Heart Rate Spikes

[Graceski]

Please just tell me I'm being paranoid...

I've felt unwell the last few days (had a bad cold) and my heart kinda felt like it's been pounding. I guess my body was just working harder to fight the infection or whatever, but when I synced my Fitbit it's telling me at random moments in the day my heart rate is spiking going as high as 182bpm! This seems awfully high considering my resting heart rate is normally no higher than 66bpm.

It seems to have these random spikes to this level once a day lately. When I look back on the history though it seems to happen fairly often (even when I'm not unwell).

I feel ok in myself but I'm now freaking out that I might have some sort of underlying condition that's causing my heart rate to go into it's peak zone at times I'm not really doing anything or putting in much effort.

The episodes on Fitbit seem to last a few minutes then my heart rate is dropping straight back down to what it should be. I wanna tell myself it's faulty but what if it's not :( I don't know what to believe!

[Shadowhawk]

Please just tell me I'm being paranoid...

I've felt unwell the last few days (had a bad cold) and my heart kinda felt like it's been pounding. I guess my body was just working harder to fight the infection or whatever, but when I synced my Fitbit it's telling me at random moments in the day my heart rate is spiking going as high as 182bpm! This seems awfully high considering my resting heart rate is normally no higher than 66bpm.

It seems to have these random spikes to this level once a day lately. When I look back on the history though it seems to happen fairly often (even when I'm not unwell).

I feel ok in myself but I'm now freaking out that I might have some sort of underlying condition that's causing my heart rate to go into it's peak zone at times I'm not really doing anything or putting in much effort.

The episodes on Fitbit seem to last a few minutes then my heart rate is dropping straight back down to what it should be. I wanna tell myself it's faulty but what if it's not :( I don't know what to believe!


There is a reason doctors hate these devices... they are inaccurate as all get out. I have had my device tell me i was over 260(!!).. when taking my pulse manually was barely at 80. Wrist optical heart rate devices are not FDA (or other country medical licensing) regulated, and are not considered medically accurate devices.



There is also the fact, that 180 is the realistic limit for most people, and you would FEEL your heart pounding your chest if you were really at that rate. You would feel it even more so if it was out of the blue.



The best bet would be to check yourself when you see the spike (finger on throat pulse, count them for 10 seconds, and multiply by 6). The likelihood is that the wrist sensor has slipped or is miscalibrated, and reading a small increase (which is very normal when sick) as a drastic change.

[bin tenn]

I would suggest using the Fitbit only as a general purpose tool and not assuming it is going to be accurate all the time. They can and do occasionally misread that data. Do you recall feeling like it's elevated sometimes? If so, try to check it manually ONCE during that time. If it's normal, the Fitbit is just getting a bad reading. However, if it persists and it actually IS that high, I recommend talking to your doctor.

[CHELLEB1017]

Ive been told the fir bit is not reliable and is known to give false readings. Id bet your just fine. Maybe take it manually once a day but thats it.

[ankietyjoe]

It's very common for Fitbit's do double your actual heart rate. They do it all the time. It's more likely the faster your actual heart rate is too.

There is no way you wouldn't notice your heart rate spike that high and have to rely on your Fitbit telling you later. And you didn't notice it because it didn't happen.