Continuous HRV / HR monitoring options

Any of the modern Garmin watches will do it I think, I love my Instinct 2 as it's very close to a G-shock and not a big touchscreen on my wrist.

They are bargains now the new model is out too. 

Gives very insightful HRV and HR data via the watch and also the app. 

I've said on other threads before, HRV is really interesting to monitor and it definitely works in terms of picking up when your not at your peak. 

The data has regularly given me a heads up of an impending cold a day or two before I get actual symptoms, and thus I think could be useful to you. 

I recently bought a cheap/second hand Fitbit Inspire 3. I’ve just checked and it shows my HRV on the Fitbit phone App that it syncs to. Hope that helps

Any of the modern Garmin watches will do it I think

Some of them will specifically tell you if they think you are ready to train again, I think the feature is called 'training readiness'.  Hunt for a watch that does that
Training Readiness | Garmin Technology

But, as always take these things with a pinch of salt, they aren't medical devices.  Mine has a 'body battery' feature that I find has no relation whatsoever to how I feel or how tired I am.  My watch doesn't do training readiness so I can't comment on it's accuracy but I'm sure others on here have the fancier watches that do and maybe they can comment on how accurate they feel it is.

Just after some advice as to what watch / setup would work best.  I do have a Garmin 1040 that is gathering dust, but I wasn't sure I want to wear a HR strap all the time, or whether the 1040 even records continuous HRV.

You don't need a strap with the newer watches, they will measure HRV directly which is nice

A Whoop is pretty much made for this. I was a bit sceptical, but a free trial hooked me and I've been gathering data for about 12 months.

HRV, recovery, etc is all covered. It's a data feast. Particularly after you start tracking trends after a few months.

Not cheap, but equivalent to a monthly supplement. If you look at it like that, it becomes more palatable.

https://www.whoop.com/gb/en/whoop-trials/

Yes  I the Whoop is supposed to be the best for this.

I've been using a Garmin 955 for about 3 years.  That does it. I'm fairly sure lower spec (cheaper !) Also do - certainly the 265.

Anecdotally, it seems to correlate with how I feel, quite well.  No long term covid here, but intermittent anaemia / low iron.

I've found d over the past 10-15 years that just my resting heart rate has been a good indicator of how I am  - run myself down i with foreign work travel, too much training, and/or not enough sleep, my resting HR defo increases quite notably (by 5-10bpm, vs a resting HR around 50 when properly fit) - and a good indicator or when I'll then get sick (usually upper airway infection and sometimes onto my chest).

Thanks all.  I will have a look at your suggestions.  

I just got a pixel 3 which does it, I wanted something I can wear 24/7 rather than a chunkier or sports specific watch. 

Plus points for me; 

Good heart and GPS accuracy for cycling (Samsung watch falls short here according to DCR)

When I bought it two weeks ago, Garmin still didn't have approval for the ECG feature. And Pixel has afib detection.

Picks up regular tasks as training load (I have an outside physical job and a short cycle commute that I don't bother to Strava so this appealed to me)

Most higher end smart watches will cover HRV. I use a Garmin Fenix 6 and that tells me my overnight HRV, and Garmin uses HRV as one of their metrics to determine body battery.

If you wanted better accuracy, Polar do an arm band, which is what Visible use for their pacing app.

You need to be very careful if using this to determine when to exercise. PEM is an intolerance to exercise which has a tendency to become increasingly sensitive everytime it is triggered. The potential consequences are many times worse than deconditioning.

I need to experiment with maybe graded exercise therapy.

GET is highly controversial and mostly abandoned as a therapy since it consistently made people worse.

There is a place for exercise but you need to think about it differently, and it always has to be inside your levels of tolerance (which might not be what you traditionally think of as 'exercise').

Many people find they tolerate strength training better than cardio.

There's an often quoted German study showing that in PEM, muscles are being starved of oxygen and damaging mitochondria. They went on to hypothesise that you could exercise for 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off to allow oxygen levels replenish and prevent this damage. That might explain why strength training works for some and cardio is so consistently bad for most.

