Heart rate affected by hand exercise

[scaddenp]

Noticed a somewhat surprising affect on heart rate. I noticed that I was getting active minutes while massaging my wife's feet, sitting comfortably in a chair. Last night I looked at my heat rate and it was pushing 140. I measured it on other wrist the old fashioned way and it was about 80 - consistent with sitting a chair. My wife says she has noticed this similarly while say rubbing butter into flour, whisking eggs and folding washing! 

I would speculate that rapid hand or finger movements is confusing the measurements.

[JohnnyRow · Accepted solution]

Fitbit has harder time getting good heart rate for anything involving a lot of wrist movement.  One thing that might help is to loosen the band and slide tracker further up the arm, away from the wrist.

[scaddenp]

Good point. I do this when I go for a run or brisk walk. It isnt really a problem - I dont care what stats say except when recording actual exercise - just surprised.

[Alatas]

It's true. I used to wear my Versa 2 while on the Concept 2 rowing machine (ergometer). It isn't accurate. So, I now use a Heart Rate Monitor instead (Polar H10). Tracking heart rates on the Fitbit has some inaccuracies, for sure, and as you said, due to the wrist movement. 🤷🏻‍:female_sign: I now just use it for my brisk walking, where there is minimal wrist movement.