Wrong resting heart rate

[Anonymous__]

I have had a Fitbit for a while now. Switched from charge HR to Charge 2. I realised something...my heart rate while asleep gets in the 50s and below 50 (46 bpm) and my resting heart rate doesn't budge from 60 bpm. It's kind of frustrating because people have a heart rate in the 50s and their resting heart rate is in the 50s and mines in the 50s and even 40s but my RHR doesn't move. It impacts on what no VO2 max is and anything that requires a RHR. Someone tell me what is going on? I could be completely lazy with my Heart rate staying in the 50s and it still doesn't count it as the average. Either way, lazy or exercising, it hates going below 60. Please help!

[HeydyF]

Hi @Anonymous__, I hope you are doin' great!  Let me give you a hand on this. But first, I would like to ask you some questions. Did you recently change your activities? I mean, your exercise routine, or maybe the intensity? 'Cause that could be the reason why your resting heart rate is so low. On the other side, If you resting heart rate is from 50 to 60, it means that you are pretty healthy and you are very active. However, just in case, I suggest you to try to restart your Charge 2. Then use it for a few days more and let me know the results!  

Catch ya' later! 

[WavyDavey]

My RHR in Fitbit reads much higher than the lowest heart rate during the night. But I thought that was by design, that Fitbit is using some kind of average during the night, and not the same resting heart rate calculation that the AHA uses. I believe a true resting heart rate is to be measured shortly after waking? Not sure.

[HeydyF]

Hi @WavyDavey, it is great to see you around more often! That is right, 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 tracker 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. 

So I hope this answers your question, but if you have further comments, keep me posted! 

I'll be around! 

[Babybird2]

My resting heart rate -- awake or asleep -- is also incorrect.  How can I be certain?  I have a pacemaker that does not allow my heart to beat less than 60 bpm and I am getting readings in the 40s or 50s.  How do I fix this.  It seemed correct and suddenly went wrong.

[HeydyF]

Hi @Babybird2, welcome to the Community! 🙂 In this case, I suggest you to take a look at this post which contains tips to improve your heart rate and also some factors that may affect your hear rate readings. In case that none of them apply to your case, I would recommend you to contact your doctor directly, 'cause the Charge 2 isn't considered a medical device so you can't compare it with a pacemaker. 

Have a great day! 

[Babybird2]

Looks like my comment was not read in its entirety or the responder has no idea what a pacemaker is.  Fitbit IS providing erroneous information -- which makes it rather useless.  I restarted it twice and I am still getting the erroneously low readings for resting heart rate.  How does one fix the Fitbit??  Should it be returned because it doesn't work correctly?

[WavyDavey]

Did you try the tips in the link that @HeydyF posted? Those solved my issue with under-reporting of heart rate. Maybe they'll work for you.

I enjoy the heart rate data that the fitbit provides, but if I had a heart condition, I wouldn't rely heavily on its data. As stated, it's a fitness device, not a medical device. The distinction may be slight but it's important to make.

[Babybird2]

I have tried all the tips I have run across. I have restarted it twice. I
have tried it tighter. I have tried it looser. For a long time it gave me
results that seemed accurate -- and then it didn't. BTW, really, I'm not
an idiot. There is a difference between medical monitoring (which my
pacemaker does along with other tests) and the desire to monitor my HR for
exercise purposes. This device is no longer providing exercise based HR
information. I would like that function to work. There are so many
comments about it that one wonders if it really does work.

--

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[swiv]

I am pretty certain that the RHB is based on a 5 day moving average or some similar calculation.  The reason is that I have had several AFIB incidents where the heart rate changes significantly and immediately, yet the changes both when it becomes abnormally fast and resets to normal rhythm and speed (about 44 in my case) shows a reporting lag that gradually corrects itself over the five day period (straight line 5 day trend).  It might be a reasonable strategy for fitbit to smooth things out but if this is the case it should be shared and documented.  Any comments on the calculation method?

[Babybird2]

I asked the technician who runs the periodic checks on my pacemaker and she
advises that the Fitbit does not pick up certain kinds of heart beats. So,
it is actually missing a fair number of mine. I am correct that my heart
can not beat less than 60 beats per minute. The reason Fitbit shows number
is in the 40s and 50s is that it is inaccurate -- it does not record
certain weaker beats. Therefore, it does not provide me with an accurate
record of my resting heart rate.


--

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Colinm39]

@Babybird2When you create a Custom Manual record of your time period to analyze your HR I have found that a few months ago the Custom record showed a plot every 2.5 seconds. Today that same plotting is every 8 seconds..

When I go back a few months and recreate the Custom activity it still gives me plots at every 2.5 seconds. So the old data is there.

