Right now I’m suffering really badly from fatigue right now. My HA was two and a half years ago, completely out of the blue whilst mountain biking as a fit 59 year old! My recovery has been good, and for over 18 months I’ve been off all meds apart from a baby aspirin. The single sent did its job and BP has been sitting nicely around 118/70 to 120/75 taken night and morning. I have occasional readings of 130/82ish. I’m very active, working building my new house, as well as dog walking, doing around 12k -18k steps every day… not as much time cycling as like though
I’ve recently been watching my Garmin and my HRV average is showing poor averaging around 23ms with over night down to 18ms. Never seen it this low
Would love to have someone give some guidance on this
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bertrumbrown
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My HRV has been lower than that on a very few odd occasions. I asked my cardiologist about this and he said to ignore the readings.
I did a some research and found that a high HRV is considered healthy as it demonstrates that your autonomous nervous system is operating well. It measures the timing and change in between heartbeats. However, this can be affected by medication and heart procedures/surgeries.
A low HRV rating is consistent with your heart perhaps being less resilient and not being able to cope with change well.
However, like I said, HRV does not seem to be something that is monitored by cardiologists, at least mine does not seem overly bothered. Furthermore, there continues to be a debate on how effective these devices, like my Apple Watch is on measuring and monitoring heart health which is perhaps another reason why it isn’t investigated further.
If you are seriously concerned, I would make a note of how often your HRV is low and then you can present these results to your cardiologist.
Please note that the above is just my research, so there maybe some inaccuracies but that is just my understanding of HRV.
Hi I'm 60 and do a lot of cycling. My HRV is 43ms, the lowest it's ever been is about 35.
18 is below the range for your age I believe plus with your fitness it sounds like it should be higher. I would get it checked out
Hi BB,
Fatigue could be due to many reasons I am sure you will be fine but there is no harm to get a check up post HA. Great to hear about your recovery & health. Don't worry about HRV if your BP & HR are within limits & you can perform daily activities without any problems you are OK mate.
However I wonder as to why you are not taking Statins! Statins post HA and stents along with low dose aspirin ( life long) is standard protocal unless contradicted.
I’m beginning to think it’s just a lousy virus that’s dropped my HRV. I’m not someone’ who is ever sick or off colour. Well apart from 22 January 2021
Unfortunately I’m one of those who couldn’t tolerate statins. Three weeks after my HA I was back on the mountain bike and doing great. A few weeks later the muscle and joint pain kicked in. So bad I couldn’t exercise at all. Stopped the Atorvastatin pain went. Tried four different statins all with bad side effects. I sat down with my doctor and discussed the options. It was statins and sedentary lifestyle in pain or no statins and the ability to continue a fitness regime that includes 3-5 thousand miles hard mountain biking, physical work on the building site, plus 15 to 18 thousand steps dog walking every day. Yes the final choice was mine and I really appreciate how lucky I am to have survived and still be this active
Yes that was the last one I tried, was taking low dose twice a week on doctor advice, still had problems sadly after a couple of weeks. Seems they just aren’t for me. I have three friends on Ezitembe who have absolutely no problems, I’d hoped it was the solution
I believe that Tos92 gave you accurate information and advice about HRV.
I have read some sources that suggest that HRV is probably the best indicator of general/overall heart health. It is an indicator of how well your heart can respond/adjust to various factors in day-to-day life. And, as Tos92 mentioned, HRV does vary depending on a variety of conditions/factors such as medication, etc. Also, HRV tends to be higher in younger folks, and tends to lower as we age. I believe (don’t quote me on this) that an average rate for a female in her 60s might be in the low to mid-fifties.
I noticed (via my Apple Watch) after my HA in March 2022, that my HRV was always extremely low—7-10. It was clear from this data that my general heart health was generally poor. My HRV never got into the 30s or 40s.
Now, one year and five months following my HA, my HRV seems to average between 10-20. That is still rubbish levels, but better than immediately following the HA. In fact, sometimes, now, I notice an HRV of 37, or higher. It does vary throughout the day and night, but it does seem to be some better. I believe that I also read that anxiety had an impact on HRV. I work everyday on trying to control that.
Honestly, I have never had my doctor, or a cardiologist, say anything about HRV, but maybe they should be doing so.
HRV is not a very useful measure as it is affected by many different factors as others have mentioned.
You are much fitter than average and so your resting heart rate probably doesn't vary as much as that of a typically unfit heart patient, whose heart rate will spike on the slightest exertion.
So while I can't say why you feel fatigued, I don't think that HRV is really telling you anything about the issue and you should talk to your GP.
Paul
PS. One thing I can say is that you are very unlikely to have Atrial Fibrillation, because that produces a very high HRV!
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