Resting HR

[drietz]

For a couple of years, I've taken my resting heart rate immediately after waking up. I go low tech and just take it at my radial artery over 15s, multiplying by 4 to get BPM.

It just occurred to me, after talking with a friend, that there are some really basic and pretty affordable fingertip oximeters available. Do any of you use one for this purpose? Any suggestions?

Not sure why I would switch, exactly, besides more accuracy and a bored desire.

[MarkC]

Couple buddies testing HRV monitors but not oximeters.

[bigbill]

My Samsung Galaxy phone has an app that measures my HR and Oxygen saturation based on an optical sensor. Just checked, resting HR was 54 and saturation was 99%.

[Moke]

Not too sure it is even necessary to monitor your morning pulse rate. It is indicative of what it is. In the 1960s the rule of thumb for training was that if your morning heart rate was slightly elevated you were not recovered from the workout from yesterday. Doesn't take long for the body/mind to figure out if it beats 5 times a minute faster when you are checking it, you get to have a 3 hour steady recovery ride instead of a hell ride with intervals, hills, and sprints. 02 sat should always be at 98-99% unless your finger is cold or you are at altitude.

Had a friend that worked at the telescopes in Hawaii. (14,000 ft) They figured out one day that they were all hypoxic 80-85% o2 sat at the top. Not the best for top scientists doing the thinking in an oxygen deprived environment. Now they all cary o2 in the car and when they hit the base buildings (9,000 ft.) they plug in a couple liters of nasal cannula Os and have a merry day at work.

If you have money to spare I guess buying a pulse /sat monitor would work. But a watch and multiplication works just as well. I used Sat monitors for years on patients recovering from surgery. It is good to know if your guy is desaturated in recovery, but on healthy normal people some times it only reads 96 or 97% and they worry something is wrong because yesterday it was 99%. I wouldn't get one, but the chest strap kind of exercising monitor might be a better choice. Now if you are middle aged getting a BP cuff with HR indicator might be a more useful product, be surprised how many people have borderline hypertension.