I have a low RHR, and last night there were periods of 41bpm while asleep.  Therefore it's definitely averaging and I can have 5 beats in that 8 seconds and I have the missing heart beat issue. (all passed by my cardiologists).

So I have resorted to the Polar H7 chest strap and the Elite HRV App exporting to the Kubios HRV software and all free. That picks up everything..

Create a Custom Activity and examine your HR from Fitbit as I have because you are probably correct, if it doesn't pick up the weak beats it will average low. But, it shouldn't because your pacemaker is set to a minimum of 60bpm.

Here is an example and I then home in on smaller periods.  The spike was a bathroom break..

---

@Babybird2 wrote:
I asked the technician who runs the periodic checks on my pacemaker and she
advises that the Fitbit does not pick up certain kinds of heart beats. So,
it is actually missing a fair number of mine. I am correct that my heart
can not beat less than 60 beats per minute. The reason Fitbit shows number
is in the 40s and 50s is that it is inaccurate -- it does not record
certain weaker beats. Therefore, it does not provide me with an accurate
record of my resting heart rate.


--
Mary Andrews

---

[Babybird2]

It isn't the first time this tech has run into this. She knew immediately
what I was talking about and said the Fitbit will never get it right. It
just doesn't have a good enough sensor to read my kind of heartbeat (it is
fine for my life just not for the Fitbit). So Fitbit is useless for me for
resting heartbeat. She told me how to manage heartbeat data while
exercising.

--

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Rich_Laue]

@swillman98 if your interested in the RHR you might want to read Fitbits documentation at http://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1565/#resting

.

@Baby birds there are just some things about the Heart rate that con not be detected by looking at the blood flow in the arm

[KiwiBerries]

My RHR also seems to be inaccurate in Fitbit logs.  It's currently 4:30am and I've been up and moving for over an hour.  I just sat to rest and my heart rate on my fitbit shows 43.  However, the app dashboard shows RHR of 48.  When I look at the daily stats, the lowest it tracks is 47, though the app is reading and displaying the current rate of 43.

Can you explain why it's not logging RHR of 43?  (Yes, I know the screenshot shows 44, not 43, it moved up 1 when I moved to take the screenshot)

[RogerPolk]

Hi @Anonymous__

I can only agree with you, I'm frustrated as my heart rate whilst sat at my desk at work or watching television is always in the mid fifties. Whilst asleep lower rates are recorded yet my resting heart rate according to the Fitbit app is 60bpm. Clearly wrong!!!

[NIKKIBABST]

@Anonymous__

@RogerPolk

@KiwiBerries

I am having the same problem but at a much higher scale than you. While your RHR is off with 5 pbm or so, mine is off with more than 20 bpm.

While I sleep my heart rate is higher than when awake and at rest. I average 75 while asleep, but I average 64 while awake. So its very weird when I look at my app and see an average heart rate of 77 or 75 and my fitbit is reading my current heart rate as 52. Thats 25 bpm off.

My heart rate graph also doesn't look like other people's. My heart rate rises when I go to sleep and then goes down when I am awake.

Lowest my heart rate has ever gone while asleep was 68 (but this is not the calculated average, just an extreme of a 5 minute avergae) Lowest my heart rate goes while awake is 52 (also extreme). I am completely baffled by this and can find no answers.

I would really like to know how fitbit calculates the resting heart rate. From what I can see it uses my heart rate while I am asleep and from your post it also looks that way.  But its clearly not a very accurate algorithm

[HNYBDGR]

The fitbit resting heart rate algorithm is a moving average that, as far as I can tell, chronically overestimates the actual resting heart rate by 9 beats in my case. For example, my fitbit "resting heart rate" right now is 47, while my actual heart rate sitting up (measured by fitbit AND by counting 10 beats in 15 second from my pulse directly) and typing is 40. Whatever algorithm for RHR one uses, it obviously should not yield a higher HR than measured directly from pulse while sitting up and working at a computer!

I gave up getting answers. My RHR heart rate lying down but awake in the morning is 38 right now (hence the error of +9 mentioned above), and fitbit has consistently produced results higher by exactly 9 beats per minute. This number may of course differ a little among different people, but is easy to determine, however you like to measure and define your own RHR (e.g. lying down in the morning while awake is what I use).

I still find the fitbit RHR useful, as it accurately tracks the actual value with a few days' smoothing, just 9 beats higher. Thus it still serves to detect onset of illness, over-exercise, or a couple of nights bad sleep, all reasons for the RHR to go up.

[Rich_Laue]

Please take a look at the heart rate FAQ @HNYBDGR

[Colinm39]

I have posted this type of graph elsewhere in the Forums but these demonstrate my RHR and Sleeping HR and some external factors.