Heart Rate During Deep Sleep

[SeattleRain]

For those who have worn a Holter monitor or "Zio" patch - do you know what your sleeping heart rate was?

Mine was under 37 beats per minute. My GP says it's normal for me since my HR is often on the lower side, but in the same "Zio" patch report it said my average heart rate was 67.

Didn't say what my resting heart rate averaged out to be, but for me it's been around 50 - 60 now.

Looking online, I'm seeing 8% drop is normal (from resting HR, I think). 8% for me would be a resting heart rate of 40bpm. A drop from 60bpm is 40%

Any thoughts on this?

[Guest Alex]

Hi Seattle,

I don't recall the exact numbers, but the one thing that I found to be odd is that my hr went above 100 frequently while I was asleep. My dr thought nothing of it.

Also I rarely saw numbers under 70, and those were associated strictly with the times when my meds would kick in.

I'm not sure how to interpret your numbers. Maybe your dr can help?!

Best,

Alex

[AllAboutPeace]

SeattleRain,

My heart rate is on the lower side as well and seems to be getting lower as time goes by. My avg heart rate was in the 60's when I had my Holter (almost a year ago) and my nighttime hr was in the low 40's. Now my resting hr rarely hits 60. It's mostly low 50's or 40's before bedtime, so I don't even really want to know how low it gets now when I'm asleep. I've also been told that my numbers are just low, so it's not something to worry about. I tend to cringe at those statements because when my resting hr is 40's, I'm also symptomatic (makes me cough, weak, constant yawning, etc).

I'm wating for an appt with my EP/Cardiologist this month, so I will definitely be talking with her about it, just to make sure she is of the same opinion.

I certainly understand your feeling uncomfortable about that much of a drop while sleeping. Low heart rates (bradycardia) have been discussed on the forum before, so you may want to search it, if you haven't already. It does seem to be part of dysautonomia for some of us. Are you seeing a cardiologist as well as your GP?

[SeattleRain]

Thank you for the responses. AllAboutPeace, I was seeing a cardiologist, but that didn't work out too well. He never even brought up my heart rate. The most details I could get out of him were "you're fine" and "I don't know what that is". I had an abdominal ultrasound today and meeting my GP next Wednesday to go over the results, and if nothing shows up I'll probably see if he can recommend a good cardiologist that won't play games and work with me to figure out what's wrong.

[E Soskis]

It is normal for heart rate to drop while asleep - it is also not abnormal to have a "skipped" beat or two while sleeping (PVC's) - the problem for me came when my heart rate dropped to 20-40 and wouldn't rise even when I tried to "exercise" (before passing out)! A pacemaker has stabilized my rate to a steady 72. I now have thousands of "sudden rate drops" during the day and night but, the pacemaker kicks in and I don't get syncopal anymore. I think you need to know if there is any cardiac nervous system involvement with whatever type of dysautonomia you are diagnosed- my cardiologist is an electrophysiologist and picked up right away on the problem and underlying cause.

[Canadiangirl73]

My heart rate drops in the 40s when I sleep and was told it is a normal phenomenon. The last Holter report had a hourly breakdown of my heart rate which showed it constantly goes back and forth from 40s to low 100s when I'm asleep. I was told it can only be explained by autonomic dysfunction. No wonder I no longer sleep well and never feel refreshed in the morning since my HR more than doubles non stop when I'm asleep.

[Sheila1366]

The lowest my heart rate got while on my holter monitor was 53. But last night I couldn't sleep cause it would race for no reason.