In a nutshell, they measured the heart rate one minute after exercise. This is important: The test subjects walked on a treadmill at 1.5 mph at a 2.5% grade during that minute. This would be comparable to walking on a level surface according to other sources I don't remember. 

The heart rate dropping 12 bpm or more is good. Less than 10 bpm is reason to consult a doctor as it is indicative of a greatly increased mortality rate from all causes (not just heart disease.)

"There were 2428 patients who met all inclusion criteria. The median value for heart-rate recovery was 17 beats per minute, with a range from the 25th to the 75th percentile of 12 to 23 beats per minute."

The study used the Bruce Protocol, which I don't think many people can complete unless they are already excellent runners. I surmise the cool down test period began when the person could no longer continue with the protocol.

The easy way to get data with the Fitbit Surge or other device with a HRM would be to start a new workout when the cool down period starts and walk slowly for five or ten minutes. 

[shipo]

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@GershonSurge wrote:

In a nutshell, they measured the heart rate one minute after exercise. This is important: The test subjects walked on a treadmill at 1.5 mph at a 2.5% grade during that minute. This would be comparable to walking on a level surface according to other sources I don't remember. 

The heart rate dropping 12 bpm or more is good. Less than 10 bpm is reason to consult a doctor as it is indicative of a greatly increased mortality rate from all causes (not just heart disease.)

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Interesting; maybe I'm an outlier, but what if walking for one minute at 1.5 mph at a 2.5% grade doesn't raise your heart rate 12 BPM during the test?

[GershonSurge]

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@shipo wrote:

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@GershonSurge wrote:

In a nutshell, they measured the heart rate one minute after exercise. This is important: The test subjects walked on a treadmill at 1.5 mph at a 2.5% grade during that minute. This would be comparable to walking on a level surface according to other sources I don't remember. 

The heart rate dropping 12 bpm or more is good. Less than 10 bpm is reason to consult a doctor as it is indicative of a greatly increased mortality rate from all causes (not just heart disease.)

---

Interesting; maybe I'm an outlier, but what if walking for one minute at 1.5 mph at a 2.5% grade doesn't raise your heart rate 12 BPM during the test?

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I think you misunderstood. That was the cool down after the treadmill test. 

[garybartlett]

@GershonSurge@shipo@bcalvanese Thanks, guys.  I'm a retired enginer with a mind that finds darn near everything interesting.  It suddenly occurred to me yesterday it would be interesting to see what "intelligience" I might find buried in the data generated by Fitbit.  You've given me a place to start (and the correct terminology). 

...and answer the question: why does my heart rate remain elvated and decline slowly for a long time after exercise.  Is  that good or bad?  What is normal (if, indeed, there is a nominal answer)?  Is it indicative of what I have long expected:  a decent exercise has a long term positive benefit by keeping one's metabolism high and doing the body good things for a period longer than just the length of time it takes to perform the exercise.

Or does it mean that my heart is worn out. 

[Note:  I am recovering from multiple myeloma, an incurable but treatable blood cancer.  Everything I read stresses the benefits of exercise during recovery from this (and probably every) disease.  It took me a full year to reach 10,000 paces/day and I just went over the 2 million paces mark as reported by Fitbit.  Can't say I didn't give it my best.]

Regards, all

Gary

[GershonSurge]

@garybartlett,

I wouldn't worry about it too much. About 10% of the people in that study died in the next six years from all causes. Many of those people had what was considered a good pulse decay. The nature of the selection wasn't specific, but given that it was done by a cardiac clinic, I suspect the people may have already had some sort of problem. In a similar study by Ken Cooper, as I recall, about 60-70% of the test group who died didn't die from heart disease. Given that the study was done in 1963, I suspect the test group was mostly men as heart disease in women was unusual at that time.

If you have some time, watch some videos by T. Colin Campbell who runs part of the Cleveland Clinic. He cures heart disease almost to the point of death through diet and exercise. Dr. Ornish and others are doing the same thing. It seems almost as soon as people start doing the "right" thing, the heart disease stops its progression and starts to reverse itself over the next five years. 

I question the idea of an increased metabolism being real from the point of view that I've become more efficient at doing things as I've gotten in better shape. I've also noted that the number of calories I burn while sleeping has declined about 8%. When I question something, it doesn't mean I disagree. All it means is I haven't observed it in myself.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of systems, that benefit from exercise. Additional blood vessels form. The lymphatic system is more efficient when there is movement, the ability of muscles to dissipate waste products improves, and even the blood cells get the ability to fold themselves to make it through small capillaries. Bones become denser. They are the one system in the body that can regenerate to the strength of youth according to a pathologist I know. 

Gotta run and enter the data from today's run into my spreadsheet. I'm also obsessive about numbers. 🙂

[shipo]

@garybartlett, generally speaking, the faster your heart rate drops after you return to a sedintary state the better shape you and your heart are in.

I am 59 and consider myself a semi-competitive distance runner, and have been training and racing with a Fitbit Surge for almost 17 months.  When I look at the data relative to heart rate recovery provided by my Surge I see some pretty interesting details:

• 07-Feb-2016: My second run following a 3.5 month layoff due to a non-running related injury.  My run this day was just over four miles with my heart rate peaking at 158 near the top of a steep climb.  Looking at the 5-minute heart rate plot for the end of the run the "5-minute average windows" shows a decline starting at 10:20 of 145, 103, 92, 84, at which point I was goofing around with my nephews and had an erratic rate for a while.  By noon my heart rate was back down into the 60s.
• 13-Sep-2016: Following seven months of gradually ramping up my training to previous levels I ran about four miles at about the same pace as I did on 07-Feb.  Looking at the actual run I see my heart rate peaked at 120 several times during the run, significantly lower than the one in February.  Looking at the "5-minute average windows" shows a decline starting at 12:30 of 119, 115, 66, 51.
• 11-Sep-2016: Another way to look at the way my heart has changed over the last seven months is to look at this last Sunday's trail run; I went for 12.4 miles at an average pace 40 seconds per mile faster than the above two runs, and at the end of the run my heart rate peaked at 173.  Looking at the "5-minute average windows" shows a decline starting at 15:45 of 161, 110, 78, 69.

Long story short, it seems your heart is in pretty good shape based upon your recovery times, but there is room for it to get even better with more activity.  🙂