Resting heart rate increasing

[sebastiana]

My resting heart rate has gone up from 47 ish to 54 during the past few days. I'm measuring this using a wrist heart rate monitor. I also have noticed, using the graph generated by the monitor, my heart rate while sleeping has gone up from a range of 40-43 on mid dec to 48-52 during the past few days. I exercise everyday (cardio) but since this increase I become afraid and put a rest day after two days of cardio. I also eat a lot during the day (cakes pastry etc.) since its holidays now ;). Does my heart rate increase because of too much eating bad stuff or is it because of too much exercise? I exercise to keep my weight stable (which is working, kept stable at 58 from start of december till now although I eat lots of sugar and fried stuff everyday).

Anyone ever heard of increased resting heart rate due to overeating? I looked around and only found it due to overexercise.

Because if it's just because of too much eating then I'll keep on exercising to keep my weight stable until the holidays are over and then I'll eat properly again and dont exercise as much.

Thanks yo

[Dominique]

I assume your "wrist heart rate monitor" is a Fitbit (since we are here). In my experience, resting heart rate as reported by Fitbit temporarily increases when I’m stressed or ill (e.g. cold etc.). It goes back to normal when the stress / illness subsides. In your case, maybe the excitement of the holiday season is what is causing this, as well as the increased exercise to compensate overeating. Just wait until it’s over and see if things are back to normal.

[GershonSurge]

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@sebastiana wrote:

 Anyone ever heard of increased resting heart rate due to overeating? I looked around and only found it due to overexercise.

Thanks yo

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If it's diet related, it's the excess fat, not the sugar that's causing it. Fat clings to the red blood cells and causes them to stick together in stacks like coins. Then they have problems getting through the small blood vessels. It also causes the oxygen content of the blood to decrease. 

Excess fat is more than about 10-15% of calories from fat. The average American consumes over 40% fat, which is the reason for so many heart problems.

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2015nl/dec/foodandsexp2.htm

[Dominique]

@GershonSurge: even if that were the case, cardiovascular problems don’t develop from a few days of overeating (a bit like lung cancer doesn’t develop from a few days, or even a few months, of smoking). The clogging of arteries from dietary fat takes time to happen and I don’t think a sudden increase in resting HR would have much to do with it.

[bcalvanese]

There are many things that can affect your resting heart rate.

stress, coffee, food, drink, smoking, sickness, exercise, recovery, hydration, etc..

i dont think micro monitoring it over a few days should be cause for alarm. It should be monitored over time as an average. If you are doing cardio every day, your average resting heart rate should gradually go down over time. This is an indication that your fitness level is improving. If it goes up a few BPM over a couple days, it's probably nothing to be concerned about to the point where you need to adjust your life style.

If you are realy concerned you can consult with your doctor.

[GershonSurge]

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@Dominique wrote:

@GershonSurge: even if that were the case, cardiovascular problems don’t develop from a few days of overeating (a bit like lung cancer doesn’t develop from a few days, or even a few months, of smoking). The clogging of arteries from dietary fat takes time to happen and I don’t think a sudden increase in resting HR would have much to do with it.

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Remember the question I answered:

Anyone ever heard of increased resting heart rate due to overeating? I looked around and only found it due to overexercise.

Note: I said If it's diet related... and went on to explain the possible mechanism.

First of all, it IS the case. A high fat meal causes the red blood cells to clump together resulting in about a 20% reduction in the ability to carry oxygen. The mechanism is likely that when the fat coats the blood cells it reduces their negative charge which gives them the ability to repel each other. This is not new science. The natural result of a reduction of ability to carry oxygen is an increased heart rate. 

Secondly, I did NOT say clogging of arteries happened with one meal. However, the clogging of small capillaries can take place in one meal because the red blood cells can no longer fold in half to make it through the tight areas. (Don't ask me why they fold in half, but they do.) 

[sebastiana]

 This is my graph showing resting heart rate. Any thoughts??

