Increase in resting heart rate



Joseph Tsui

New Member
Apr 19, 2010
33
0
0
I have been training for 2 weeks, and recently I have experienced increase in my resting heart rate from around 70 to 90 for about 2 days. i can feel my heart beating every now and again. Could that be a sign of dehydration? or something else?
btw, i would say i am reasonably fit.
thx:)
 
btw, how much can i lower my heart rate? Is it possible to go down to, say, 40, if I work really hard?
 
Dehydration is possible or blood chemistry such as sugar or a variety of other things thyroid etc..
Everyone varies in RHR but diet, exercise and proper rest generally will lower your HR.Vary your routine with longer periods of training along with short high intesity intervals.
 
jhuskey said:
Dehydration is possible or blood chemistry such as sugar or a variety of other things thyroid etc..
Everyone varies in RHR but diet, exercise and proper rest generally will lower your HR.Vary your routine with longer periods of training along with short high intesity intervals.

+1


And also pay attention when you take your RHR measurement, it should be taken at a time when you have truly been resting several hours. Soon after you wake after a night's sleep is often a good time. Ie, before coffee and morning exercise.
 
I'm no expert in this area, but I do keep track of my RHR. I've noticed that when I train really hard my RHR is higher than normal and takes a while (~a couple of days after hard training) to settle back down.

With respect to lowering you RHR, this is how I did it. I did not always have such a low HR, what did it for me was a lot of low/medium intensity aerobic exercise over 6-month period (I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail).

Since then I've remained in good shape and now my RHR averages between 45-50 BPM, before my hike it was around 70-80 BPM. Not saying you have to go on a hike, just saying you have to be consistent in your routine and not hitting it hard everytime is important. Sounds easy, but I know how hard it is to take it easy on a bike ride, so maybe you should take up running or something else that doesn't tempt you to push it too hard. (Not saying to replace cycling).
 
Joseph Tsui said:
wow, that's impressive. just hoping i am not going to the hospital.

For a slightly fast heart rate? John gault said what I was thinking, you trained hard and your heart rate is slightly elevated because of it. I'm sure it will drop back down. Also, how much higher is it? Is it within error? You're not a computer, you're body is going to vary. A few bpm isn't worth stressing over.
 
I don't think it's any case for alarm since it's only been 2 weeks. From my experience, my RHR is kind of high when I'm in the "hard" phase of my period. When I hit the next easy phase, my RHR goes down. Getting lots of sleep helps too.
 
Mild fever? If I were you if the fever doesn't let up by the end of tomorrow, or comes back is to see a doctor. There are some serious ailments that causes this sort of combination, none of which you want to wait around to see if it gets worse. Or it could be just a simple cold with flu like symptoms, but if it lasts longer then tomorrow you need to see a doctor. But a fever is usually a sign there is a battle going on in your body against some sort of infection and that infection could represent many things so continue to read.

Medications, such as some antibiotics, antihistamines, and seizure medicines can cause these symptoms you mentioned.

Sometime this could represent something simple as fluid overload as well as fluid underload. What color is your urine? If it's as clear as water and your peeing a lot then it's probably overload. Urine should have a slight tinge of yellow for adequate hydration.

On the serious side, fluid overload if your not taking in all that much fluid could be related to heart failure, ortic valve regurgitation, blood clots, chronic kidney failure, and other conditions such as Rheumatic fever, Malaria, Mediterranean fever, appendicitis, certain bacterium associated with milk and poultry salmonella, eggs, meat etc, along with cancer of the blood. Have you been a foreign country lately? Or camping in a wilderness area? If so it's probably related to those fevers or bacterium I listed or others I didn't list. Regardless if it's bacterium from some foreign place you need to call your doc if you experience a sudden, severe, or persistent increase in the intensity of your pulse or the fever continues longer then tomorrw. This is particularly important when this increase is accompanied by other symptoms such as fever, which you have; or when it is not relieved by resting for a few minutes.

If these symptoms don't go away you need to make sure your doc orders the following diagnostic tests:

Blood studies (CBC or blood count)
ECG (electrocardiogram)
Echocardiogram
X-rays of the chest

If you been to a foreign country or camping in a wilderness area you need to tell your doc this so he can run separate blood tests to test for these problems.

Not trying to scare you, but if this thing continues I don't want you to blow it off either. So I'm purposely scaring you so you won't wait to long. A fever lasting more then 3 days is unusual and you need to have it looked at.
 
Let us know how you do with the tests; it's probably something simple, but it's prudent to make sure.
 
Joseph Tsui said:
I have got similar symptoms (mild) as stated in General Q and A Forum - Low grade fever and high heart rate

This has only started 2 days ago, what should I do?

The internet is a great place to make yourself sick.

Spend more time resting those eyelids than looking around the net to see what ailment you may have. The next thing you know you'll be up on webmd and notice that all the signs you have are typical for someone going through HIV seroconversion with a brain tumor.