Are heart rate monitors LEAST accurate when doing chores around the house?

And I'm not saying my heart rate monitor is actually accurate when I am at rest or when I am running, but at least it is very consistent and stable.

Unlike when I am doing chores where my heart rate goes apesh*t crazy bouncing from 60 to 145 to 77 to 133 to 63.

I wonder if I have like orthostatic hypotension that sets off when I am getting up and down doing chores that sets off my heart to go crazy or go into afib....

Riiiiight...thanks for the downvote buddy. Too lazy to actually make a post detailing you opposition to my question?

If you have a problem with my post....speak up about it. Don't hold it in, letting it fester in your soul.

That's your problem. Try tightening the band. Try a chest strap instead.

Do you think it's reading correctly? Can you put your fingers on your neck and feel a really rapid pulse?

I have always had trouble reading my pulse by putting my fingers on my neck. Never worked reliably for me.

I know that a wrist heart rate monitor is notoriously inaccurate, but for resting, easy running, and hard running, it works very well and is consistent.

It is only when I do chores (moving my body up and down) that my heart rate goes insane high/low/high/low/high/low rapidly.

Just wondering if anyone else noticed this on themselves.

I suppose I'll just purchase a chest strap monitor or maybe get a 24-hour EKG thing done.

If you're really worried and if you have to pay out of pocket to get an EKG, then you could buy a pulse oximeter on Amazon for about $20. You clamp it on your finger and you get a continuous pulse reading in a few seconds. If the oximeter heart rate measurement also bounces around a lot when you're doing chores, then you probably should get it checked out.

When you look at how wrist HRMs work, it's amazing that they can get a signal at all when you're moving. They have to compensate for foot strike, armswing, and slippage on your wrist.

Actually, I do have an oximeter and I have been doing that, wearing both the wrist heart rate monitor and the oximeter at the same time.

My oxygen is almost always good, sometimes drops down to 93, but usually hovers around 95-98, so that's fine.

The pulse doesn't go crazy on the oximeter like it does on the wrist monitor, but there is another problem. With the oximeter, it seems like if there is too much of a sudden change in heart rate, the numbers will freeze up. For example, my heart rate will freeze at 70, and then I'll have to reset the oximeter and when it reboots, suddenly the heart rate is reading at 115. I think the oximeter can't handle dramatic swings in heart rate?

And another point on the oximeter. As long as my oxygen level is in the normal range, my heart couldn't be malfunctioning that badly.

There are lots of places on your body to feel a pulse. The neck is easier to feel when doing a workout and your heart is really pounding, but the wrist is easier to feel at rest. If I look closely, with my wrist slightly bent, I don't even need a finger, I can literally see my pulse pulsating, moving my skin up and down on my wrist.

The variations you are seeing are almost certainly a matter of inconsistent skin contact pressure with the sensor.

Look at all of those downvotes. I never would have imagined that there would be such a thing as "afib haters", but here you are.

No hate. You are just too trusting of a fallible device and aren't using what should be common sense. It's incredible that you could believe those wide short term fluctuations are real rather than limitations of a device designed in a form factor to be convenient rather than 100% accurate. Why do you think stick-on electrodes are used for medical settings instead of just strapping on a watch?

my HR can go from 80ish to 120 when doing chores or generally moving around and that's completely normal. if it is bouncing around in that range in the space of a few seconds that is probably error. if you're washing dishes your hands are moving a lot which can throw it off.

Hey brother, hey calm the F down. Always keep doing what is best for you and your heart. Do not over monitor yourself. or you will overthink things. You are probably fine.