[sebastiana]

and this is my typical workout. used to do it daily though now i added 1 rest day in between because my muscles are too sore.

[Dominique]

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@sebastiana wrote:

 This is my graph showing resting heart rate. Any thoughts?? 

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Some thoughts:

1) you started from a lower than average level

2) the increase looks sharp, but the period is short (3 weeks) and the absolute increase is only 10 bpm

3) it was most likely induced by your circuit workouts, not your eating

What is your training history? Did you start from totally sedentary and switch to intense training sessions once a day?

Under normal conditions, cardio training should lower your resting HR over time. In your case, it appears to have done the opposite. Probably because it was already low to begin with (so not much potential to bring it even lower) and because you introduced too much exercise too quickly. Just take it easy and see what happens after a while.

[SunsetRunner]

I have the Fitbit Surge and generally my resting heart rate by a Friday/Saturday morning us about 49/50. This is after eating healthy and been way under what my calorie intake should be through the week. However, after a weekend of binge eating and lots of treats, meals out, desserts, sweets and sometimes alcohol it rises to about 55-58 by the Monday morning. I am very active averaging around 16, 000 steps a day on top of my jogging, workout and cycling which I do about 3/4 times a week. Based on my routine of what and when I eat and how and when my resting heart rate rises and falls I would say, yes, what you eat certainly has an effect. 

[Jen-jen51]

I have had fit bit for nearly a year now. I do on average of least 15000 steps a day and follow a healthy eating regime and my resting heart rate is usually 55 - until I go on holiday! Despite on some days almost doubling amount of steps I find that coming off my healthy diet  and eating cakes pastries chips etc my RHR will go up to 65 - 67. Looking back on my fit bits stats I can clearly see when I was on holiday - I take quite a few holidays! For me I feel it has to be related to food! 

[Mukluk4]

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@Dominique wrote:

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@sebastiana wrote:

 This is my graph showing resting heart rate. Any thoughts?? 

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Some thoughts:

1) you started from a lower than average level

2) the increase looks sharp, but the period is short (3 weeks) and the absolute increase is only 10 bpm

3) it was most likely induced by your circuit workouts, not your eating

What is your training history? Did you start from totally sedentary and switch to intense training sessions once a day?

Under normal conditions, cardio training should lower your resting HR over time. In your case, it appears to have done the opposite. Probably because it was already low to begin with (so not much potential to bring it even lower) and because you introduced too much exercise too quickly. Just take it easy and see what happens after a while.

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I'll add that if I don't sleep enough (4-5 hours instead of 6+) and I have a strenuous exercise day, my RHR is usually higher than those days in which I get enough sleep/not work so hard.

[Kaishakay]

GersonSurge you are so wrongggg. You should consider looking at the recent evidence from factual peer reviewed journals instead of a website that wants you to eat their food. I'm a scientist, and it's super common for older studies to be unreplicatable, or for the research to be swayed by their funders..

In summary, fats are not the culprit. sugars are way more likely to cause you harm than fats if you are a normal human (not already overweight, and are active)

Appel LJ, Sacks FM, Carey VJ, et al. Effects of protein, monounsaturated fat, and carbohydrate intake on blood pressure and serum lipids: results of the OmniHeart randomized trial. JAMA. 2005;294:2455-64.

Halton TL, Liu S, Manson JE, Hu FB. Low-carbohydrate-diet score and risk of type 2 diabetes in women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008;87:339-46.

Halton TL, Willett WC, Liu S, et al. Low-carbohydrate-diet score and the risk of coronary heart disease in women. N Engl J Med. 2006;355:1991-2002.

[Bjournot]

I'm glad someone mentioned that the above comments regarding fats and sugars were backwards!

[Dominique]

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@sebastiana wrote:

 This is my graph showing resting heart rate. Any thoughts??

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@sebastiana: since this old topic was recently revisited and more than one year has elapsed since you started it, how has your resting HR been doing during that time?