# Sleeping with...



## Wankel7 (Jan 5, 2006)

Your hrm on...and data logging it?

I was wondering if anybody else had done it?

I made it about 3 hours before the chest strap came off. But it was interesting to see my hr up to that point.


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## dnlwthrn (Jan 26, 2006)

Yes, I did when I first got my Forerunner. I found it very interesting to see the fluctuation throughout the night. Oh, and when Garmin says that the Forerunner can log 3.5hrs of data @ 1/sec., I beg to differ. I somehow logged 7 hrs of data in one night. I did leave the unit on the cradle throughout the night, so I didn't have any battery issues.


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## Sometimes (Jun 21, 2009)

I attempted to with my Polar way back when but the same thing happened to me -- the chest strap came undone during the nite. Also, it affected my sleep so I'm not sure that it would've been representative anyway.


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## Sometimes (Jun 21, 2009)

dnlwthrn said:


> Yes, I did when I first got my Forerunner. I found it very interesting to see the fluctuation throughout the night. Oh, and when Garmin says that the Forerunner can log 3.5hrs of data @ 1/sec., I beg to differ. I somehow logged 7 hrs of data in one night. I did leave the unit on the cradle throughout the night, so I didn't have any battery issues.


Perhaps you had the recording interval set at something other than 1 second intervals?

I didn't know that the Garmins were capable of recording at 1 second intervals. Only the top of the line Polar models are capable of that. I've been putting off a 705 purchase & that info is just added motivation to get one. Eventually .


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## Wankel7 (Jan 5, 2006)

Yeah, my 305 has two data resolutions and the one is the 1 second resolution and the greater one...

I bet if you turn the GPS off you could get away with the one second resolution over night?


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## dnlwthrn (Jan 26, 2006)

Yeah, that's what I did... And AFAIK Garmin has had the option for a while. The two choices are "smart" recording and 1/second. Smart recording checks your speed/distance/hr/etc. and determines if its worth recording, can be up to 5 sec. between points I think.


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## smilinsteve (Jul 21, 2009)

So what do you learn? I never really thought about it, but figured my heart rate would stay slow and steady through the night.


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## GT2005 (Mar 23, 2005)

So what were your results? -gt2005



Wankel7 said:


> Your hrm on...and data logging it?
> 
> I was wondering if anybody else had done it?
> 
> I made it about 3 hours before the chest strap came off. But it was interesting to see my hr up to that point.


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## WR304 (Jul 9, 2004)

This is a repost from another thread but shows my sleep data. It was recorded with a Polar RS800CX at a 1 second sample rate.

This article about sleep quality is worth looking at as it explains the different stages of sleep. From a recovery point of view you want to make sure you get plenty of deep sleep to recover and be ready for the next days training: 

https://helpguide.org/life/sleeping.htm

If you're using your heart rate monitor to check your sleep patterns you want to record an entire night's data, rather than just 50minutes.

Super low figures and unexplained spikes in an otherwise stable heart rate during sleep are possibly going to be errors in transmission. If you're fit then a sleeping heart rate below 40bpm is often normal. If you're consistently getting super low values it might be worth getting it checked out. You need to make sure the wearlink belt electrodes are wet enough to keep working when you're not sweating. It's worth re-wetting them every few hours if you wake up during the night. The belt needs to be tight too. The soft fabric belt works better than the old style plastic transmitter belts as it's more comfortable so that you can lie on your side.

The Protrainer 5 graph below is where I recorded my sleeping heart rate overnight a few weeks ago.

Exercise 09063003 30/06/2009 51min36 is *FirstHorseMan*'s data. 
Exercise Free 09/07/2009 8hrs is my recorded data.









_Recorded sleeping HR data 8hrs using Polar RS800CX, 1 second recording rate_

The sustained increases in HR at 2hrs and 4h30 are where I woke up and walked about to have something to eat. The spikes from 5hrs onwards appear to be deep sleep/REM sleep. It may also be where the strap was drying out and getting some transmission issues. I don't know for sure as I was asleep! The curve looks ok so I think that part of the recording is accurate. You can see at 2h20 where my heart rate dropped to an indicated 21bpm with a similar shape to *FirstHorseMan*'s recording at 6min. That's almost certainly a transmission error on my recording. Possibly I'd rolled over and the electrodes may not have been in full contact with my skin for about a minute.

If you record your sleeping HR and then download the data into Protrainer 5 you have the option to export the data as text into another program such as Microsoft Excel. I think this is probably more useful than just looking at the curve in Protrainer 5. If you look at my recorded graph above you can just about make out some trends but they aren't that clear. What you're looking for is an indication of how deep your sleep is and if it's of a good quality.

If you add lap time markers to the recording every 30 minutes the trends become clearer. The table below shows the same 8hr recording split into 30 minute sections. The yellow highlighted sections appear to be where I was deeply asleep with the lowest average heart rate and lowest total number of beats.

The chart shows the total number of beats per 30 minute lap. The sections with the lowest number of total beats indicate where I was most relaxed and sleeping deeply (lap 8 and laps 10-14). The increase at lap 9 4h30 is where I woke up, got up and walked around.









_Recorded sleeping lap data 8hrs using Polar RS800CX, 1 second recording rate_

The same heart rate recording is zoomed in below on the section from 5hrs to 7hrs where I was most deeply asleep. The curve is recorded at a 1 second interval. It appears to be a fairly accurate recording as there aren't many flat sections (flat sections where the heart rate doesn't change are often a sign of transmission errors). This is what I think is going to be typical of deep sleep/REM sleep. The spikes in heart rate that you can see on the curve below last for between 1 and 2 minutes each time.









