HEART Rate variability

[Ward12]

HEART RATE VARIABILITY is all over the place low as 8 then one night high as 108 is this normal ???

[Shar28]

Hello and welcome to the forum. No-one on here can give medical advice but 8 beats per minute is awfully low. BHF has an article about heart rate on their websitebhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...

How do you know you heart rate? If you’re wearing a Fitbit/Apple Watch etc - is it accurate? Perhaps check it with a BP machine and see if they match.

To me the next steps are to discuss this with your GP. If you can, keep a written record of heart rate and BP taken mornings & evening as an objective basis for the discussion. In case you’re not already familiar with checking BP, BHF had advice on BP machines and using them here

bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...

Hope this helps.

[Ward12 in reply to Shar28]

No it’s the heart rate variability which measures in between beats totally different to heart beats a minute

[Shar28 in reply to Ward12]

Oh sorry, I misunderstood. I thought of deleting my reply but I guess if I got confused then others may do too.

Maybe call the BHF nurses tomorrow?

[Hidden]

Yes, as I understand it. Normal HRV for adults is a range of anything from below 20 up to 200, with shorter gaps occurring when we’re stressed or in fight or flight and longer gaps occurring when we’re calm and relaxed. It’s all linked to the autonomous nervous system. It’s being suggested that high levels of variability, or a wide range, may potentially indicate better cardiovascular fitness and stress resilience. If nothing else, we know it indicates that a person’s body is responding appropriately to their sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems - if HRV is consistently low, this would indicate the person is stressed and frequently in a state of fight or flight.

whoop.com/thelocker/heart-r...

[Ward12 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for info but still doesn’t explain why my readings are so up and down at midnight it shot upto 107 then at 5 mins later plummeted to 8 and in 20s within minutes ???

[Hidden in reply to Ward12]

But it does. HRV involves the measurement in milliseconds between heart beats. This varies between each beat, it’s never static, and is tied to the autonomic nervous system, which operates every second of every day. The ANS is tied to emotional state, survival instincts, physical exertion, respiration, digestion, and a whole host of other things. Pretty much every basic, essential bodily function we have has some link to the autonomic nervous system, so whatever the body is doing in each moment will impact on the gap between heart beats, including when we’re asleep. We still have to breathe, move, digest food, and dream. The numbers you quoted are well within what’s considered normal, and simply reflect some aspect of what your body was doing in that moment. It’s not the same as your heart rate shooting up whilst sleeping, but even then, that can and does also happen based on movement patterns and dream state.

[Grenfell37 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Charlie G for the link it is really informative on a simple level.

[Ward12]

Thanks for your reply it’s put my mind to rest

[Palpman]

I've got this OCD where ever I see possible calculations I have to do them.

140 ms to 8 ms if consistent equates to:

428 bpm to 7 500 bpm.

😮

[Hidden in reply to Palpman]

Might want to explain this one a bit more, Palpman, as the OP seems to think you’re saying their heart rate had to be between those numbers.

[Ward12]

Good grief within a space of 5 minutes too that’s not right luckily I had my ecg tape on so see what the results are

[Hidden in reply to Ward12]

I really don’t think you understand what HRV is or the purpose of it. I’m also not sure why Palpman felt the need to post that, either, as it’s not remotely relevant. You cannot extrapolate anything about heart rate from HRV like that, they’re not linked that way. The absolute fastest heart rate ever recorded was ventricular contractions at 480 per minute, and anything in the thousands is completely physically impossible. Most people are acutely aware when their heart starts getting up to around 180+ due to palpitations. From experience, it’s hard to miss, and anything above 200bpm is usually extremely obvious. Whatever the holter may or may not have recorded at the time, your heart rate is not going to be anywhere close to even the lower number Palpman mentioned.

[Ward12 in reply to Hidden]

Thank goodness for that I don’t want another heart attack !

[Palpman in reply to Hidden]

I realise that but only converted the ectopic beats to bpm if consistent as I clearly stated. It was just for interest sake.

[Engineer46]

There are several confusing and incorrect posts on this thread. You cannot calculate Heart Rate (HR) from Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Also, HRV is not the interval between heart beats.

HRV is calculated as an average of the differences in duration of a number of heart beats over a given period. The period may be anything from less than five minutes to 24 hours. I don’t know what period the Apple Watch uses but it appears to be short from your posts.

For example, if you are relaxed and keep

perfectly still, your HR will be very regular (assuming no ectopics or AF!) and HRV will be low. In contrast, if you calculate HRV while carrying out exercises of variable intensity you will probably find a high value because your HR will vary significantly.

The HRV values you quoted are in the normal range and I would personally take no notice of HRV at all.

Relax!

Paul