Random heart rate spike

[Hana90]

I’ve had charge 4 for year and half and this never happened so wondering if it could be glitch? Yesterday I had recorded 4 mins of cardio as high as 160bpm and 4 mins of fat burn zone. My heart rate never spikes this high even during brisk walk. The thing is this supposedly happened while I was sitting in my friends living room. I am female 31, resting heart rate averages around 73, I’ve recently had blood pressure and ecg done which didn’t show anything abnormal 🤷🏼‍:female_sign: Anyone had this happened? Seems so random but it freaked me out. 

[littlemissmax]

I was in drs this morning for check up, blood pressure fine and getting sent for ecg as it keeps happening to me while just sat doing nothing. Spikes to 180bmp for a minute or 2 🤷🏻‍:female_sign: Freaking me out too.

[Hana90]

When did it start happening for you? I’m actually convinced it must be fault in Fitbit at this point. When I go for a brisk walk my average HR will be about 125 with the peak about 143 max, it never goes beyond so it is strange it would happen while doing nothing. I had ecg 3 weeks ago and it looked all fine 🤷🏼‍:female_sign: 

[littlemissmax]

It’s been happening about once a week since I had my baby 12 weeks ago, every time it happens I’m sat on sofa. It’s not always the same spike reading for me can be upto 194bpm but never more than a minute or 2. It is most probably a faulty reading with the Fitbit, getting sent for a ecg next week to be sure and bloods checked.

[Hana90]

Considering you had a baby so recently it’s good you’re getting it checked definitely  congratulations and good luck 😊

I did have the blood test and ecg and it was fine hopefully it will be the same for you. It’s just frustrating if it’s a fault, then it’s quite disappointing and causing lot of stress. I’m thinking about switching to Apple Watch after this as there’s seems to be a lot of vague readings on Fitbit. 

[littlemissmax]

Yes it’s a real cause for anxiety and thank you 😊 I’ve also been considering switching to Apple Watch too x

[Golfer81]

As someone who has suffered from panic attacks in the past,  the random heart rate spike is also freaky.  However, this happens to me on my Fitbit Sense.   Also happened a lot on my previous Fitbit.  My resting heart rate is upper 60s. So when I’m sitting at my office or relaxing on the couch and it shoots up 140+  Most times I can feel that my HR is no where near that and I post it no mind.  However this happened again today Ave so I grabbed my pulse oximeter and it showed a HR of 75 and my Fitbit Sense said 143.  And right now the pulse oximeter is showing 80 and my Sense is 102.   Also have a cheaper HR monitor and it also showed 79 so my Sense seems to be acting up.  

if you have the means to get another secondary  HR monitor to confirm if these spikes  are legit or just the Fitbit messing up.  This will give you so peace of mind.. 

[Hana90]

Thank you for your reply. It didn’t happen for a while now but I still get random spikes through the day. What I’ve noticed is they usually happen when I’m outside and it’s really cold. I have not noticed it before so maybe it’s something to do with the cold confusing the sensor? 
when it happens I usually check my HR manually and it’s nowhere near the high number than when I readjust Fitbit it goes back down. 
it is very odd.

I have recently had two ECGs done and getting 24/7 monitor too (for unrelated health check) and they didn’t show anything abnormal going on with my heart  so for now I’m putting it down to glitching but it scares the hell out of me sometimes 

[littlemissmax]

How did you get on with 24hr holter? I’ve also had one but it didn’t show anything but the Fitbit didn’t spike in the 24hrs also had echocardiogram done and all fine but it’s still happening 🤷🏻‍:female_sign:

[RoseRobinLamb]

This happened to me, too. The most recent spike was around 4a yesterday morning while I was asleep. I also wear an Apple Watch, which showed my heart rate was normal during that same timeframe.

There is a way to download your Fitbit’s metadata to see if the Watch thinks it was a “reliable reading.” When I’ve done that in the past, the spikes were not reliable readings.

Various things can mess up the readings. Shadows, wearing the device too loose, wearing the device too tight, water sneaking under the wristband, etc.  My nightstand, for instance, will cause both my Fitbit Sense and my Apple Watch to show random heart rate spikes when I’m not even wearing them.

Even if it appears to be a random spike, it’s good to be cleared by a cardiologist, just in case the reading is valid.

[littlemissmax]

I wanted to download it but can’t seem to figure out how to do it, I’m tempted to get a Apple Watch too and compare the readings 

[Snufflegrl]

Me too, random high jumps when I'm doing nothing at my desk and even when I check my pulse rate manually it doesn't seem fast