Ionic Heart Rate Questions

[Gregerator]

I've been doing some research on heart rate recently and had a few questions as related to my ionic:

1. I use a medical grade blood pressure monitor to keep an eye on my blood pressure since high blood pressure runs in my family. Every time I check my blood pressure (once or twice a day) the heart rate reading on the monitor is about 5 bpm lower than what my ionic is measuring at the time. I keep my ionic one finger above my wrist bone and fairly snug on my wrist. Is there anything else I can do to try and get these to line up? I have had the blood pressure monitor calibrated for pressure and heart rate in the last year so I have great confidence it is accurate.
2. I've done a good bit of research on this recently, and most places I can find (including the Mayo Clinic) say that your resting heart rate can be measured by sitting still for 3-5 minutes and then checking what your pulse is. The last week or so i've done this a whole bunch of times and my heart rate in these conditions as measured by my ionic is anywhere from 65-68 bpm, suggesting this should be my resting heart rate. However, fitbit is reporting it to be anywhere from 72-76 bpm during the same period. Does anyone know what factors fitbit uses to define ones resting heart rate? I've seen the canned "24 hour data is used...." response a bunch of times on similar threads, and I'm hoping that someone can provide actual data instead of just the canned response.

Moderator edit: Updated subject for clarity.

[Colinm39]

@GregeratorFitbit stress that we should wear our wrist trackers 24/7 and I have found a definite correlation between sleeping average HR and RHR.

The spikes in the sleeping HR are mainly because our weather in Melbourne is now well into Spring and the night temperatures are up and down. For instance the other night it was 23oC (73oF) and the night before 12oC (53oF)... So one extra blanket etc causes the spikes.

Also many of us have observed that the RHR is a precursor to some form of ailment.. Colds, throat etc always have my RHR rise gradual about 5 bpm.

It's interesting the last 10 days I have had what I think is a gout flare in my left toe and the doctor is taking tests, as well as, me rest etc so RHR has plateaued. My cardio score is 42-46.

My average over 12 months is sleep 56 and RHR 55...

[Gregerator]

Interesting. My resting heart rate always seems to be reported between 5-10 bpm higher than my sleeping heart rate. Which makes sense, except that my heart rate frequently drops below the reported resting heart rate when I am resting during the day.

[Colinm39]

@GregeratorThat's interesting.... the reverse of mine..  Topend Sports link has some insights into RHR.  Fitbit state that your RHR can be higher than your sleeping HR, but not me. This link

My Omron BP monitor shows the same BPM as the Ionic and as I'm sitting here typing my HR is 59, the Live heart on the App is 59 and the Ionic the same. Finger on pulse 60.

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@Gregerator wrote:

Interesting. My resting heart rate always seems to be reported between 5-10 bpm higher than my sleeping heart rate. Which makes sense, except that my heart rate frequently drops below the reported resting heart rate when I am resting during the day.

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[Frankie915]

I recently upgraded to a Versa 3 months ago ( coming from a Samsung s3 and Garmin Vivosmart). On the other two device, I would log a RHR of 65-68. After a week of wearing my Versa, I saw my RHR was in the upper 70s. After doing some research I discovered that Fitbit has it's own secret formula (which is impossible to find) of calculating RHR. Its a combination of sleeping HR and HR during the day when you have been still for a certain amount of time. At first I hated this but it has actually been more helpful. My S3 and Garmin would use the lowest HR I recorded while sleeping but overall this wasn't a big help if I only recorded that HR once or twice a night. Using Fitbit's data, I reduced the amount of caffeine I drank and increased my water intake. I also started getting an extra hour of sleep because my HR was lower on night where I got better sleep. I view the data more as more of a way to connect the dots with other factors such as sleep, exercise, steps in a day. Days where i have a lower RHR, I see what I did there such as steps or sleep the night before. When I have a higher RHR, I look at the data to see if I had a bad night of sleep or maybe I wasn't that active the day before. Hope that helps!

[Gregerator]

Thanks Frankie915,

That is helpful! Sounds like fitbit uses a proprietary algorithm, which means that it probably doesn't matter how badly I want to see it because they won't release it.

I do wonder why they don't just look at the lowest registered heart rate while a person is awake (since they can determine if one is awake or asleep fairly accurately) and use that as the resting heart rate, since this seems to be the medical definition.

[Frankie915]

Ya I'm not sure why they use that data. Just a wild guess but based on news articles and trends, I believe Fitbit may be getting into the health care/insurance field. Maybe they plan on using this data to give an overall picture of the heart vs just sleeping data. Now that's a just guess but in terms of how I have found it to be helpful. All last week my RHR was 68-69 and I was so happy cause I haven't had it that low (in Fitbit's app). Friday night I went out in Atlantic City for a friend's bday and between singing Living on a Prayer all night and drinks, my RHR the next morning was 76. So through out the day I took it easy by skipping my morning run, loading up on water and taking a mid day nap. By 3pm my RHR went  down to 72 which was due to being more sedentary and recording a HR lower than 76. Now my steps were half as they normally would be but my high RHR signaled that I should prob take it easy. They should consider changing the name from resting HR to awake HR but overall if you understand where the data comes from, you can choose what to do with it. Here is a link from a site i frequently read where he breaks down Apple, Garmin and Fitbit's way of analyzing RHR. Overall I prefer Fitbit's

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/02/understanding-continual-optical.html

[Gregerator]

So your resting heart rate has changed mid-day before? Interesting. Mine never has, even after sitting and watching the app pick up a heart rate 10 bpm lower than the "reported" RHR for 5 minutes or more.

