Inspire HR Heart rate variability

[kmgiuliano23]

So, heart rate variability just popped up in my FitBit App. I clicked it the first day and it didn’t have data yet. So I slept, and in the morning my variability was 26 milliseconds. My RHR is about 62 on average. I have a healthy heart.

I didn’t know much about HRV so I googled it and I’m finding the average is in the 60s - like it’s similar to your RHR since it’s milliseconds between beats. Having 26/27ms would mean my heart is not working well at all.

Am I missing something? Or is my FitBit likely wrong? 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Timgilp]

I agree. My point would be that if a feature is so unreliable so as to cause anxiety it shouldn’t be there. I’m not too fussed myself as readings as so way out for so many people I’m certainly not going to get stressed. Others may feel less tolerant. Ironically the fact that your young , fit sons HRV was quite high May in itself cause some concerns amongst the community as it would seem to give some face validity to the concept that the higher it is the better 🤣👍

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[Fiona_G]

This is really interesting. If I’m reading it right, An HRV of 15-30 is normal for my age! 😅 Thanks!

[Timgilp]

Sorry Fiona . Not sure what you are referring to. 15-30 according to Fitbit would be a dangerously low HRV . If however you take some comfort from most uses reporting those sort of levels then yes it is normal ! 

[judetheobscure]

I posted a link on the previous page to a website which had an interesting graph which I've attached here.

Although it's main aim is to show how hrv varies according to time of day I found the age group differences much more interesting!

Notice the hrv range for the oldest age group 55-67 which is the bottom dashed line in the graph. The numbers range from 15ish to just under 30. So I'd like to suggest that any earlier posters in that age group should be very happy with a hrv between 15 and 30 ....... 

I've also read (of course I've forgotten where) that female hrv is a bit lower than male.

The 18-24 year olds among us would I guess be hoping for a hrv between 30 and 60ish according to the same graph. 

 

 

[RbnS]

Mine went from 23 to 18! I Work out, healthy weight. 

[OFandL]

Thank you. This is very educational. I am not heart-sick. Just old 😊

[BitFitter87]

Hi! I was relieved to see this post - I experienced an almost identical situation. My heart beat is normal as are other metrics of heart health like blood pressure, cholesterol. I clicked into this metric and when I googled I was alarmed to see a stat that seems so

low! Especially without context on what it means when paired with other health stats. I saw you talked to your doctor, did they provide any additional advice?

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[Shanathan]

No. I ended up getting a complete check up of heart tests. He said my heart is healthy. Of course he wants me to do blood work at least once a year since I have a family history.

I realized that I can't take the numbers too seriously with the fitbit. What I do like is that I can still see an improvement when I feel well...so I use that to gage if I'm doing well overall

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[JustMe2021]

THANK YOU for all of these encouraging responses! My resting heart rate had concerned me for a bit so I had a total cardiac workup which looked great, sleep study, and they decided it was probably stress. I started walking every day, eating better, didn't work all summer, etc.

My HRV is never above 20. Last night it was 9! I just turned 50 years old.

I read how a low HRV can raise your risk of sudden cardiac death. If that doesn't stress you out, nothing will! I still feel like I should let the doctor know, but it doesn't seem consistent with my overall health.

[Jen_5]

We’re same age group, similar heart rate, and exercise a similar amount. Thanks for posting this! Was concerned at a 28/30 score for HRV. 

[Richard773653]

You sound ever so slightly above your station if you dont mind me saying.

[Richard773653]

That other guys reply was so arrogant!  

[Leeroy1986]

I've found mine is always in the 70 to 80's but if I drink alcohol it drops to the high 30's low 40's. Don't know if this is true for anyone else?

[SeanFeb]

70 to 80..lol..never

[Leeroy1986]

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[neikka]

I can’t tell from all the reply’s if there is a conclusion to all of this ~ this is the first time I’ve noticed the heart beat variation, so I googled it and the first article I read said my score of 13 milliseconds indicates that I’m about to die and that a normal score is something like 100 but I can’t seem to find any information that makes sense. As much as I dislike visiting my gp, I think I might as a score of 13 seems a bit off and it doesn’t look like it’s been above 20. 

[neikka]

After doing some more reading, it seems that  the numbers are considered  different by different studies, for example :- 

Let’s take a closer look at RMSSD values (Root mean square of successive RR interval differences) to illustrate the issue. If we take a measuring time of 2.5–5 minutes, researchers have proposed the following normal ranges in different studies:

• 13–48 ms — healthy adults aged 38–42 years

• 35–107 ms — elite athletes

• 53.5–82 ms — healthy men

• 40.5–71 ms — men

• 29–65 ms — women

• 23–72 ms — men

• 22–79 ms — women

also, the Fitbit, or any other wearables, may not be that accurate in measuring hrv, you can buy an instrument similar to the ones used in hospitals that you put your finger in, for £50 or you can pay more of course, but the Fitbit can at least enable you to track the rates over time. 

[KimKav]

No conclusion. Mine is 15 today. And usually runs between 11 and 18. I've decided to disregard that as being incredibly unreliable.
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[KimKav]

No conclusion. Mine is 15 today. And usually runs between 11 and 18. I've decided to disregard that as being incredibly unreliable. 

[neikka]

… apparently the heart rate variation score is more important than the heart rate to indicate the status of health, but this is information that I’ve gathered only from the internet so I’ll take it with a pinch of salt; however, when I start training again,  I may or may not buy one of the instruments that can measure it more accurately, but that’s not now and in the meantime, I’ll probably keep an eye on it, more out of curiosity as this is the first time I’ve even noticed it, or my adhd brain could have forgotten all about it by the time I go to bed tonight 😉 - because I have such a low score, I did see if there’s any connection to autism and adhd and apparently there is, in the few studies that have been done, both give a lower HRV score, so I might at some point investigate that further as it seems, from what I’ve read, that emotional or psychological factors strongly affect the HRV score, which I find interesting, so I may look further into that one day. 

But either way, the Fitbit doesn’t appear to give a reliable score and the score can vary widely from day to day so you would definitely need to monitor it for a quite a while to see if there appears to be a problem.