There's a million other theories as well of course, and the causes remain largely unknown.

I'd look at it like an elimination diet. Eliminate everything, then introduce things gradually. Don't work the other way of repeatedly triggering PEM and gradually lessening exercise. That is almost guaranteed to lower your tolerance over time. 

It doesn't do HRV, but I've been using my better half's Huawei smart watch for a few months now to monitor my sleep, heart rate, stress etc. after just over 2.5 years of long covid.

Someone on here said they got an ebike after long covid and strongly suggested others do the same, after two Center Parcs holidays where I've hired one to ride the hills and lanes I used to ride there on non-eebs, I finally bought one a few weeks ago.

Shame I caught my first lurgy the day before it was delivered from Pauls Cycles (GT eGrade Bolt, GRX 400 hydraulic brakes for £1249), but it's been great to do three rides of ~2 hours in the last eight days (~27 miles and 1500 feet climbing) so far. Mostly level 1 that has max 100W assist, with the odd bit of level 2 max 175W assist and a smidgen of level 3 max 250W assist on a 15Kg eeb with me still 16Kg heavier than I was pre- long covid at 96Kg. Like at Center Parcs on the hire eebs, it's been great to ride for that sort of duration and not suffer with PEM, riding in the South Downs lanes I've visited so little since October '22. 

Thanks @butcher.  I would agree with the theory that repeating PEM reduces your tolerance to exercise even further.  I think this may explain how I have ended up where I have.  Head in the sand and a typical "just push on through mentality".   Even tried 20 HBOT sessions at a local MS charity, but it did absolutely nothing for me.

Definitely considering an eBike too so that I can get off my turbo where I just do 150 watts low zone 2.  

I was using a Smart watch but I was sent a Smartring and I found it easier to have it on 24/7 

I'd definitely recommend an ebike. I quite enjoy riding off road as it's a bit more engaging, whereas I used to get that engagement through the constant effort. Flat, featureless rides can be boring as hell at Z1. 

My PEM during long Covid was awful, you have my sympathies. The advice I was given and used was 5mins on turbo trainer with nearly zero load in zone one. If it didn’t wipe me out same again next day. If week one went ok, 2 x 5min sessions and build it that slowly. It worked and I got back to normal cycling. 

For HRV monitoring I have used garmins for years (instinct and now epix). I don’t train, so can’t say I use it as a training tool, but the hrv does confirm when I’m run down or ill. On Monday, i felt rough, nothing too specific and the Garmin showed I was stuck in high stress, even when asleep. On Friday, diagnosed with shingles……

HSamuel are good prices for epix at the moment. I changed from instinct due to failing eyesight 

I bought a 2nd hand Vivoactive 3 for this purpose, for about £35 on ebay. Did the trick. Then i upgraded to a Vivoactive 5 because it had the body battery feature, which is handy, but a cheap VA4 would have been just as good tbh.

I found them particularly useful to identify 'stress' triggers - certain foods, activities, etc. I now avoid bread and potatoes for instance - they send my stress level right up (I'm guessing it's because they're higher GI foods?) - and try to figure out what can influence a good night's sleep.

I strongly agree with NOT going down the graded exercise therapy route. Or to put it another way, increase your exercise only by what your body tells you to - only expand within your limits, never push them.

Also remember PEM doesn't always kick in straight away. For me it's usually 48 hours later. I spend the next day thinking I've got away with it, and then on Tuesday afternoon, WALLOP.

Posted by: butcher

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I'd definitely recommend an ebike.

Same here, its really helped me cope with long covid.

Same here, its really helped me cope with long covid.

Same!  I can still only toddle along at a very gentle pace with the bike on full power, and even then can only manage an hour, once or twice a month, but it's still much better than not doing anything at all!

Some of them will specifically tell you if they think you are ready to train again, I think the feature is called 'training readiness'.  Hunt for a watch that does that
Training Readiness | Garmin Technology

Yea, although mine has been saying I'm strained lately due to low HRV for a few weeks now after being ill, hayfever, work stress, lots of traveling, and a funeral.  Just checked and it's now gone into "recovery".  Maybe I've overdone it, maybe not.  I took the motorbike out instead for a change so maybe that's done me some good and will possibly swap some junk miles endurance training for VO2 Max to give me a break.

