Low pulse rate (bpm) = 36...is this is problem?

[rob_hawthorn]

Hi,
I've recently started using an oximeter (Contec CMS-50E) I don't have any conditions (apnea etc) I use the oximeter to record any elevation in average HR to monitor over-training for endurance sport.

Having used the record function for a week or so I've noticed that my "Low Pulse Rate(bpm)" is......really low and I wondered if it was a problem, it's fluctuated between 35-36 BPM.

The average for info is 51.4.

I'm sure you all get these "is this a problem" questions from newbie's on the forum all the time but I'd be grateful for any help.

Regards,
Rob

[Goofproof]

Thats a question you need to ask your doctor. Info some pulse ox arent made to use while working out. Jim

[Wulfman...]

Yep. That's a question for your doctor.

At the bottom of each page, there's this:

"The information provided on this site is not intended nor recommended as a substitute for professional medical advice."


Den

.

[quietmorning]

Hi,
I've recently started using an oximeter (Contec CMS-50E) I don't have any conditions (apnea etc) I use the oximeter to record any elevation in average HR to monitor over-training for endurance sport.

Having used the record function for a week or so I've noticed that my "Low Pulse Rate(bpm)" is......really low and I wondered if it was a problem, it's fluctuated between 35-36 BPM.

The average for info is 51.4.

I'm sure you all get these "is this a problem" questions from newbie's on the forum all the time but I'd be grateful for any help.

Regards,
Rob

I tried my pulse oximeter while working out and it did the exact same thing. If you will think about your breathing when you are working out, you go into oxygen debt on the outbreath because your body is using it at a much higher rate. This is normal. The second breath in should bring it right back up to normal, and up and down and up and down. (Or I should say in and out and in and out.) This is why when you have built up your endurance, you end up with more lung capacity and a larger network of blood veins.

I'm guessing that the data capable oximeters are much more sensitive than the ones you just place on your finger and pick this up. If you actually look at your oximeter while you are working out, it won't go 98/36/98/36 . . it will just do the 98 / 97 /98 /95 /98 thing, much like the one you use that is not data capable.

If you want to take your oxygen during a work out, you will have to get one that is especially designed for that - as these really aren't meant for it. Your sweat will ruin it. I've been looking for one meant for sports that saves data, but I haven't found it yet.

[Todzo]

Hi,
I've recently started using an oximeter (Contec CMS-50E) I don't have any conditions (apnea etc) I use the oximeter to record any elevation in average HR to monitor over-training for endurance sport.

Having used the record function for a week or so I've noticed that my "Low Pulse Rate(bpm)" is......really low and I wondered if it was a problem, it's fluctuated between 35-36 BPM.

The average for info is 51.4.

I'm sure you all get these "is this a problem" questions from newbie's on the forum all the time but I'd be grateful for any help.

Regards,
Rob

Hi Rob,

A pulse oximeter (LED type worn on your finger) uses two kinds of light to detect the ratio between blood with and without oxygen. To obtain heart rate they look at "how much signal" (perfusion) is there and determine heart rate by looking at the variations due to the heart beating. So each time the heart beats the pressure wave reaches the finger and a "beat" is counted.

If you use your arm muscles you create another pressure wave as the muscles contract and the little valves in the blood vescles react. The pulse oximeter has no way to descriminate between the two and since much blood was "pumped" out of the system by the muscle action it will take a bit of time for the pressure recovery to occure so the pulse oximeter has a signal it can work with.

I think a pulse oximeter is a tool of limited usefulness in working out. That said I use mine on treadmills and cycles constantly taking care to read with my arm muscles not in use (or at least at limited and constant use) and at a level near that of my heart.

Thanks for the inspiration to get to the fittness center!!

Todzo

[quietmorning]

My brain just does not want to work. I replied to an oxygen data issue not pulse. Sorry about that!

My data came out that the oxygen was going down and up, not my pulse. Are you sure it is your pulse recording low?

[quietmorning]

Hi,
I've recently started using an oximeter (Contec CMS-50E) I don't have any conditions (apnea etc) I use the oximeter to record any elevation in average HR to monitor over-training for endurance sport.

Having used the record function for a week or so I've noticed that my "Low Pulse Rate(bpm)" is......really low and I wondered if it was a problem, it's fluctuated between 35-36 BPM.

The average for info is 51.4.

I'm sure you all get these "is this a problem" questions from newbie's on the forum all the time but I'd be grateful for any help.

Regards,
Rob

Having re-read your post. . .are you talking about the first wake in the morning pulse? If that's the case, I'd second what everyone else is saying and say, go see your doc.

Elite athletes often skip a few beats here and there because their heart is strong enough to pump a LOT of blood through at once and it just doesn't need to beat as often - but this is ELITE - and even so the lowest I've ever heard of is 46 bpm at rest.

[midnight_skulker]

Last year I was diagnosed with atrial fibrilation. My cardiologist sent me to a sleep clinic as part of the nomal work up and I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. So, that's why I'm here. I've been on bipap over a year.

After a catheter ablation to "cure" the AFib, my resting pulse rate is 40-45 bpm. I'm also taking meds to control the heart rhythm. My cardiologist says this is OK. I do know that 40 bpm is better than 140 bpm.

