Resting heart rate tracking
Logging morning heart rate and watching for the days it runs high
One number, taken at rest, read as a line rather than a single reading. Watches, chest straps and bedside sensors all record it. Endurance athletes look for mornings that sit well above their own baseline, which often shows up before an illness or at the end of a hard block. The baseline is personal, so months of history do the work. A single week says close to nothing. Nothing needs buying beyond a device that already records overnight.
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- Ray MakerDoes it
Sports tech reviewer · DC Rainmaker
Reads resting heart rate ahead of heart rate variability, which he told Ben Greenfield in 2016 was maybe a bit old school of him. His own sits between 39 and 42; a drift toward 50 tells him illness or fatigue is on the way. He was clear the pattern took months of data to see, not a week.
Source: Ben Greenfield Life: The Man Who Has Single-Handedly Tested Nearly Every Self-Quantification Device On The Face Of The Planet“I found that for me, my resting heart rate is between 39 and 42, typically. But if I etch closer to, say, 50 or 51 beats per minute as my resting heart rate, then I know I'm about to get sick or I'm just incredibly fatigued.”
Ben Greenfield Life: The Man Who Has Single-Handedly Tested Nearly Every Self-Quantification Device On The Face Of The Planet (opens in a new tab) · 2 Apr 2016
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Habit entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.