Extremely elevated heart rate during sleep

[Krisg773]

Last night from 12am until my wake-up time at 6am, my Fitbit Sense recorded an extremely elevated heart rate. It ranged up into the peak zone and looked like I’d gone on a 6 hour run. I fell asleep before 12 am but the heart rate jumped right then, so I’m wondering if it’s a glitch. The Fitbit also didn’t record sleep stages for that night and only gave a simplified graph. This is pretty disconcerting, and I’m wondering if others have had this happen? I’m including a photo of last night and the night before side by side for comparison.  

[SebWotan · Accepted solution]

@Krisg773 

Did you wake up tired and fatigued ? Or did you wake up refreshed, like usual ? 

If you felt like shit in the morning, yeah maybe something happened during your night. If you felt normal, then most likely it was. Listen to your body. 

The watch can malfunction sometimes, it is possibly that. If you wear it loose or if it got loose during the night, reading will be inaccurate. 

[Krisg773]

I’m feeling a little under the weather with a sinus infection and sleeping less thank usual due to that, but nothing out of the ordinary. Watch was tight enough and it it’s usual position, battery somewhat low. I do wonder if sleeping weird on my wrist would impact this. As soon as I got up and walked around it was back to normal, even with the low battery.

[t.parker]

Was it a single occurence?

[Krisg773]

So far, yes.

[Ixxtabb]

First thing I would do is compare that time frame to other metrics such as skin temperature, sleep stages, etc. If you were in REM and having a bad dream it could track as elevated heart rate.

[Krisg773]

The Fitbit didn’t record sleep stages, only a simplified sleep pattern. Hence no health metrics either. It stated it couldn’t get a reliable reading of the heart rate. I doubt I had a 6 hour long nightmare, though! I did dream about a golden hawk right before waking up… it was vivid.

[SebWotan]

@Krisg773 

Then forget about it for the time being. If it re-occurs then you might revisit. If it is accompanied by symptoms of poor rest, then you should consider seeing a doctor. If it does not correlate with how you feel in the morning, then it is another Fitbit glitch.