Building on a thread from a few weeks ago ref Oldie’s Max-HR I’ve noticed in my regular Garmin stats fairly frequent but random periods of low HR
I’m 53, 200lbs and ‘technically overweight’ (I try to convince myself that most of the bulk is in leg muscles)
I ride a couple of times per week mainly on the road but a couple of times per month hilly MTB. So about 4hrs of strenuous exercise per week with a constant HR of 140-175 for extended periods.
My Stable HR sits in the 58-65 range
However in my Garmin graphs there are quite regular troughs where for 5-10mins at a time, my HR will drop to the mid-40s, one day it was down to ~37 for about 5mins.
This is not a sleep period, typically middle of the day at my desk or on the sofa. It just looks quite dramatic on the graphs!
Q: Is this normal? Anything to be concerned about?
Maybe something to see a doc about, if it's making you feel weird.
My uncle has a pacemaker fitted for just such symptoms. He was a bit older than you, but still riding regularly and was suffering the occasional dizzy spell.
A few tests and a pacemaker that kicks in when his HR goes below 35, and ten years later he's still riding his bike and playing golf. The pacemaker kicks in maybe 10-15 times a year.
Bear in mind that your Garmin is measuring HR at much longer intervals when you're not recording an activity. It's also an optical monitor, which aren't massively accurate.
But, still might be worth getting it checked out 🙂
My Polar watch can often give random low HR values, which I think are just problems with the optical sensor being a bit inacurate. I just ignore them as they're below my normal resting HR, so unlikely to be real.
Thanks. Conscious that it could be a wrist-watch technical glitch rather than real.
I haven’t felt anything peculiar, no dizziness or any symptoms as such.
So my question hasn’t been triggered by a “feeling unwell should I see a Dr” context, more a “this looks weird, is it real, what next?”
Scenarios: Noted a few occasions around lunch time when it’s been low and also after a drive, arriving at a destination and my HR is 42-45 for a few mins and then back to normal at ~60bpm...as if my body has gone “that’ll do, you’re here”
Will keep an eye on it
So my question hasn’t been triggered by a “feeling unwell should I see a Dr” context, more a “this looks weird, is it real, what next?”
I was getting worried a few months back as according to my Polar watch, my resting HR was going up and up and my breathing rate down and down....
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50516817971_58c28189af_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50516817971_58c28189af_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2jXZU1c ]Dodgy HR data[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
Turned out to be a fault in the optical sensor, got a new watch under warranty and all back to normal!
A friends Mum had a really low heart rate, she struggled to do much activity and slept lots of the time before getting a pacemaker in. She's back to marching all over the North Yorkshire moors again now. Doesn't sound like you have any real symptoms though, so carry on 🙂
I have something similar, my hr drops to low 40s, as low as 38. I feel terrible and often have to go to sleep for a bit and then feel a bit better. I tend to know it's coming these days as I tend to have a screaming headache upto 24hrs before hand.
had a bunch of tests, nothing alarming other than low hr assumed to be due to fitness. then covid happened and I've stayed home
I should probably go and talk to the gp again as it happened again a couple of hours back
My resting heart rate can be in the low 40s. Its always been like this. When i was fit it could be as low as 35
Never caused any problems.
If there's a way to link the watch to a Bluetooth chest strap and do the daily monitoring through that, I'd go for that first.
Try to rule out wris****ch optical HR error with a different sensor. Wouldn't be massively worried without any other symptoms, but would probably let go know once confirmed that is actually dropping that low and not just a technology error.
I’m 53, 200lbs and ‘technically overweight’ (I try to convince myself that most of the bulk is in leg muscles)
I ride a couple of times per week mainly on the road but a couple of times per month hilly MTB. So about 4hrs of strenuous exercise per week with a constant HR of 140-175 for extended periods.My Stable HR sits in the 58-65 range
However in my Garmin graphs there are quite regular troughs where for 5-10mins at a time, my HR will drop to the mid-40s, one day it was down to ~37 for about 5mins.
55 here (6'2" and 12 stone/170lbs) and my resting HR is 45ish.
I use a HRM chest strap and just looked at yesterday's MTB ride - I maxed at 166 and averaged 129.
