how can I stay in aerobic zone of exercise without knowing when anaerobic is kicking in?

[Valentijn]

So it gives a continuous reading all day like an oximeter would or do you have to tap it to see what your bpm are?

It can give you a continuous reading. Once the heart rate monitoring is started, it stays engaged until it's turned off. When it's on, the alarms can be turned on separately, and again will stay turned on. I don't like to leave the alarms on when in public though, as they're a bit attention-drawing But even with the alarms off, I can just glance at the monitor without having to hit any buttons to see what my heart rate is.

It also has bluetooth, but I've never used it.

 

[charlie1]

Yours would be approximately (220-57)*.6 = 98. 85 is too low to use as a limit.

@Valentijn I don't understand this. This thread has people saying that multiplying by .6 is for healthy people and we should use 40-50%. When I plug in my numbers @ 50% (which may actually still be too high), it shows AT to be 85 (I'm 57 yrs old).
What do you mean by "85 is too low to use as a limit"? Don't we want the 'real' limit?

Is this the watch you use? I would need the Indigo band b/c of skinny arms. http://www.mioglobal.com/Mio-ALPHA-Indigo-Heart-Rate-Sport-Watch/Product.aspx?ProductID=17&

 

[Sleeping Beauty]

Thanks for your CoQ10 feedback @Mij, @charlie1, and @MeSci. It appears that I can for now save money and complications until (very optimistically) I get better. I am currently about a 1.3 on the PR rating scale and at most a 10% on the Bell ratings scale that @MeSci linked to, so it appears I am nowhere near as well as those of you that benefitted from CoQ10.

Of course there is always a flip side with ME/CFS, and that is that my resting heart rate is very high. Couple that with POTS and I am dangerously above my guesstimated AT whenever I sit up or go to the loo (I spend most of my days in bed). So without doing anything to write home about activity-wise, could I still have PEM most of the time? That's pretty much what it feels like.

Time to get a strapless heart rate monitor (haha, my birthday is coming up - maybe I do need that Apple Watch after all - assuming it could function as a HR monitor, that is).

 

[SOC]

It can give you a continuous reading. Once the heart rate monitoring is started, it stays engaged until it's turned off. When it's on, the alarms can be turned on separately, and again will stay turned on. I don't like to leave the alarms on when in public though, as they're a bit attention-drawing But even with the alarms off, I can just glance at the monitor without having to hit any buttons to see what my heart rate is.

It also has bluetooth, but I've never used it.

Is the Alpha Mio a wrist-only monitor? If so, I think I may buy one for my daughter who has given up her HR monitor now that she's doing so well, but probably ought to start monitoring again with her new job, marriage, and life. She's much more likely to be willing to monitor again if she doesn't have to deal with the nasty chest strap.

 

[SOC]

@Valentijn I don't understand this. This thread has people saying that multiplying by .6 is for healthy people and we should use 40-50%. When I plug in my numbers @ 50% (which may actually still be too high), it shows AT to be 85 (I'm 57 yrs old).
What do you mean by "85 is too low to use as a limit"? Don't we want the 'real' limit?

The 60% is not for healthy people. It's very, very rough estimate of AT for PWME. The estimated AT for healthy people is 80% of max HR. The thing is that most of us need to stay well below our AT for routine activities and only go up to the AT for brief and exceptional circumstances.

So if you are setting your alarm at your AT only to know when you have to quit whatever you are doing immediately, then you want to set it at around the 60% max HR. If you are trying to gauge where you should stay for routine activities, then the 50% number is probably better. I'm guessing that is what Val is saying -- that 50% may be too low as at top end, stop-and-sit-immediately limit. But it might be fine as a place to stay for routine activity.

Another thing we all need to keep in mind is that tachycardia may screw up all these calculations. For example, if you have untreated tachy, you might not be able to get your HR down to 85 bpm for any activity. I know I couldn't prior to OI treatment. If I was standing my HR was over 90 bpm.

Let's keep this all in perspective, if we can. Any calculated, rule-of-thumb-based estimate of appropriate HR for various levels of activity/exercise is a very, very, very rough estimate and could be completely wrong for any individual. We PWME know our bodies are not behaving normally, or even exactly like that of other PWME, so an estimate that works for one person could be way off for another. The only reason we use the calculated AT is because it's better than nothing as a way to make a ballpark estimate of how not to constantly PEM ourselves. Since many of us can't (for various reasons) afford to do the 2-day CPET to get more accurate data about our own bodies, our choice is the very rough estimate or nothing.

If I had to use the calculated AT, I'd consider it a ballpark estimate to start with. If I still PEMed at that HR, I'd go lower until I had it set at a level where I didn't PEM myself. I certainly wouldn't consider it a set in stone, 100% safe HR limit.

 

[charlie1]

@SOC Here's the link for the Mio watches/bands. No chest strap required
http://www.mioglobal.com/product_info.htm

Thanks for clarifying the AT estimations SOC. I understand it better now.
I'd be agreeable to testing if they stopped the test when my AT was reached. I sure would like to find out if testing is done in Ottawa but don't know which hospital Gamboa was referring to when she mentioned in a thread once that it was being considered as a place for testing.

 

[MeSci]

Is the Alpha Mio a wrist-only monitor? If so, I think I may buy one for my daughter who has given up her HR monitor now that she's doing so well, but probably ought to start monitoring again with her new job, marriage, and life. She's much more likely to be willing to monitor again if she doesn't have to deal with the nasty chest strap.

A friend of mine is very enthusiastic about this one. She says that it reads consistently and apparently reliably.