But, as always take these things with a pinch of salt, they aren't medical devices.  Mine has a 'body battery' feature that I find has no relation whatsoever to how I feel or how tired I am.  My watch doesn't do training readiness so I can't comment on it's accuracy but I'm sure others on here have the fancier watches that do and maybe they can comment on how accurate they feel it is.

I find it seems to be reasonably accurate, although it's usefulness is debatable. 

"your body battery is 60% because you didn't get enough deep sleep last night" 

- no **** Sherlock I'm sat here hugging my coffee and feeling like death

"your body battery is 0% because you had a busy day" 

- yes, I'm falling asleep on the sofa. 

You don't really need the watch to tell you that, it just validates how crap you feel. 

Just after some advice as to what watch / setup would work best.  I do have a Garmin 1040 that is gathering dust, but I wasn't sure I want to wear a HR strap all the time, or whether the 1040 even records continuous HRV.

You don't need a strap with the newer watches, they will measure HRV directly which is nice

IIRC the useful data is overnight so you need to wear the watch 24/7 (or as much as practicable) to get decent data. The more you wear it the more accurate it feels.  

The Epix is still £325 at H Samuel.  More than the bare minimum you need to do what you asked, but also does a lot more e.g. it's easily good enough to ditch a handlebar mounted computer for MTB use, and the mapping is good enough for navigating.

Some of them will specifically tell you if they think you are ready to train again, I think the feature is called 'training readiness'.  Hunt for a watch that does that
Training Readiness | Garmin Technology

Yea, although mine has been saying I'm strained lately due to low HRV for a few weeks now after being ill, hayfever, work stress, lots of traveling, and a funeral.  Just checked and it's now gone into "recovery".  Maybe I've overdone it, maybe not.  I took the motorbike out instead for a change so maybe that's done me some good and will possibly swap some junk miles endurance training for VO2 Max to give me a break.

But, as always take these things with a pinch of salt, they aren't medical devices.  Mine has a 'body battery' feature that I find has no relation whatsoever to how I feel or how tired I am.  My watch doesn't do training readiness so I can't comment on it's accuracy but I'm sure others on here have the fancier watches that do and maybe they can comment on how accurate they feel it is.

I find it seems to be reasonably accurate, although it's usefulness is debatable. 

"your body battery is 60% because you didn't get enough deep sleep last night" 

- no **** Sherlock I'm sat here hugging my coffee and feeling like death

"your body battery is 0% because you had a busy day" 

- yes, I'm falling asleep on the sofa. 

You don't really need the watch to tell you that, it just validates how crap you feel. 

Just after some advice as to what watch / setup would work best.  I do have a Garmin 1040 that is gathering dust, but I wasn't sure I want to wear a HR strap all the time, or whether the 1040 even records continuous HRV.

You don't need a strap with the newer watches, they will measure HRV directly which is nice

IIRC the useful data is overnight so you need to wear the watch 24/7 (or as much as practicable) to get decent data. The more you wear it the more accurate it feels.  

The Epix is still £325 at H Samuel.  More than the bare minimum you need to do what you asked (as suggested above, plenty of 2nd hand gamins will do this for as little as ~£50) , but also does a lot more e.g. it's easily good enough to ditch a handlebar mounted computer for MTB use, and the mapping is good enough for navigating. To me that was worth it.

(and I've got £188 worth of H. Samuel vouchers after a refund on something else if anyone want's to do a deal)

As someone who has had both Whoop and now has a Garmin watch, the watch has a lot more features, but it is nowhere near as accurate as the Whoop band was, the Garmin results can be laughable sometimes, I had a terrible nights sleep the other night, i can remember lying there listening to over 4 hours of podcasts, Garmin result sleep score of 86 and 8 hours sleep.

Whoop, clearly said i'd slept for less than 3 hours, and how destroyed my HRV was.