Heart rate spikes while sleeping - please help

[megant19]

Hi - I recently received an Apple Watch for Christmas. It has a heart rate monitor. Sometimes lately when sleeping I get alerts that my heart rate has gone above 120 beats per minute while inactive. Sometimes it’s been as high as 150. This never happens during the day. I’m so scared I’m going to die in my sleep and that this is a symptom of a major heart problem. I do have sleep apnea which is treated with a cpap machine. According to that data each morning it’s working great and I have essentially no events. Anyone else have experience with this? I’m freaking out. Thank you

[axolotl]

Hi - I recently received an Apple Watch for Christmas. It has a heart rate monitor. Sometimes lately when sleeping I get alerts that my heart rate has gone above 120 beats per minute while inactive. Sometimes it’s been as high as 150. This never happens during the day. I’m so scared I’m going to die in my sleep and that this is a symptom of a major heart problem. I do have sleep apnea which is treated with a cpap machine. According to that data each morning it’s working great and I have essentially no events. Anyone else have experience with this? I’m freaking out. Thank you

A question for a doctor that, but be aware commercial heartrate monitors are blunt tools and should be taken with a pinch of salt.

[Carys]

Do you know what.....are you sure your heart is actually doing that ?...what about some sort of fault/software problem/problem with readings. I don't have an apple watch,buttttt......Maybe when you lie on it it can do odd things or there is some problem or other. Does your vent gives readings for heart rate also...or just a read out of breaths per min, any disturbances etc. ?Instead of jumping to it being heart rate spikes, why not do a quick check for people reporting problems with this application....

Here's one I found, with a quick search;



Has anyone else seen spikes like this in their heart rate? I'm sure my heart isn't actually doing this. I made sure the Watch band was tight. Apple support told me to cycle power to the Watch - no difference. They told me to unpair and then pair - no difference. They replaced the Watch - no difference. They never actually acknowledged that this is a problem they have seen before, they just seemed to be offering up solutions that they resort to when they don't know what else to suggest. I understand that the Watch heart rate algorithm might not work for everyone, but I am surprised that I have not yet found a reference to anyone else having a similar problems. Others have complained about the accuracy, but they always report the heart rate measurement to be too low, whereas in my case it spikes to a value that is way too high.If you read this thead......

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7794978

There are 164 other people also reporting odd spikes in heart rate.

[ankietyjoe]

Heart rate monitors should be banned from anxiety sufferers. :yesyes:

But yes, they are wildly inaccurate at times. Even the one on my phone often reports a double rate.

[Carys]

I agree ! I used to use the monitor on my phone, then sometimes, if I was slightly moving or it couldn't pick up properly it would wildly swing from 44 bpm to 170 bmp !

[axolotl]

Do you know what.....are you sure your heart is actually doing that ?...what about some sort of fault/software problem/problem with readings. I don't have an apple watch,buttttt......Maybe when you lie on it it can do odd things or there is some problem or other. Does your vent gives readings for heart rate also...or just a read out of breaths per min, any disturbances etc. ?Instead of jumping to it being heart rate spikes, why not do a quick check for people reporting problems with this application....

Here's one I found, with a quick search;


If you read this thead......

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7794978

There are 164 other people also reporting odd spikes in heart rate.

Mystery solved I think.

[megant19]

Thank you all so much- I feel much better after reading that. I’m sure if it was really happening I would wake up and not sleep through an hour of my heart beating like I’m working out! I think I’ll take it off at night. Thanks again!

[Catherine S]

Does the monitor tell you what you might have been dreaming about at those times? Assuming it was accurate of course. We can't always remember dreams, but maybe the spikes were connected to your dreams. Just a thought.

Cath

[megant19]

I was thinking it may be dream related but I just can’t imagine my heart could be beating that fast and I wouldn’t wake up like gasping for breath or something. Trying to be logical but I am really afraid to go to sleep tonight even though I know it’s a known issue that others have so is probably a problem with the watch. Hate this feeling. Heart fears have never been something ive been anxious about and I really do not add something else to the list looks

[EKB]

Good idea taking it off at night. I have an Apple watch as well, and I turned the heart rate alerts off. I was having a panic attack at a concert and in the middle of it I got the 120bpm at rest alert and was like "no way Apple. Not doing this."

I try not to look at the heart stuff too much because it is error prone, and without the medical knowledge to back up what we're seeing it's of limited use. I do like looking at the heart graph after exercising in the activity app to see how hard I've worked - but even then us HA'ers need to use some caution because it can certainly be anxiety fodder.