Obsessive hobbies....

[RCHeliGuy]

I'm becoming increasingly aware of my physical limitations as I get older. Last Saturday my Fitbit said I had 244 zone minutes and I was wiped out all day Sunday. The previous weekend I had my first experience with Heat exhaustion. Headache, nausea and extreme weakness with an elevated heart rate. After resting half an hour my heat rate was still over 100bpm. My normal resting heart rate is mid 50's and mid 40's when I sleep and I consider myself in pretty good physical condition. I just don't remember ever being impacted by heat like this before.

 

[ttocs]

I'm becoming increasingly aware of my physical limitations as I get older. Last Saturday my Fitbit said I had 244 zone minutes and I was wiped out all day Sunday. The previous weekend I had my first experience with Heat exhaustion. Headache, nausea and extreme weakness with an elevated heart rate. After resting half an hour my heat rate was still over 100bpm. My normal resting heart rate is mid 50's and mid 40's when I sleep and I consider myself in pretty good physical condition. I just don't remember ever being impacted by heat like this before.

One word, salt.

A lick of salt and a few ounces of water will quickly lower the heart rate when it's due to heat and dehydration. It's the salt that does the most good for this in the short term.

My sleeping heart rate is most often 52bpm, resting HR about 5bpm higher. When I began a keto diet I immediately found myself getting symptoms like you describe in hot weather, including very high heart rate. After looking up possible causes, I found that for me it was lack of minerals due to the body flushing it all out because of the keto, which also has the effect of being more easily dehydrated. I drank even more water - but - this alone doesn't hydrate, minerals are needed as well, electrolytes. I eventually doubled my salt intake and have been great ever since. With the increased salt intake my serum sodium level has been perfect, as are all other blood tests.

There have been a few nights when my heart rate was above 60bpm and I couldn't get to sleep. Ten minutes after 1/4 teaspoon of salt in water the heart rate dropped. This was when I was in a high state of ketosis.

BTW, a week ago I bought a Apple Watch Ultra and it works much better than my Fitbit did. Much more consistent. And it seems about as accurate as my Polar chest heart rate sensor, within a heart beat of the Polar when exercising.

 

[Robert D]

I'm becoming increasingly aware of my physical limitations as I get older. Last Saturday my Fitbit said I had 244 zone minutes and I was wiped out all day Sunday. The previous weekend I had my first experience with Heat exhaustion. Headache, nausea and extreme weakness with an elevated heart rate. After resting half an hour my heat rate was still over 100bpm. My normal resting heart rate is mid 50's and mid 40's when I sleep and I consider myself in pretty good physical condition. I just don't remember ever being impacted by heat like this before.

It can happen at any age. When I was just 24 years old in graduate school I ended up having what I think was heat stroke. I went out for a bike ride when it was over 100 Fahrenheit. I'd not rode a bike for probably a few years, but used to do it seriously. Guess I was out of shape because it was less than 30 minutes that I had to turn around and go back to the apartment.
I was like you and had an elevated heart rate, up around 120 bpm, and it lingered for a long time. I developed chills too, like I had the flu with a fever. My body temp was around 104. I ended up falling asleep on the couch and woke up about 3 hours later and was just about back to normal. I lived there alone.

 

[Robert D]

One word, salt.

A lick of salt and a few ounces of water will quickly lower the heart rate when it's due to heat and dehydration. It's the salt that does the most good for this in the short term.

My sleeping heart rate is most often 52bpm, resting HR about 5bpm higher. When I began a keto diet I immediately found myself getting symptoms like you describe in hot weather, including very high heart rate. After looking up possible causes, I found that for me it was lack of minerals due to the body flushing it all out because of the keto, which also has the effect of being more easily dehydrated. I drank even more water - but - this alone doesn't hydrate, minerals are needed as well, electrolytes. I eventually doubled my salt intake and have been great ever since. With the increased salt intake my serum sodium level has been perfect, as are all other blood tests.

There have been a few nights when my heart rate was above 60bpm and I couldn't get to sleep. Ten minutes after 1/4 teaspoon of salt in water the heart rate dropped. This was when I was in a high state of ketosis.

BTW, a week ago I bought a Apple Watch Ultra and it works much better than my Fitbit did. Much more consistent. And it seems about as accurate as my Polar chest heart rate sensor, within a heart beat of the Polar when exercising.

Wish I could use a heart rate monitor, but discovered I cannot. I rely on my defibrillator/pacemaker now for almost every heartbeat to pace. Apparently the monitors are unable to interpret that impulse. Devices just show errors.

 

[ttocs]

Wish I could use a heart rate monitor, but discovered I cannot. I rely on my defibrillator/pacemaker now for almost every heartbeat to pace. Apparently the monitors are unable to interpret that impulse. Devices just show errors.

sorry, that's a bummer. Not knowing anything about pacemakers, I was not aware that heart rate monitors would have difficulty reading the heart rate.

It must have been quite a bit of learning involved once the pacemaker was implanted, to know how to live with one.

 

[Robert D]

sorry, that's a bummer. Not knowing anything about pacemakers, I was not aware that heart rate monitors would have difficulty reading the heart rate.

It must have been quite a bit of learning involved once the pacemaker was implanted, to know how to live with one.

It sucks. The main problem is living with heart failure. I was a bodybuilder when I had a heart attack in the gym squatting heavy. It was in 08. I suffered a blood clot. So I'd been very healthy, and that's the reason doctors said I survived the heart attack because it was massive.
I'm lifting weights right now in fact. Never gave up on fitness. In between sets right now as I write this.

 

[RCHeliGuy]

Working with a guy on a Force feedback flight stick based on the VP Force Rhino motors and electronics.