Heart rate variability

[HeidiMK]

I’m 39, don’t drink or smoke and workout regularly.  My Heart Rate Variability is always between 17 and 23, which is very low compared to all the graphs I’ve seen to where it should be.  My resting heart rate is 64 beats per minute and my breaths per minute during sleep is 14-16, which also seems low. 
I’m concerned about my HRV being so low for my age. Does anybody have any insight?

[t.parker]

Just ignore it. The way Fitbit provides and interprets HRV is rather meaningless for regular user. If you want to know your HRV with better insight into it then PolarH10 strap + EliteHRV app. It's currently a gold standard of measuring and analyzing HRV.

[eezeepee]

@HeidiMK Welcome to the Fitbit community.

Anything above 12 ms is considered normal sinus rhythm and respiratory rate 12-20 is normal. 

You really don't have anything to be concerned about but if you really wanted to know more, asking your primary care physician would be a start.

[DMel08]

Agree with t.parker it's not very useful unless watching for trends

[HeidiMK]

Thanks. I thought my HRV was that of a much older person and it concerned me. 

I will also follow up with my pcp. 

[sarcazm]

Don't feel bad - my HRV values, even based on the RMSSD formula, are completely nonsensical and mathematically bunk; always either 7ms or 8ms.  Meanwhile when I use the EDA app I get an HRV score of a living human being, usually in the 20's or so.  No matter what I have tried to do in order to delete the data and get the watch to try and calculate something humanly possible it keeps giving me the same numbers.  It is possible my Sense has gremlins (it has a lot of gremlins) or just some error in the calculations with certain datasets or reading some users.  For example, you should have seen the difference in data I got in most of my health metrics when I shave my thick black arm hair off my super pale skin.  I had started over just to see, over a year ago, what, if any, change it might make to the readings in the sensors and it was A LOT.  So hair, skin color, fat, muscle, depth and location of veins in the arm... tons of wiggle room.  

Not enough wiggle room for a near daily 7ms HRV reading, but if you're nervous or curious see a cardiologist and get a real EKG done.  

[deiG]

My HRV readings are typically between 30 and 50, and the breathing rate readings are typically between 10 and 12. Recently I've been feeling uncomfortable on my upper center chest, and the HRV dropped below 30 sometimes.

[pderwa12]

 

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=heart+rate+variability+chart&t=iphone&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F... 

[sarcazm]

I haven't even turned 40 yet and apparently my Sense is giving me relatively consistent HRV readings that match those of a senior citizen.  Awesome.