_Close up of deep sleep/ REM sleep trace 5h to 7h using Polar RS800CX, 1 second recording rate_


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

I just did this with my 705. Looks like a solid dataset. Keep in mind that this is for a guy who's chronically anemic, just finished a round of chemotherapy (just Tues morning), and hasn't been on a bike for nearly a year.


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## WR304 (Jul 9, 2004)

NateHawk said:


> I just did this with my 705. Looks like a solid dataset. Keep in mind that this is for a guy who's chronically anemic, just finished a round of chemotherapy (just Tues morning), and hasn't been on a bike for nearly a year.


It's quite interesting how high some of those heart rate spikes were on your graph. Being unwell can push your heart rate up to high levels. Medication can make a big difference to your heart rate too.

Did you have a good night's sleep when this was recorded? Were you asleep all night? On my graph there are clear sections of elevated heart rate at 2hrs and 4h30 where I got up during the night.but apart from a small blip at 6h30 on your graph there isn't the same thing.

You can see a few of the same trends as in my graph: those drops at 30min and 2h45 on your graph appear similar to the one at 2h30 on my graph and also in the other (bright red) overlay at about 15min from file 09063003 30/06/2009.

You can see that your average heart rate drops after about 2hrs which might be an indicator that you're asleep.

If you look at my R-R heart rate data from sleeping and sitting at a PC whilst awake in Kubios HRV software there are clear differences. Although my average resting heart rate sitting at a PC fully awake isn't much higher than the sleeping average heart rate you can see how the R-R data shows changes.









_Sleeping and Sitting R-R Data different trends_


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## bellullabob (Jan 8, 2004)

WR304 said:


> If you look at my R-R heart rate data from sleeping and sitting at a PC whilst awake in Kubios HRV software there are clear differences. Although my average resting heart rate sitting at a PC fully awake isn't much higher than the sleeping average heart rate you can see how the R-R data shows changes.


So did you figure out what the Pointcare Plot & FTT and AR spectrum indicate or mean?


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

WR304 said:


> It's quite interesting how high some of those heart rate spikes were on your graph. Being unwell can push your heart rate up to high levels. Medication can make a big difference to your heart rate too.
> 
> Did you have a good night's sleep when this was recorded? Were you asleep all night? On my graph there are clear sections of elevated heart rate at 2hrs and 4h30 where I got up during the night.but apart from a small blip at 6h30 on your graph there isn't the same thing.
> 
> ...


No, I did not wake up in the middle of the night. As far as I can tell, it was a restful night. I did wake up to take the band off and crash for a couple more hours at the end of the chart, however. It would make sense to me that my HR would drop after about 2hrs. It tends to take me awhile to fall asleep. But once I'm there I tend to stay there.

The anemia alone is enough to elevate my HR, but the chemo drugs contribute to it I know. When the hospital tests my HR in the middle of the night, I am often around the low 50's before the chemo really sets in. I will be doing this repeatedly over the course of this round of chemo to see how things vary. Sometime next week I'll do it again (I'll be getting very anemic by then). I'll do it a couple more times as this cycle comes to a close, my counts rise, and the chemo drugs flush out of my system.

Will be cool to compare that stuff to my HR in the future when I'm off the chemo and exercising (and riding the bike) again.



> So did you figure out what the Pointcare Plot & FTT and AR spectrum indicate or mean?


They look like some sort of statistical analyses of the heart rate data. They look like pretty specialized stuff. Nonlinear stat, and notice the parameters by each spectrum method. I'd say find some stats references to find out, but I doubt that'll even make much sense unless you have a strong stats background.


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## Timon (May 11, 2008)

slept with my garmin 305 on last night (turned the gps off and set it to smart recording)

high of 73
low of 31
average of 39

seems when i just lay down and watch it my heart rate is between 32 and 34....which i guess is good? 24 year old male. exercise often, but don't compete.


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## smilinsteve (Jul 21, 2009)

nomit said:


> slept with my garmin 305 on last night (turned the gps off and set it to smart recording)
> 
> high of 73
> low of 31
> ...


That might mean really good but an HOUR in the 30's sounds unusually low to me. You might want to get checked out by a doc.


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## WR304 (Jul 9, 2004)

smilinsteve said:


> That might mean really good but an HOUR in the 30's sounds unusually low to me. You might want to get checked out by a doc.


Everyone's different but a resting heart rate in the 30's or 40's for a fit rider is fairly normal.

Miguel Indurain's resting heart rate was 28bpm.:eekster:

http://www.fitness-sergeant.com/heart.htm

http://www.cyclingscience.org/trainingonHR.htm

If you're quite fit then a resting heart rate in the 30's isn't anything to worry about.


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## WR304 (Jul 9, 2004)

Have you seen the Axbo Sleep Phase Alarm Clock? It isn't a heart rate monitor but uses motion sensors to attempt to track how well you're sleeping and wake you at an optimum time. It's a different way of trying to assess relaxation.

http://www.axbo.com/axbo/CMS/CMS.as...=0&GroupID=8&Status=328EA69CA4B0A3&Language=e

Axbo sponsored research link:
http://87.106.221.113/axbo/CustomUp...52O375O353O366O/zusammenfassung_studie_en.pdf

I'm not sure if it's actually any good though.


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## mtnfiend (Feb 26, 2004)

You could look at getting a FitBit. I understand they are finally starting to ship. They presented at TechCrunch 50 in 2008. A video demonstration is available here: http://www.techcrunch50.com/2008/presenter.php?presenter=73


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## Fleas (Jan 19, 2006)

Very curious about this.

Anyone else try it or want to try it and post up?

I don't have a logging HRM.

Thanks,
-F


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