Heart rate monitor watches / wristbands.

[albertcamus]

Would there be much point in investing in one of these devices if you are taking betablockers ?

Also would a resting heart rate of 44 bpm be considered in the normal range for people on betablockers ?

Thanks.

[Grenfell37]

It depends on why and what you want to monitor. The fitness watches monitor and more importantly the trends of a wide variety of heart activities.

For me seeing the impact of exercise, sleep and medication in a trend format on my heart I find really helpful rather than just the day to day monitoring. If you only want to monitor your heart rate there are others cheaper methods.

[albertcamus in reply to Grenfell37]

Yeah , like you I am interested in seeing what my heart is doing during exercise and sleep especially. Wouldn't the fact that being on a betablocker however make the whole exercise pointless ?

[Hrty in reply to albertcamus]

Hi - I don't think the render it pointless - you just have to factor in the betablocker when it comes to monitoring your HR and setting a target exercise range. When I was on one, briefly, the rehab nurses set my targets lower than when not on a beta blocker. Hope that makes sense. My target range now is 100-120 although when having an assessment at the rehab centre the DR makes me get up to around 132. Takes some doing as ,I have a low HR to begin with. On a betablocker my max during exercise was 112.

[Reb6789]

Hi, my heart is in sinus when active and I find using a polar monitor (strap not watch) really comforting. It pairs with my phone so I can check the rate as I exercise. I've had various holter tests including a 7 day and decided that watching my heart rate all the time would just freak me out. Like you mine goes v low when resting and I think into the high 20s possibly when asleep- it doesn't worry my consultant and I have enough to worry about so I don't think about that. As others have said- its all about how you feel rather than the bpm. I restarted at the gym taking it gently, but now expect to get to 120-135 bpm once warmed up, and feel good with that.

[GoodTea]

Hello, I had similar criteria to yours when I was looking for something lightweight and easy to wear when exercising. I was at the time on a beta-blocker (Bisoprolol 2.5mg) and another blood pressure (BP) med - Amlodipine.

I opted for an Apple Watch (series 9) because it's one of the few wrist wearables where the heart rate (HR) measurements get more accurate as exercise intensity increases. See the section on Apple watch accuracy in this review which is generally dismissive regarding the accuracy of wrist worn devices regarding HR measurements:

aim7.com/blog/smartwatch-we...

The claim is probably based on the following research which involved on people with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) doing various activities:

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articl...

The research concluded that

Our results thus show good accuracy of HR measurements by the Apple Watch when compared to the gold standard ECG measurements when tested in patients with known heart disease.

It seems reasonable to assume that a fair number of the people with CVD would have been on medication to reduce their BP.

However, quite a few Apple watch users - including me - were bothered by how beta-blockers affected the accuracy of the measurements. This post addresses the issue:

discussions.apple.com/threa...

For me, the key point from the post is that people shouldn't bother putting in their BP medications if their dosage is low and not having much effect on their BP or HR.

In contrast, if your BP medications are standard dosage and reducing your BP and/or HR, then enter the details on the Apple app.

I've been satisfied with the Apple watch for helping me avoid pushing my HR too high for too long when running. It's also good for assessing resting heart rate (RHR) - see:

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articl...

My GP accepts the Apple RHR readings for monitoring purposes. However, if you want to use it to check your heart rate variability or energy expenditure, it's not acceptably accurate for clinical purposes. As for its accuracy regarding sleep, I'm not sure. HR during exercise was my priority so I haven't gone into how it deals with sleep.