But I see that one also has controls on the sides and wonder whether they might get pressed by accident, as mine does, when one is doing manual activity.

 

[MeSci]

Thanks for your CoQ10 feedback @Mij, @charlie1, and @MeSci. It appears that I can for now save money and complications until (very optimistically) I get better. I am currently about a 1.3 on the PR rating scale and at most a 10% on the Bell ratings scale that @MeSci linked to, so it appears I am nowhere near as well as those of you that benefitted from CoQ10.

I don't know whether that is the variable that determines the suitability of Co-Q10, as my activity level is about 6/60% and I can't tolerate it.

It seems difficult or impossible to predict, with the current paucity of information, who will benefit from many treatments, hence most of us having to rely on trial and error.

 

[Valentijn]

Is the Alpha Mio a wrist-only monitor? If so, I think I may buy one for my daughter who has given up her HR monitor now that she's doing so well, but probably ought to start monitoring again with her new job, marriage, and life. She's much more likely to be willing to monitor again if she doesn't have to deal with the nasty chest strap.

Yup, it's a wrist-only unit. And I think they have some versions which look a bit more like slim ladies' watches.

 

[MeSci]

@SOC Here's the link for the Mio watches/bands. No chest strap required
http://www.mioglobal.com/product_info.htm

Thanks for clarifying the AT estimations SOC. I understand it better now.
I'd be agreeable to testing if they stopped the test when my AT was reached. I sure would like to find out if testing is done in Ottawa but don't know which hospital Gamboa was referring to when she mentioned in a thread once that it was being considered as a place for testing.

You could try starting a private conversation with her, but I see from her profile pages that she hasn't been seen on here since the end of March.

 

[Mij]

@charlie1 it was the Ottawa Heart Institute

http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/anyone-know-their-vo2max.36010/#post-573036

 

[charlie1]

Yes @Mij ! that's where I saw it! In the meantime I emailed Betsy Keller myself asking questions regarding the testing without doing the 2 day CPET as I don't need it for disability or legal reasons. I just want to know my AT without guessing!
If Betsy Keller doesn't respond and the Ottawa Heart Institute doesn't have answers for me, I'll pm Gamboa.
Thanks for the suggestions Mij and @MeSci

 

[Dr.Patient]

Any exercise testing will cause PEM, and it may become permanent. Don't do it!

 

[Sushi]

Any exercise testing will cause PEM, and it may become permanent. Don't do it!

Yes, could happen. On the other hand we are all different and the benefit of knowing your AR threshold could be very helpful for some here. I think that each of us has to assess our own risk/benefit ratio here.

Sushi

 

[SOC]

Any exercise testing will cause PEM, and it may become permanent. Don't do it!

My last AT-only test lasted only 6 minutes. I didn't really even have to push the pedals on the bike, the resistance was so low. It was more like waving my legs around than pedaling. I did not PEM afterwards. Everyone is different, so there's no guarantee other people will have the same experience, but I think it's safe to say that the AT-only test is much safer than the maximal CPET test. Brief exercise only up to your AT is unlikely to cause PEM in most people. Pushing yourself to your physical limit, as is done in the standard CPET, is another matter.

There are no absolutes here. Everyone needs to evaluate his or her own situation, needs, and risks and make the best choice for him- or herself.

 

[Mij]

Our motto

 

[charlie1]

@Dr.Patient I hear where you're coming from! I had already decided I would not do the 2 day CPET testing for the reason that you are warning of. But once I learned that a short test could be done to only measure AT (which is all I'm interested in), I became excited to learn there may be a way for me to be pro-active with regards to gaining energy! I'm not really talking about 'exercise' per se, it's more that I want to be sure I'm not overdoing it with the most basic of household activities.

 

[Kyla]

Yup, it's a wrist-only unit. And I think they have some versions which look a bit more like slim ladies' watches.

@Valentijn can you tell me whether the Mio alpha has any metal parts that touch your skin?
I was intending on buying one of these but I have contact (skin) allergies to Nickel and a few other metals. I emailed the company to ask and they gave me a dodgy non-answer that basically said there was nickel in some part of the watch but not whether it is a part that comes in contact with skin.

Or If anyone with a nickel allergy has tried the new Fitbit HR without a problem I would love to know. That one has sleep tracking too, which I thought might be handy. But they have a blanket statement on their site that people with nickel allergies *probably* won't get a rash from it

 

[Valentijn]

@Valentijn can you tell me whether the Mio alpha has any metal parts that touch your skin?
I was intending on buying one of these but I have contact (skin) allergies to Nickel and a few other metals. I emailed the company to ask and they gave me a dodgy non-answer that basically said there was nickel in some part of the watch but not whether it is a part that comes in contact with skin.

The charger contacts (4 little dots) are metal, but are slightly recessed. I'm not sure if they touch the skin. But covering that part when wearing it shouldn't interfere with the heart rate monitor doing its job.

The optical sensor has some tiny metal-looking bits, but those are sealed in under a thick clear plastic. There are 4 tiny screws, but they are deeply recessed and definitely won't be touching any skin.

 

[Kyla]

The charger contacts (4 little dots) are metal, but are slightly recessed. I'm not sure if they touch the skin. But covering that part when wearing it shouldn't interfere with the heart rate monitor doing its job.

The optical sensor has some tiny metal-looking bits, but those are sealed in under a thick clear plastic. There are 4 tiny screws, but they are deeply recessed and definitely won't be touching any skin.

Thanks @Valentijn !

Sounds like it would be fine.