Pacing: Very interesting HealthRising article re HR and HRV monitoring and pacing - I may finally spring for an HR/HRV monitor!

[LJor]

Prior to the last crash I could go to MD but would be down the next day. I needed frozen meals to feed myself and household chores need help from someone else. When I had help with household chores I was in better shape. In the crash I struggled with food and the trip to the bathroom was like climbing a mountain. Talking got rough. I recline on the couch. My bed is uncomfortable but I am seeing myself have an increasingly hard time sitting upright. As things improved on the heart moniter it was profound brain fog that held on. I had one good day yesterday and today I’m down again. Yesterday I got up to a 3. Today it will be a miracle to stay under 15 and I have only gotten up to eat and go to the bathroom.

 

[wabi-sabi]

Today it will be a miracle to stay under 15 and I have only gotten up to eat and go to the bathroom.

Sounds like you have a really difficult situation. Caregivers make this so much more bearable.

 

[Strawberry]

Thank you for the description. I use a garmin too, so nice to know they are compatible. Or…. What am I trying to say? They don’t work tog but they both give good information. Whew. I’d hate to confuse someone.

Really thinking hard about this now.

 

[godlovesatrier]

Am really quite confused which of these to get. I bought a h9 but it was a wee bit uncomfortable (too small maybe) and the ap integration for android was shocking. Welltory is garbage, polar app was useless - polar flow/team didn't seem to be available on android/macos x v12. So yeah I don't really know what to do.

I've got the spreadsheet open but it suggested the h9/10 would be best, wondering if it was written by someone who has an apple phone/watch tho.

So if I bought the h10 do I need to have a garmin watch as well and an app? Or should I just buy a garmin watch?

I basically want to see my hrv tracked on a graph, along with resting hr, max hr and average hr over a 24 hour period. That's it really, can anyone recommend something? I can go up to £100 if need be.

I did want accuracy too tho, so I'm thinking maybe sticking with the h10 is a good idea. But all the apps for android as I said were pretty crap.

Thanks!

 

[SnappingTurtle]

I basically want to see my hrv tracked on a graph, along with resting hr, max hr and average hr over a 24 hour period. That's it really, can anyone recommend something? I can go up to £100 if need be.

I did want accuracy too tho, so I'm thinking maybe sticking with the h10 is a good idea. But all the apps for android as I said were pretty crap.

Thanks!

If you don't need heart rate alerts (and accuracy is lower priority) I would just recommend the Garmin and its native app, assuming you are not an Apple user. On my Garmin, I try to mitigate potential causes of inaccuracy by doing things like ensuring a snug fit on my wrist, switching arms every so often and preparing the new side by scrubbing the skin pretty well, then drying thoroughly before switching the Garmin to it. For me, it was a trade-off between convenience and consistent use of wrist monitors vs accurate yet cumbersome chest straps.

 

[godlovesatrier]

Good advise thanks I see now that hte fitbit app actually accepts all sorts of watches. If anyone has been able to figure out the best cheapest one let me know. I am currently using a super cheap chinese fitbit style band tracker, but it won't pair with the fitbit app, there own app is ok but it's hard to really see the data in a reliable easy way.

But this one has a nice face on it: https://amzn.eu/d/hEi3qMK and shows the heart rate on the main screen, currently I have to move to another screen and it times out after like 5 seconds which is a bit useless tbh.

Thanks!

 

[SnappingTurtle]

it's hard to really see the data in a reliable easy way.

Try habitdash, for viewing data from multiple fitness trackers or sensors. I posted somewhere about it.

 

[godlovesatrier]

Nice will check!!

 

[Judee]

I'm frustrated with this Garmin watch. I left it at home to go for a tilt table test. I had been running at 5-8 on the Body Battery reading for almost a week beforehand because I had to go off my Metoprolol in advance of the testing. However, when I got back from the testing and put it on BB read 42 right away.

It's done that before too. Anyone have an idea how it averages off time with the other readings? That's all I can think that it's doing because I can't see being so low, going for something that difficult and having the BB climb while I was pushing like that.

