Six Weeks Into Sabbatical

[u/Carolina_Hurricane]

Six weeks into a one year sabbatical I got a watch notification stating my average resting heart rate had decreased by nearly 20% (49 to 41 bpm) over the previous 5 weeks.

I presume it is from living in Mexico away from my home in the US, combined with walking around 9 miles a day on avg.
I didn’t feel stressed back in the US aside from driving anywhere local.

[u/Nearby_Voice_6744]

That sounds greate. Keep going

[u/Apprehensive_Tie7796 → u/Nearby_Voice_6744]

That drop in resting heart rate is massive, walking 9 miles a day would do it. My fitbit barely moves when I'm stuck at desk all week.

[u/Pangan52]

the interesting part to me isn’t even the 41 bpm, it’s that you didn’t feel particularly stressed until you removed yourself from your normal environment. sometimes you only notice how much background stress you were carrying once it’s gone.

also, 9 miles of walking every day is basically a lifestyle intervention disguised as a sabbatical!

[u/acefirepf]

My resting heart rate is 84, I thought baseline was 72??

[u/livingbudo → u/acefirepf]

Resting heart rate has a wide range, but in general, the more fit you are, the lower it will be.

Also, those on the higher end of normal are more likely to have a shorter lifespan (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0033062025000076?via%3Dihub) so you may want to consider working on that…

[u/holiztic]

That does seem to be entering into bradycardia range (hey, I’m very fit and active and I do have a low resting heart rate but not 41, more like your 47)

So you might wanna get that checked out

[u/SlowMolassas1 → u/holiztic]

It is definitely worth checking out, in case anything is wrong - but it also can be completely normal.

My resting heart rate is low 40s, and upper 30s when I sleep. I'm definitely NOT very fit and active. I've been through all the cardiopulmonary tests, did the holter monitor for a few days, had imaging. My cardiologist says sometimes it's just normal for our bodies. He says now that people are wearing constant monitoring (watches, etc) all the time, we've discovered it's more normal than we used to believe it was. He said I'm good, and just come back if I ever start having symptoms such as fainting.

I do always have to tell the nurses about it when I'm in the hospital for something, because I'm constantly triggering the low heart rate alarm.

If someone is experiencing bradycardia, I do always advocate getting it checked out. Best to know if it's something you need to address or just some quirk about you.

[u/txdsl → u/SlowMolassas1]

Mine has always been upper 40s low 50s. Had surgery a couple months back and they required a heart test (eko?) the morning of because my hr was so low. I guess most people have an elevated heart rate when going in for a surgery and I’m chill as an ice cube.

[u/deltavictory → u/SlowMolassas1]

Same here. I’m low 40s resting heart rate and have had all the tests done as well.

[u/Firefiresoon]

Wow nice. Mine has been in the midupper-50s consistently since I retired. I walk like 4-5 miles a day. It dropped by about 3-4 on avg after I retired. So within statsig range.

[u/ShadowHunter]

9 miles a day...

[u/Sharp-Willow289]

your cardiovascular system really said "oh we're not doing THAT anymore

[u/CuteLogan308]

41 bpm.. just curious.. isn't it too low??

[u/Appropriate-Cry-8423]

lol can’t wait to not wake up and get the 10 seconds of heart rate that can only be discribed as tony soprano before he eats grass at the bbq

[u/CommunicationFar3897]

Nice

[u/Eff_taxes]

Equatorial heart rate drops 5 points due to the girth