Resting HR spikes (and sleep HR goes up) when sick

[angelafoodcake]

I've had my Fitbit HR since March now and I've been sick many times, and Very Consistenly I notice that my resting HR spikes up to "72" and stays there while I'm at the peak of sickness, and comes down when I'm well. Whatever formula they have seems to be extra magical in predicting the onset of viral illness because it starts to go up 2 days before I get any symptoms. Interestingly, the resting HR doesn't directly relate to overnight HR -- my overnight HR is "normally" 54-59, and when i'm sick and my resting HR is 72, my overnight HR is in the mid-to-high 60s. Most people's reactions to this is that the scale of change is insignificant (I'm a scientist / I get comments from other scientists), and I'd agree except that it's alarming precise and these noticeable spikes *only* happen when I'm sick. Anyone else noticing this magical prediction ability and mirroring of illness state??

[Colinm39]

It's just not a precursor to being unwell, moving from Winter to Spring and not being quite warm enough to change the bed to lighter cooler sleeping affects me.

My RHR is up about 3 points when I sync first thing. Eventually it may drop.

But, my extra dilemma is that I'm into my 7th day with the Ionic and have noticed a slight increase. I'm normally around 52 with the Blaze and the Surge.. This is the Ionic week..

[MarttaKelly]

Yes!  I just found this out!  I rarely get sick and in the past week, I developed a cold.  Even before I had symptoms (sore throat, itchy stuffy nose, etc.), I noticed my heart rate starting to climb from my normal 57 to finally, 68!  Initially, I freaked out because my activity level hasn't decreased. Then I went online and learned from a number of sources that it is perfectly normal for the HR to rise a few points while you are sick. Once you are well, it will come down again

[bourby]

i had my resting hr jump up 8 bpm which co-incided with a throat infection. i did some looking online before reading this thread. it was a few days ago so please excuse my non technical language.

when you get sick, your heart rate increases so that more of the infection fighting goodies in your blood can wage a war inside you. it allows more of the good stuff to hit the target areas. 

i also found that in my normal exercise routine, my normal pulse went thru the roof while ill but i wasnt sweating or puffing like i would expect from a huge pulse jump during exercise.

its also interesting that most people are describing a jump of 8 bpm when ill. 

[Colinm39]

@bourbyI I see those increases normally 2 days ahead of a mild infection, like throat.. A new one the last couple of months with a change in medication. I'm pre-hypertensive and my doctor was on holidays so I thought a 2nd opinion at the same clinic wouldn't go astray. I had a spike in my BP and was prescribed the Calcium Channel Blocker to add to my current medication, an ACE inhibitor..

The side effects for me me were horrendous, headaches, aching left calf muscles and tingles in my left arm. The calf muscle was so bad it was locking my left leg after about 70 continuous steps and stopped me walking. I gave the new medication a chance but after a couple of weeks I saw my doctor and he took me off it immediately, no change to my old medication. My BP is now hovering around 125/78 for a 78 yr.  But, many have success with this form of BP medication.  It took a few weeks to get out of my system and now my physio is working with me to get strength back in my left leg.  I'm genetically with what is now high BP 140/90, and that was normal a few years ago.

The RHR graph definitely followed my path of problems. For those interested I screen capture on the phone, email the images and use Snagit on the PC to stitch the images.

For my nights sleeping at the peak of the RHR graph and yesterday showing an average of 10bpm between each image and 7 weeks apart. Took awhile for mt RHR to become "normal"... with my 43-47 Cardio Fitness score, again genetic...

[bourby]

that must have scared the crap out of you. did you think it was the meds or were you worried about your heart?

[Colinm39]

@bourby Thanks for the reply.. I knew immediately it was the meds. I then went onto Dr Google and found people with my exact symptoms. What I was prescribed is banned in Canada and Holland, no reason and only prescribed by Vetinary doctors in those countries. Every person I asked, more than one Chemist/Pharmacist, just said "many others use the med and haven't complained". But this "body" doesn't even need pain killers, so my system normally reacts to abnormal inputs which it did here and picked up by Fitbit.

I wasn't worried about my heart, because last year at my annual my doctor thought he heard something and sent me off the to the Cardiologist. Their first reaction was, "why are you here because your heart is normal size and everything is performing correctly". We then chatted about my genetic missing heart beat and they had a bit of a laugh about that, meaning, you were born with it, nothing to worry about, and do you realise when it misses a beat it does a couple of catchup.. I have always had a low HR, built for endurance, not speed.

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@bourby wrote:

that must have scared the crap out of you. did you think it was the meds or were you worried about your heart?

