Fitbit info

[Artywends]

I am thinking of taking off my Fitbit as it seems to tell me my heart rate is shooting up or down for a few minutes and making me very anxious . Do others find this ? Is it accurate or important?

[PinkKizzie]

Hi Artywends, I ditched my fitbit as I was becoming obsessed with watching the stats. I now take my BP/heart rate once a week and feel more relaxed not watching my fitbit. Take care

[Blearyeyed]

It is a good idea to ditch the Smart watch if it gives you health anxiety .

[stevetheadi]

My Fitbit does the same thing. I mentioned it to my cardiac rehab nurse who told me to ignore it and said that Fitbits weren't very accurate.

[intheweeds]

I had the same thing on my Fitbit, where the HR shot up for no reason. In the end I got too focussed on it and so no longer wear it. But I keep it just in case I need to monitor my HR in the future.

[GrumpyYorkshireman]

I found my fitbit was doing the same so I traded it in for a Garmin which seems to be a lot more consistent with my heart rate. It also gives the same heart rate readings as my Omron BP monitor so I am more inclined to believe the Garmin is more accurate.

[RF260]

Hi, yes experiencing exactly the same, normal resting in a chair is around 60bpm, the Fitbit links to my phone app which I have on my lap obsessing about heart rate and I notice for no apparent reason it shoots up to over 100bpm and then very quickly back down again. It just adds to the anxiety..I'm thinking of taking it off during the day (I originally got it just for step counting) but maybe put it on at night to give things like sleep quality, heart rate variability etc.

[Toffodog]

I recently completed my cardiac rehabilitation course and the cardiac nurses told me to ignore the Fitbit stats as they were inaccurate and they did a comparison by providing me with a polar arm band which measures more accurately and it demonstrated that my Fitbit was showing around 30 bpm higher so I now switched to wearing this arm band for accurate heart rate. If you Google Polar heart monitors you will see lots of different types including watches but please speak to your GP or cardiac nurse for their opinions before purchasing anything. hope this helps .

[PowerFly in reply to Toffodog]

+1 for the Polar armband optical sensor. Since developing persistent AFib my chest strap failed to make sense of my irregular HR. My Garmin watch is fine except during cycling and walking with poles when it reads low. I suspect that it is affected by pulsing of grip under these circumstances. I bought a Polar Verity Sense bicep monitor that reads accurately and transmits in Bluetooth and Ant+. That means it talks to my iPhone, my Garmin watch, my Garmin cycle computer, and my Bosch powered ebike. Absolutely love it!

[Jutland]

You may have an abfib setting on your fitbit, if so set it up and see what happens but I would talk it over with a health care provider

[Lexi72]

mine has been great for years than suddenly started showing unexplained increase I checked my heart rate against my Kardia and my heart rate rate was fine. So I ditched the Fitbit and got a new one which is working fine. Am now wondering having looked online whether the contacts just needed a good clean

[Mitchum]

Going to be arrogant here, sorry. A Fitbit is as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike!

[Anothernewbie in reply to Mitchum]

When I saw Fitbit my immediate thought was - Oh dear!

[JezzaJezza]

The only decent wearables are the Apple Watch and some of the high end Garmin watches.

[Sanmo]

I stopped wearing my fitbit after becoming obsessed with it, everything physical was done only on consultation with the watch, anxiety was the main outcome. I now have zero anxiety and my wife gave me a rather nice Omega to replace the the fitbit and the anxiety, win win situation 🙃

[Grannysue12]

I have the same thing with my Apple Watch. Once a day for no obvious reason my HR will shoot up then immediately down again. I think I read somewhere that watches can do this for no apparent reason 🤷‍♀️. Not very helpful for you but you might find some info on this happening with watches. I just searched on Google and I’m sure that’s where I read it.

Sorry no idea why it is all underlined .

[Chiphill]

I’m trying hard not to look at my Fitbit for exactly the same reason! My heart rate is all over the place on it, and I found myself obsessively watching it and becoming anxious when it goes too high or low, which in itself probably caused my heart to race! Haven’t got to the point of ditching it completely yet as I’m trying to improve my fitness so I’m using it to monitor my daily steps. It’s taking some willpower to ignore it though.

[Artywends]

thank you all for your comments. It is helpful to know it is not just me!