[Frankie915]

And this is where the mysterious algorithm comes in. I don't know what exactly triggers the decrease or increase. For instance, I work in an office. I get up every 50 minutes to take 250 steps to clear the move reminder. Outside of that I'm either typing, reading or on the phone. There are times where my left arm (where I wear my cards) isn't moving for 30-40 minutes. Same thing when i take a nap on the weekends (somes it's only an hour or so Fitbit doesn't count it as sleep) my RHR will go down a beat. Now here is the where Fitbit can make improvement, there is no way on the app or the dashboard to see at what point your RHR moved. So what I do is check my RHR when I get to work and then again at 12pm. If it goes down great. If it goes up, I'll drink more water or cut back on my morning cup of coffee. Again for me it's less of a reflection of my heart health but more a reflection of how outside factors influey my heart rate. I don't know if that helped or caused more confusion lol 

[Gregerator]

Definitely helps! I am going to pay more close attention to see if the RHR reading changes at all during the day for me.

[YojanaFitbit]

Thanks for reaching out the Forums guys! 

Your heart rate information will be changing depending on the activities that you're doing. What is the higher BPM that you have reached while working out? Are you currently taking medications or have you been sick (like headaches, fever or just a simple flu)? For how long have you been using your Fitbit? 

If you notice that your heart rate is not accurate, I would suggest also to restart your Fitbit Surge a couple of times to see if this helps and check this wearing tips to improve the HR accuracy. 

Please keep me posted! 

[Gregerator]

Hey Yojana,

Thanks for replying. I'll try to answer all your questions below:

• I usually peak around 180 during the highest intensity portion of my workouts. I know that it changes throughout the day as heart rate changes - i'm mostly asking about the reported resting heart rate 🙂
• I am taking medications - I am on a constant medical regimen due to chronic illness. So that shouldn't have an effect - they haven't changed recently.
• I have been using heart rate enabled fitbits since the end of 2015 - first surge, then charge 2, now ionic.

[MarreFitbit]

Thanks for replying back @Gregerator! Heart rate reading varies depending on several factors like movement, temperature, humidity, stress level, physical body position, caffeine intake, and medication. As mentioned here, please review our information and tips for heart rate accuracy here.

I've seen that you chatted with our support team in regards to this. If you're still having inconveniences, my best recommendations would be to keep the conversation with them as they have all the necessary tools to look into this and see what are the next steps. 

If you have any questions, let us know. 

[Frankie915]

Hey so it seems like most of the responses on here are general responses. Just wanted to give you an update of things I've noticed. So Saturday night I went out for Halloween and spent most of the night drinking and dancing. My resting heart rate yesterday morning was 73. I checked the graph and I did have a high heart rate while sleeping (prob for to falling asleep in my costume and tequila). Yesterday I was pretty inactive. I went for a short walk but other than that I was recovering and watching Lost. Around 8pm I checked my RHR for the day and it was down to 75. I'm guessing that in order for your RHR to drop, there has to be a high number of reasons under the shown average of the day. Also I took an hour nap during the day in which my HR floated between 68-72 BPM. The algorithm that Fitbit uses may weigh RHR measurements while sleeping more than those during the day. For instance (again I'm just guessing) RHR measurements from 1am-2am withw more than RHR from 1pm-2pm for to less variance in reading over the same amount of time. Even lifting your  arm to scratch your head or reach for a gladg of water can raise your HR a few beats before returning to normal where isit pretty linear when sleeping. I can send screenshots of the graphs if needed but unfortunately it doesn't show where the average RHR for the day changed

[MarreFitbit]

Hey there @Frankie915, thanks for jumping in here and for proving such a detailed information about your situation!

As I've stated, your heart rate may be affected by any a number of factors at any given moment. Movement, temperature, humidity, stress level, physical body position, caffeine intake, and medication use are just a few things that can affect your heart rate. Different medical conditions and medications can impact your heart rate as well.

When your heart beats, your capillaries expand and contract based on blood volume changes. PurePulse LED lights on your device reflect onto the skin to detect blood volume changes and finely tuned algorithms are applied to measure heart rate automatically and continuously. The heart-rate icon you see on the display tells you if you're in 1 of 3 heart-rate zones.

Resting heart rate refers to the heart rate measured when you’re awake, calm, comfortable, and have not recently exerted yourself. We use your heart rate data from when you’re awake and asleep to estimate your resting heart rate. For best accuracy, wear your device to sleep. 

Your resting heart rate is usually higher than your heart rate while you are asleep, so don’t be surprised if your resting heart rate is higher than the lowest number that you see in your heart rate graphs.

Your tracker can have difficulty finding a signal, typically due to the tracker's fit. For example, wearing your band tightly may constrict blood flow in your wrist and affect the signal. We recommend experimenting with how high you place the tracker on your wrist. When you're not exercising, wearing the tracker just above the wrist bone--as you would a watch--typically works fine. However, moving the tracker up a couple inches can be helpful during high-intensity exercises or exercises that cause you to bend your wrist frequently. If you haven't already done so, please review our recommendations for wear and other tips shared by @SantiFitbit. 

If you're wearing the tracker correctly and the heart rate setting isn't turned off, try changing the setting from On to OFF and then sync your tracker, afterwards go back to the original setting On and re-sync your tracker. The change won't take affect until you sync. If heart rate doesn't seem to start tracking correctly, try restarting your Ionic.

Note that on Fitbit Ionic, the heart-rate value appears gray if your watch is searching for a stronger reading.
 

Occasionally your device may have difficulty getting a strong signal. If you don't see your heart rate on your device, first make sure you are wearing it correctly. After a short wait, you should see your correct heart rate again. On Ionic, make sure the Heart Rate setting is On. For additional troubleshooting, see Why don't I see my heart rate on my Fitbit device?

Give this a go and let me know how it goes!