High sleeping heart rate

[shadowstar240]

I've just started monitoring my sleeping heart rate and I'm finding that it is mostly always higher than my resting heart rate. My resting heart rate during the day hovers around 60bpm. I'm sleeping really poorly at the moment and have found that my heart rate seems to increase as I'm falling asleep but then gets lower towards the morning. I can't find anything that says if my sleeping heart rate should be lower than my resting heart rate - I just want to find out if this is unusual. I find that I get really hot in my sleep too when I'm normally always cold while awake. 

[Colinm39]

@shadowstar240What you are seeing is normal.

In the Fitbit Premium Sleep analysis they state, "It's normal for your sleeping heart rate to be below your Resting Heart Rate for much of the night. ".. In my case my RHR is 58, and last night my sleeping HR was below that for 60% of the night, mainly in the later 2/3rds of the night.  it peaks at the start at around 70bpm as I settle down.. and then near the end it gets down to 49... Genetics for me... other times it has got down to 41....

I find that that the extra blanket causes me to have disturbed sleep and raises my RHR for that day by a couple of points.. then during the day it drops back again..  In Melbourne we can have four seasons in one day.

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@shadowstar240 wrote:

I've just started monitoring my sleeping heart rate and I'm finding that it is mostly always higher than my resting heart rate. My resting heart rate during the day hovers around 60bpm. I'm sleeping really poorly at the moment and have found that my heart rate seems to increase as I'm falling asleep but then gets lower towards the morning. I can't find anything that says if my sleeping heart rate should be lower than my resting heart rate - I just want to find out if this is unusual. I find that I get really hot in my sleep too when I'm normally always cold while awake. 

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[bobby2478]

Im curious what others notice as well. Note the original question / concern was sleeping heart rate that's HIGHER than resting heart rate. 

My wife sees similar where her sleeping heart rate is higher than resting heart rate for a majority of the night, usually 50-60% of the night her sleeping heart rate is higher than resting heart rate. She's restless like 15-20% as well. 

This is different than me where my sleeping heart rate is lower than resting heart rate over 90% of the night (usually only 4-5% above resting heart rate).

Thought it was perhaps her inspire hr so she switched to my charge 3 last night but same result . We'll try for a few more days to see if it is consistent. 

What would cause ur sleeping heart rate to be higher than resting heart rate for 50-60% of the night ? Is this normal? 

[mortonboots]

Like you my heart rate is much higher than my RHR at bedtime and by 4am my SHR starts to dip below my RHR.  If I'm lucky my SHR is lower than my RHR 40% of the night but usually a lot less.  My heart rate stays very low all morning after I wake up even if I am active.  Perhaps this has something to do with sleep chronotypes, different circadian rhythms?  

[WanderingSal]

Hi, I have a similar issue. I’ve been tracking my sleep for a fortnight and my SHR is usually above my resting RHR for 95-97% of the night, with the small percent below being towards the end of my sleep usually. 

I’ve noted the affect alcohol and eating late have (those two things normally happen together) but even if I eat 5 hours before bed or fast completely, aswell as other factors like going to bed early, it’s still high. 

i can’t find anything online about this pattern, only spikes, but this is more a reverse hammock.

[Cash0nly]

I have the same problem. 80-90% Higher than resting heart rate while sleeping. Rarely lower. Oxygen while sleeping low. I have lucid dreaming often and sleep paralysis sometimes. Usually around 20% tossing. It's kind of cool to see when I wake up from a bad dream and my heart rate spikes but why is it always higher while sleeping. It's not apnea... 😕

[mel2all]

I have no issues getting to sleep but once asleep my HR is increases for most of the night.

I get almost 7-8 hours of sleep every night but never wake up feeling refreshed. I have been tested for sleep apnea and that's been ruled out.

Would be great to have some additional advice available on what this could mean. 

[Sj1981]

I have the same thing. I often wake up tired and I have lucid dreams every night. My resting heart beat is 60 ish, I am overweight though. I guess it might be that. I am suffering from anxiety at the moment and I have tinnitus (got Covid and it robbed me of the left hearing) my sleeping heart beat is at 70 and 90 for most of the night until about 5am, then I wake up at 6.30am. 

[shipo]

For those of y'all reporting an issue where your Fitbit tracker is indicating a higher Sleeping HR versus Resting HR, I would love to see a screen shot of your daily heart rate.  Posting a few images like this might well help figure out if the issue is in fact the Fitbit algorithms or if you have a sleep issue which is causing the high heart rate.