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[Colinm39]

We have had abnormally hot weather for the last month off Spring and it broke all records since 1862.. 34oC (94oF) on a typical day. The tendency was to sleep on top of the bed because the night temperatures were around 22oC ( 72oF ). Last night it was around 13oC (55oF).  So I slept with a lightweight mohair and a lightweight alpaca throw over blanket.  Lovely restful sleep.  But the HR graphs show the effect of the warmth from the blankets.

It pushed my RHR from 52 to 53, so that shows how sleep can affect the RHR.. Fitbit stress to sleep with the wrist based trackers.  An interesting HR pattern because of the body being warmer with the blankets.

As I was examining this I realized that we are now getting many more plot points/minute. A year ago we were getting about 12/minute and this example 48/minute.. I feel that Fitbit are getting ready to allow us to download our HR data...  The last image is a one minute snapshot and my HR going from 42 up to 52 and back again.  Very interesting for a healthy heart.

Checking my awake plotting it's only about 25/minute.

[tdawnwilliams]

I am so glad to read your post.  I'm a runner and my resting heart rate is always between 54 - 59.  Over the past 2 weeks I had bronchitis so I didn't run. I could barely breathe.  I still wore my fitbit because the only time I take it off is to shower.  However, I wasn't checking my stats these 2 weeks since I wasn't training.  Today I was feeling better and had a look at my stats as I plan to start running again next week.  You can imagine my shock when I saw that over the past 10 days my resting HR has spiked to 72.  I thought it couldn't be possible that because I stopped running for a couple of weeks my resting HR goes up like that.  I'll do some more research on this and will monitor my HR closely.

[Mkatherine89]

Yes! I noticed this too! I just got my Fitbit a couple of weeks ago, when I felt very healthy, so my RHR was 59-60.  Now I have a fever and a lung infection and my RHR is in the 70s!  But my avg RHR starting going up days before I even started coughing or feeling fatigued.  I look forward to a few days from now when my RHR goes back down to the 50s or 60s!  

[856smw]

Regarding pre-symptoms spike in RHR. As it happens, you're already sick & contagious for a few days prior to symptoms.  It's the virus' mechanism for propagating itself.  You feel fine, so you're out & about infecting others.  

[MarttaKelly]

Good point.

Sent from my iPhone

[Jane34]

Hi

I have had my Fitbit since October 2017. I have also noticed that my heart rate increases very precisely with feeling ill. Rising from around 58 to 65 resting heart rate. As a Biology teacher I was interested on this. 

[MarttaKelly]

It’s very interesting, indeed! Also, if you notice, if you have a cold, or God forbid, the flu, you will notice you are in fat burning mode more often than when you are well. This is also part of the body’s healing process.

Sent from my iPhone

[Colinm39]

I started a comparison of RHR to average sleeping HR last October. A doctor gave me a different medicine and that played havoc with me the results are in this link.

I continued the graph to include our hot sleepless nights in summer which had little affect on my HR .

Adding to that, when I had major surgery 3 years ago, a total hip replacement was needed because I had worn the cartilage out of my left hip, my RHR spiked at 74 and took 6 weeks to get back to my normal RHR, low 50's.

[Jane34]

Hi Thanks for the information. Very interesting the quick response of the
body to the virus infection I have just had. My body responded before I
realised I was ill.
Jane

[Jane34]

Thanks for the feedback. Great to know I am normal even when I am ill!

[s_lv_pt]

Totally, I got my Versa just last week and have had almost no symptoms, except ocasional sneeze. I haven tracked my HR for about 2years since mid pregnancy, so initially I thought - could I have gotten so much out of shape or just different tracker?

By the night of first day using it I noticed my RHR was about 15bpm higher than I used to have. I had terrible headache by night that didn't pass during night, next day my RHR was 20bpm above my usual and I went to doctor still with terrible headache. I was having bad sinus infection that has to be treated with antibiotics and corticosteroids. I am recovering now, and I can see my RHR going down day by day some 2-3 bpm each day. So by now I'm already almost down to my usual RHR before pregnancy.

PS. I noticed my RHR some 10-15 bpm higher during pregnancy also.

[MarttaKelly]

Yes, it's a thing! Glad you are feeling better, though!

I also notice a small spike when I travel by plane over several time
zones. It goes back to normal once you get settled.

You learn something new every day.

Martta

[blu-steel]

It amazes me how cool this data is when we are feeling stressed out or sick. Also looking at sleep data too. Weight increases and stress seem to be the largest factor in resting HR going up. So glad I got a fitbit as it is eye opening and IMO a life saver as we can see what is happening in real time. 

[SMDprofile]

Yes, the fitbit knows I'm sick before I do, and when I recovering before I do.

My heartrate will jump a few notches and I'll be perplexed about what I ate and my exercise and my sleep and then I realise a couple of days later....ooh a cold.