Ectopic beats and HR whilst exercising

[Jonno34]

Hi, I have been told I have ectopic beats, most of the time I dont notice, sometimes for several days, then I will have an "episode" and they are very noticeable, fluttering accompanying headaches etc. I am trying to keep as normal as possible. Exercise, if anything helps however I have some concerns.

I am using a vivoactive 4 from Garmin. I use a wahoo tickr strap with it when I am out running. I seem to get a rapid increase at the start jumping up to about 160bpm then all of a sudden it will drop to what I call normal say 130-140, is this normal? A fight or flight response? It seems when not using the strap ie using the watch sensor it does not show so much, some sort of algorithm to smooth out errors? I did a treadmill run the other day without the strap and the watch was showing about 130 when the treadmill hand sensor was showing 165, after a while that dropped and the readings were similar.

Anyone else experience this?

[Andyman]

Please don't rely on a treadmill hand monitor to assess you wellbeing. Most in accurate gimmick ever invented. IMHO.

[Hidden]

Concur with Andy - equipment hand sensors are not accurate for anybody, never mind people with cardiac concerns. Chest straps are deemed to be the most accurate options for home monitoring (most smart watches/fitness trackers have been found to be unreliable, with error rates of 10% or more), but as you point out, sometimes these can also be too clever for their own good. From experience, even medical devices dependent on software can do ‘interesting’ things in their efforts to smooth curves etc. To answer the other bit of your question, I wouldn’t be concerned - your hr is still elevated, it’s not dropping down below 100 or anything. If it was doing that you would have reason to be worried, but I’d be inclined to think it could be a monitoring issue.