Resting Heart Rate - as an indicator of health?

[DrMekon]

I get the same for the 520

https://apps.garmin.com/en-GB/apps/d2df9c80-32d5-4063-acb5-360f2b1ebaea

^ someone has made something in Connect IQ for the 920. If you have the inclination, I'm sure you could too

http://developer.garmin.com/connect-iq/overview/

IME< the connect iq screens can be quite flakey, but it's likely worth a look.

[LEE]

My Wattbike sessions, more than anything I think, have improved my recovery rate.

My HR can now go from >150bpm, after an extreme (for my age) interval, back to <100bpm during the short recovery period.

I need to check my RHR again soon.  It's only since I started feeling well recently that I realised that I've been carrying an annoying lurgy since the new year*


* Anyone else felt "under the weather" for weeks/months?  I don't mean a full-blown cold, just the sense that you are on the verge of getting a cold.
My lurgy finally turned into a proper cold which I have finally recovered from.  It seems to have been the catalyst I needed to get rid of the "under the weather" feeling.

[SteveC]

* Anyone else felt "under the weather" for weeks/months?  I don't mean a full-blown cold, just the sense that you are on the verge of getting a cold.
My lurgy finally turned into a proper cold which I have finally recovered from.  It seems to have been the catalyst I needed to get rid of the "under the weather" feeling.

Yep. Me for most of this winter and most of last winter. I suspect the office building I work in doesn't help.

[Cycling Daddy]

Indeed, a very slow recovery rate (<12 bpm within 1 minute of stopping, IIRC) indicates a significant risk of heart attack.

Yes it can be other things as well.  My AFib was detected when my son noticed there was little  variation in my HR when I stopped for cake on a ride.  I also noticed that his RHR when he was very fit was very low (in the 30's) but moved up very quickly when he started to move. When I am 'right' my HR drops at between 30 and 40 bpm from top end of my endurance range.  When in Afib it would carry on til the afib stopped, maybe 24 to 48 hours.
L

[Greenbank]

That makes sense. I guess high HRV is not to be confused with arrhythmia or tachycardia.

Indeed, HRV doesn't have anything to do with your heart rate (as in beats per minute). You can have a heart rate of 60bpm and low HRV, or have high HRV and still have a heart rate of 60bpm.

HRV is the measure of the (ir)regularity of the beats. So a very low HRV would mean those 60bpm might be very close to being bang on a second apart.

Higher HRV would mean the gaps between beats are less regular: 980ms, 1s, 1020ms, 950ms, 1030ms, etc.

My Garmin Forerunner 920xt measures HRV to determine how well I've recovered from previous activities. It monitors the HRV for the first 6 minutes of an activity and then gives me a rating (GOOD, FAIR and probably others but I've never had anything lower than FAIR). The only time I've had anything other than GOOD was when I went for a run the day after a 180km cycle ride. Not sure if it continues to monitor HRV, I need to dig into the .fit file format to see if it's recorded in there somehow.

Dredging an old post but I found out that you can force some recent Garmin watches into recording HRV:-

https://support.firstbeat.com/en/support/solutions/articles/9000061051-how-to-upload-measurements-from-selected-garmin-devices

Uploading the resulting files into runalyze.com (which gives far better stats than Strava ever could) and you get detailed info:-

Here's a plot from a recent "easy" 15k run:



And from last night's 5-a-side:



Each point in the main plot shows the interval (between heartbeats) against the interval of the next heartbeat. Any anomalies will show up as a deviation from the linear trend line.

I've only just enabled HRV logging on my Garmin so I only have these two activities. I should be reasonably rested at the moment (given I'm tapering for a marathon) but in the next few weeks I should get some more activities that have me very fatigued.

[Tom M]

Is interesting that can pull that kind of data from a Garmin anyway and do that kind of statistical analysis on the intervals to generate the different HRV variables. I would say that there's probably not a lot a point doing it on data from during the exercise itself as there's going to be little of the parasympathetic activity that generates HRV anyway, and the numbers generated from those traces don't show a great deal of variability in them. Where it would probably more useful is doing resting measures, ideally first thing in the morning before anything else, and looking at trends in the data to monitor fatigue and training status. It is pretty sensitive mind, so would suggest 5 mins quiet recording at least with breathing rate/depth constant between recordings. I do use HRV stuff as a main part of my never ending part-time PhD, so if any questions do ask!

[Redjeep!]

Apparently too low a RHR can be a precurser to Ab Fib.

[Greenbank]

Interesting Tom M, thanks.

I had hoped to have the relevant plot from Sunday's marathon but I managed to leave my HR strap in the hotel room. Doh.

I'll see what tonight's 5-a-side football gives as I should be reasonably fatigued.