[avi123]

Hi,
I've recently started using an oximeter (Contec CMS-50E) I don't have any conditions (apnea etc) I use the oximeter to record any elevation in average HR to monitor over-training for endurance sport.

Having used the record function for a week or so I've noticed that my "Low Pulse Rate(bpm)" is......really low and I wondered if it was a problem, it's fluctuated between 35-36 BPM.

The average for info is 51.4.

I'm sure you all get these "is this a problem" questions from newbie's on the forum all the time but I'd be grateful for any help.

Regards,
Rob

Reply,

Mayo Clinic experts note that most adults have a resting heart rate that falls in the range of 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm). But trained athletes have significantly lower resting heart rates--usually between 40 and 60 bpm, indicating better overall heart function and a higher level of cardiovascular fitness

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/82658 ... z2P4zAmLce

[Todzo]

Thanks to quiet morning for reading your post carefully enough to see what you are really asking.

I would guess that our cheap Chinese Pulse Oximeters are not designed to deal with heart rates of the elite athlete. Probably the accuracy below 60bpm is suspect.

[jweeks]

Elite athletes often skip a few beats here and there because their heart is strong enough to pump a LOT of blood through at once and it just doesn't need to beat as often - but this is ELITE - and even so the lowest I've ever heard of is 46 bpm at rest.

Hi,

My resting heart rate is typically 42. It can drop into the upper 30's when I am sleeping. I also see the skipped heartbeats. It starts off at skipping every 7th beat. As I ramp up activity and heart rate, the skips go down to every 6th, then 5th, and so on. By the time I hit 160 beats per minute, the skips disappear. My peak heart rate is somewhere in the middle 170's.

Heart rate is very hard to generalize. The question is what is right for the original poster, and that is something that we cannot answer here on the forum. Rather, a combination of past history, diagnostics, and experience would be needed. Same thing goes for blood pressure.

-john-

[rob_hawthorn]

Blimey thank for all the replies! Apologies but I've not explained myself well enough from the outset, what I meant was that I'm wearing the oximeter while sleeping only.

Why?: There is school of thought to say that when average resting pulse rate increases, the body is not well rested/the athlete is over-training.

Right back to the initial question, the "Low Pulse Rate(bpm)" is showing as 35 (average is showing as 52.4), is this dangerously low? If people can't answer this due to not being Doctor's then re-rephrasing the question "What are people's low pulse rate's?"/"Is there a range of good/dangerous/low?"

Alternatively, if there are any doctor's on the forum then if they could help with the above that would be much appreciated.

In the meantime I will book a doc's appointment and just to reiterate, thank you for all the replies it's very much appreciated.

Regards
Rob,

Hi,
I've recently started using an oximeter (Contec CMS-50E) I don't have any conditions (apnea etc) I use the oximeter to record any elevation in average HR to monitor over-training for endurance sport.

Having used the record function for a week or so I've noticed that my "Low Pulse Rate(bpm)" is......really low and I wondered if it was a problem, it's fluctuated between 35-36 BPM.

The average for info is 51.4.

I'm sure you all get these "is this a problem" questions from newbie's on the forum all the time but I'd be grateful for any help.

Regards,
Rob

[LSAT]

When I checked my overnight pulse rate went as low as 45 on an overnight test...average was 58. I'm sure age has a factor...i'm 73

[MagsterMile]

My heart beat is consistently in the low to mid 50's when not exercising. I've been by a told by a doctor that some people just have a lower heart beat rate than normal and it's usually nothing to worry about.

[quietmorning]

Rob, what does your normal exercise routine look like? Do you compete?

My heart rate when doing my routine six hours a day to compete was very low - but not that low. My competitive career ended when I sprained my heart and tore the outer layer of the artery in my neck (the one that controls heart rate). At THAT point, I was skipping 8 - 10 beats at a time then it would pump again for a bit. (That was a year recovery. Ouch. The withdrawal was horrible.)

Take your pulse (manually) for a few mornings on first wake. Or, if you have one, wear a training watch (the kind that have the band that go around the chest and can record a 12 hour block of time). (the Timex sport trainer will do this. The Polar won't, I don't know about the Garmin, I've never used one.) Also, if you have a recorded pulse oximeter, look at the whole night and see what your deep sleep is doing for giving your heart rest. Your heart rate will go very low for a while during deep sleep. If it is recording the same low of 36 during those times (or close to it) - then you may have a true issue. If your pulse is nice and steady and just beating once every other beat - that would be the sign of a strong heart. It needs to be steady, though - not skipping four beats here and six beats there . . .lol. . .or eight to ten beats. (Had I not been very strong at that point, I would have been dead, I'm sure.)

Recording data oximeters tend to mess the data up on movement. Mine tends to mess up the oxygen while the pulse data is fine. :-/

If you are a heavy trainer for competition level work, then you may just have an incredibly strong heart. What is your blood pressure? It should be nice and low. Mine averaged at 80/40, sometimes 60/30 during this time before I injured myself.

So, test your oximeter against either manual or a heart rate watch and see if it's still as low. . .and look at your deep sleep cycle to see what your heart rate is looking like.

I can't give you an example as I don't deep sleep long enough to get my heart rate down low enough to tell any difference. . .but others do, maybe they can post an example of what I'm talking about.