[Sj1981]

Great idea!  Here are comparisons

: Monday first, little activity, Tuesday some activity then today..how do I add photos? 

[shipo]

When you are writing your post, there is a toolbar along the top of the dialog box you're typing in; one of the icons on the toolbar is a Camera; click on that, drag the photo image into that pop-up, and click "Done".  🙂

[WilsonFitbit]

Hello everyone. 

Thank you for taking the time to report this inconvenience! It seems that the inconvenience is related to this issue that has been shared with our team. They will further investigate it. For new updates and more information, please check this thread. 

See you around. 

[VirginiaDNJ]

Sorry to hear others also have higher heart rates while sleeping. I have nightly chest pain (working with a team but still unsolved). Trying to attach screenshot but no camera icon and app won’t let me paste copy. Needless to say, there is no hammock trend and all is above resting. 

[WilsonFitbit]

Hello @VirginiaDNJ. Welcome to the community forums. 

I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the detailed information. I'd like to let you know that I was able to see that you reached out to our Support Team and they sent an email to you. At this time, I recommend replying back to that email and they will be glad to continue assisting you. If you also have additional questions, please make sure to let them know and they will also provide information. 

See you around. 

[Sailormoon73]

Hi.. I have the same problem and I'm really concerned that no-one anywhere... not even in scientific journals seems to have any answers. In fact, no-one seems to even be talking about the issue. As soon as I fall asleep my heartrate starts climbing (around 20 bpm higher)  - usually for the first two hours of sleep. After that it comes down really really slowly and may eventually reach my daytime resting heartrate levels. My % below resting heartrate measure on the fitbit is usually around 4%.  I have done so much research and tried various supplements (magnesium, antioxidants) to see if I can nudge the dial, but nothing. The only thing I can't test/ try to influence myself is hormone levels, which I have a sneaky suspicion might be playing a role. Does your nightime resting heartrate follow your menstrual cycle? Ie does it fall at start of your period and then gradual go up and up throughout your cycle? Mine does... again.. changes about 10bpm over the month. 

I would really love to find an answer to this as I rarely feel rested when I wake up... even after sleeping 7-8 hours almost every night. If anyone has any clues.. please help!

[Sailormoon73]

Hi.. I have the same problem as your wife and I'm really concerned that no-one anywhere... not even in scientific journals seems to have any answers. In fact, no-one seems to even be talking about the issue. As soon as I fall asleep my heartrate starts climbing (around 20 bpm higher)  - usually for the first two hours of sleep. After that it comes down really really slowly and may eventually reach my daytime resting heartrate levels. My % below resting heartrate measure on the fitbit is usually around 4-15%.  I have done so much research and tried various supplements (magnesium, antioxidants) to see if I can nudge the dial, but nothing. The only thing I can't test/ try to influence myself is hormone levels, which I have a sneaky suspicion might be playing a role. Does your wife's nighttime resting heartrate follow her menstrual cycle? Ie does it fall at start of her period and then gradually go up and up throughout her cycle? Mine does... again.. changes about 10bpm over the month. 

I really really want to  find an answer to this as I rarely feel rested when I wake up... even after sleeping 7-8 hours almost every night. If anyone has any clues.. please help!

I've tried speaking to my doctor, who rang  a heart specialist, but he didn't even want to acknowledge that this is unusual/ not normal and worth investigating. 

[Sailormoon73]

I also think Fitbit should take some ownership here and release their analysis data. They have data from millions of people and should know exactly what's normal and isn't and be able to link it to other data.... (the other companies they sell our data to). In return they could really share some more insight on what causes these patterns. 

[Sailormoon73]

Are you female? I have the same problem and the only theory I am left with after desparately trying to find answers is that it could be a hormonal imbalance. One of the reasons I say this is that I'm also always too hot at night (but not menopausal...!) and my nighttime heart rate fluctuates with my monthly cycle consistently. 

[Sailormoon73]

Are you female? I have the same problem and the only theory I am left with after desperately trying to find answers is that it could be a hormonal imbalance. One of the reasons I say this is that I'm also always too hot at night (but not menopausal...!) and my nighttime heart rate fluctuates with my monthly cycle consistently.  It's so frustrating.....  I've tried everything to influence it... but no joy. 

[Sailormoon73]

If your oxygen is low at night you need to get checked out for Sleep Apnea....