 

[godlovesatrier]

I think my hrv is generally 45 now. It's gone down a lot since I started my newest job.

 

[Hufsamor]

It's done that before too. Anyone have an idea how it averages off time with the other readings? That's all I can think that it's doing because I can't see being so low, going for something that difficult and having the BB climb while I was pushing like that.

I believe it’s like this:
If the body battery was rising at the time you took of you watch, it will calculate a further, similar rising while your away.
If the body battery was falling, it will calculate it to continue to fall.

It will most likely take a day or two before your back at a realistic body battery

 

[hapl808]

I believe it’s like this:
If the body battery was rising at the time you took of you watch, it will calculate a further, similar rising while your away.
If the body battery was falling, it will calculate it to continue to fall.

It will most likely take a day or two before your back at a realistic body battery

That's my vague experience, too. I try to take it off when my Stress is around 50 or so.

Then again, every once in awhile it'll jump up for no reason. I usually leave bluetooth off and sync occasionally. Last time I did it, it wiped out the last 6 hours of data and my BB jumped 40 points.

 

[SnappingTurtle]

@Judee I have seen this also but chalk it up to (unfortunate) assumptions in the algorithm that the wearer is normal, and so estimates my body is charging. I just set expectations that when I have left it off for 4 hrs or more, that I can ignore the first day and half of data just as @Hufsamor says.

@Judee why did you have to take it off in prep for and during the tilt table test? Was that a requirement for the procedure?

 

[Nord Wolf]

I'm frustrated with this Garmin watch. I left it at home to go for a tilt table test. I had been running at 5-8 on the Body Battery reading for almost a week beforehand because I had to go off my Metoprolol in advance of the testing. However, when I got back from the testing and put it on BB read 42 right away.

I’ve learned to look at my Garmin readings as averages, and only if I’m wearing it 24/7 ongoing. For seeing an average pattern it seems to do well for me. However, my wife had two Garmin style watches, tried both and ditched both. With her Parkinsons the things just can’t get any accurate readings through the tremors. Hers also would show absurd Body Battery readings that didn’t seem to match any other readings. I’ve found others who state their watch reads well, like mine, but for other people the watch readings are all over the place and never seem to add up.

 

[Judee]

@Judee why did you have to take it off in prep for and during the tilt table test? Was that a requirement for the procedure?

They did some other autonomic testing too (QSART testing). I assumed they would ask me to take it off anyway for some of that. Afterwards looking back, I think it would have been in the way.

 

[wabi-sabi]

Garmin just updated their screens for the vivosmart body battery. It's horrible and I hate it. Of course, the change is permanent. It's so much less useful.

 

[Jyoti]

I am SO with you @wabi-sabi. Just miserable trying to find the data I need. And no warning. I’m really unhappy too

 

[wabi-sabi]

I'm chatting with tech support now, and the upshot seems to be that it isn't fixable. I mean, I can't even read the tiles they are so small!

 

[wabi-sabi]

I can try to help you reconfigure your home screen if you want. I've done as much damage control as possible, but it's so much more useless than it was before. Heartrate, why would I want to know that?! Why would I want the tile large enough to see?!

Today has been a very bad day.

 

[Florida Guy]

I went and bought a vivosmart 5 but I am unimpressed by the accuracy, battery life or using it. I have to charge it every 2 days and it takes an hour and a half to charge, but I just turned off the oxy sensor thing and that might help. The strap is a cheap piece of junk, looks like what you might see on a kids toy watch. Not comfortable and the stiffness means it does not sit correctly on my wrist unless I tighten it a lot which is uncomfortable

I will send it back and I'm thinking of a corsense maybe with chest strap? I hear you can just take one or two readings a day with it and get good info. Maybe the one with the arm strap, I think that one measures hrv. I like the body battery but really nothing else, the calorie counter is a joke. Maybe get a better watch than the garmin and the arm band variety both?

I could stay with the garmin if battery life gets better and then get another device for hrv which garmin is worthless for. I just wish I could get rid of half the things that come up on the watch and just get hr, body battery and watch battery. I called garmin support and the support guy could not do it