Heart rate on watch and app not matching

[Kimber87]

I have a medical condition that causes my heart rate to Spike upon sudden changes in my position (i.e. Laying down to sitting to Standing up) I've looked at my watch and it has said over 130/140 several times, but my app isn't registering anything over 120! What's the deal?? By the way this is normal every day activity, no workouts what so ever! 

[Kimber87]

I have a medical condition that causes my heart rate to Spike upon sudden changes in my position (i.e. Laying down to sitting to Standing up) I've looked at my watch and it has said over 130/140 several times, but my app isn't registering anything over 120! What's the deal?? 

[WavyDavey · Accepted solution]

Orthostatic hypotension? It sure seems to raise the resting heart rate...

The graphs are an average of the heart rate, while the tracker is real-time. So if your condition causes sudden but brief spikes in heart rate, they wouldn't show up in the graph, or show up as minutes in the cardio or peak zone. Hope this helps.

[Kimber87]

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome! I have a low BP, High HR. My normal HR is around 110 (just sitting upright). I think yesterday my average was 114bpm. 

So basically my HR has to peak at that rate for a certain amount of time before it will register? 

[MikeF]

The app is showing a 5 minute average so it would have to be high for at least that long to register the actual value (and longer if it didn't conveniently go to the high rate on a 5 minute boundary).

[WavyDavey]

I'm not certain, but I believe that when recording an activity or workout, the heart rate is sampled more often. If that's true (someone correct me if I'm misremembering), you could use that function to give more fine details. You could take an hour or two a day, start the exercise mode, and let it moinitor your heart for that period. If my assumption is correct, that might give more meaningful data for your condition.

I have a lot of times my heart rate hits the peak zone for a minute, but never registers as peak minutes and sometimes doesn't show on the graph at all.

[MikeF]

It ceratinly samples more often but even in activity mode it will only display a one-minute average figure. Better, but still not good enough to catch a spike but then, that's not what these things are designed to do.

[Rich_Laue]

Correct, as @WavyDavey says it idisppays in the app as an average. More specifically a 15 second averarage. So lets say for 13 seconds the heartrate is about 80 but for 2 seconds it is at 160. 

13 seconds at 80bpm would be 17.3 beats

2 seconds at 160bpm would be 5.3 beats

Therefore in the 15 seconds the heart did 22.6 beets. 17.3 + 5.3

There are 4 (15 second) periods in a minute. 

So for those 15 seconds the average heartrate displayed is 89.2 bpm.

Things change a lot while the tracker is in an event recording mode. Durring this time the Heartrate is shown beong averaged by 1 sevond.

[WavyDavey]

@MikeFThat makes sense. I guess in that situation all one could do is look at the tracker's real-time data when put in a situation that might trigger the condition.

[Rich_Laue]

Manually adding a walk durring the time in question will allow a person to monitor the heart rate in more detail.

The problem i see is i can't find a way to display the heart rate on the web, and in the app you cant zoom in.

But i probably am missing something. 

[Kimber87]

Thank you all! I wasn't expecting the graph to show everything. I basically just needed the tracker for my personal use to check in the event of an episode! I can easily glance at my wrist, and then take note of the event for my Drs records! I was just curious as to why it wasn't showing the spikes, but it makes sense now! 

[ptlkmxyz]

A good discussion, and the "solution" seems logical.  But it seems to me that this makes the heart rate data displayed in the app useless.  I too have had a heart condition and want accurate peaks and troughs to monitor my exercise and assess how my heart is now performing. Fitbit is not going to help me one iota.  Money wasted.

[moiracosgrove89]

I have pots too have you figured out a good cocktail that helps.?

[ojabromar]

Hello 

I was wondering the same thing and I realized you can see more details online if you go to fitbit.com and log on there. You will see the max HR you reached.

[OceansGarden]

Hi! I also have POTS and am brand new to using the fitbit. I've only had it a few days but it's telling me my cardio fitness is extremely poor due to my high resting heart rate (88-90). It also thinks I've been in "fat burning range" for most of the day (HR 110-130) but this is typically normal for me. Will this eventually be more accurate as it tracks/receives more data?

@moiracosgrove89, by 'cocktail' do you mean a preventative for symptoms of POTS? If so, I can tell you what's worked for me: 'Banana Bag' or 'Liquid IV'. I notice a big difference without them. My POTS is still awful at times, especially during the summer, but I can climb stairs without my heart feeling like it will beat out of my chest. If you've found any remedies please let me know. 🙂  

[Lesm09]

Not sure if you’ll even get this but I have POTS too and I have the same issue with my tracker! Your graphs look exactly like mine. Uncanny.

[abi99bell]

POTS by any chance? Same here, it usually does it in 5 minute intervals so it isn’t fully accurate on the graph. 

[IronDevil]

It feels like it would be an easy fix for FitBit to add in the device firmware the capability to store the max HR that the device sees every certain amount of time. Say the interval was every 5 minutes. If the device saw a 140 bpm, it would save that, but if within the rest of that 5 minute window it saw a 150 bpm result, it would throwout the 140 and save the 150. That would not take too much memory space. 

[sousbee]

Doesn't the "exercise mode" record the highest hr over however long a period you have it on?  I set "walk" and leave it on all day then end the time period, sync the app, and while it doesn't tell u the time of the highest bpm, it tells you how high your heart gets and approximate time.  That high never shows on just my heart rate graph for the day.  I set it even when sleeping. It definitely gives more info than any other function I can find on Versa 3.  And I hardly know how to operate this thing yet.

Record on an exercise function.  I use "walk" on versa 3 and let it run all night or all day.  It gives approx time and higher bpm than the heart rate graph app on the watch gives.  You have to stop the exercise period and sync app to watch first to get iinfo.

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Rich_Laue]

During an exercise your heart rate is displayed in smaller increments of time.