question about heart rate and stress

[haveiahealthyheart]

Please can anyone here who knows about fitbits and/or healthy heart rates offer any advice?

Is it normal for heartbeats to pick up dramatically when stressed?

Today I did no exercise, but I had an upsetting conversation at about 11:00. This is what my fitbit says my heart-rate has been like (pic attached).

Is such an enormous leap in heart-rate normal purely as a result of anxiety/emotion? Surely it can’t be healthy? Do you think I should see a doctor?

I lead a pretty sedentary lifestyle and worried this is a sign of heart disease or something.

No expert, but maybe u walked up the stairs or even rushed to the door bell?

Ex cardiology and cardiac nurse here.

Yep it is normal.
your body can't tell the difference between having a stressful conversation with your boss or that you have just discovered a tiger in your cave and need to get ready to fight it or run away.

So your brain floods your system with stress hormones and signals that get you ready for action raising your heart rate is one of them.

It's fascinating really to see it mapped out like that!

I should add someone fitter probably wouldn't get as big a jump.

If you are otherwise well I'd just ignore it.

I get palpitations when I'm stressed my heart will literally skip a beat again perfectly normal for it to do.

Here’s mine from yesterday (hope the photo uploads, not sure how to do it)

I was working from home & sitting down all day, so I don’t think you should worry.

Oh phew!! Thanks for the reassurance! Especially good to hear from you @Sickoffamilydrama and thanks for sharing @Heresmyhr.

There will probably be another spike now at around 9pm showing the time I checked my app and thought I had a dicky heart!!😂

😁 I tried to post today’s -but it’s not loading. it’s much worse as I travelled into the office, often while working (sitting at desk) I’m in fat burn zone for 12-14 hours, sometimes 1hr+ in cardio heart zone too

hijack
@Sickoffamilydrama, I recently noticed my heart rate is as low as 51 (sats 98-100).
Had ECG which was apparently normal. Not sure if I get spikes up, but I do a lot of fairly fast walking so i expect it does go up.

So my question really is, can my pulse still be normal or should I worry. Any other risks I should be aware of?

Yoga if you are otherwise well then a Heart rate of 51 is absolutely fine especially if you excercise regularly.