A quick look at the best heart rate monitor watches
Heart rate monitors are by no means an essential tool for fitness or even competition. "A heart rate monitor isn't necessary for anyone," says running coach Matt Fitzgerald, author of The New Rules of Marathon and Half-Marathon Nutrition.
There are two basic heart rate monitor designs: one uses a strap worn around your chest, and the other is a wristwatch-style tracker. ... The chest strap proved the most accurate of the heartrate-measuring devices, with a 99.6% accuracy. The wrist-worn devices, however, proved to be far less accurate.
A 2017 conference paper found that the tested watches accurately measure up to 89% of beats accurately at rest, and less during activity. A 2019 study in the Journal of Sport Sciences found error rates between 2.4% and 13.5%.
Fitbit is enhancing the heart health-tracking abilities of its smartwatches by bringing the FibriCheck app to its Ionic and Versa devices, so users can measure their heart rate rhythm and detect health problems like atrial fibrillation (AFib).
Heart rate, also called pulse, is the number of times your heart beats per minute. Heart rate can change based on activity level, age, medication, and other factors throughout life. For most adults, a resting heart rate of 50 to 100 beats per minute is considered normal.
A normal resting heart beats at a rate of 60-100 times per minute. If you have ventricular tachycardia, your ventricles generate a much faster heart rate than normal – many patients experiencing heart rates in the range of 170 or more beats per minute.
After 30 minutes of running, cardiac drift may cause your heart rate to increase so that you have to slow down to maintain that heart rate window of 160-170 bpm.
The all-day aspect of modern fitness trackers is to their advantage because heart-rate chest straps typically come off as soon as you're done training. You could wear a chest strap all day long, but that would likely get uncomfortable a few hours after you finished working out.
New research examined the accuracy of wrist-based heart rate monitors for runners. The research found that inaccuracy increased as runners went faster during their runs. The findings suggest that you might be better off with a chest-strap heart rate monitor on your fastest workouts.
Normal heart rates at rest: Children (ages 6 - 15) 70 – 100 beats per minute. Adults (age 18 and over) 60 – 100 beats per minute.
Although you may detect an abnormal heart rhythm by checking your pulse or listening to your heart, the only way to confirm an atrial fibrillation diagnosis is to get an electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) from your healthcare provider.
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