Resting BPM Always <35, How To Fix?

[JustAGuy]

Hello,

My resting BPM is always very low. It’s always under 35, right now it’s 32.
I am wondering if this is really a problem?
What would be the best way to increase this? Slowly upping my calories by 50-100 weekly? And what is a good goal to have for resting BPM? (I am 24)

 

[Mito]

Normal resting heart rates are between 60 - 100 bpm. Bradycardia - Symptoms and causes. Ray Peat seems to prefer a resting heart rate in the middle of that range.

Some resting heart rate data from Fitbit users. Fitbit's 150 Billion Hours Of Heart Data Reveal Secrets About Health

 

[Mufasa]

Best way to increase heart rate is raising your metabolism.

 

[Collden]

How do you feel? Hypothyroid symptoms? Low resting heart rate can also be due to high cardiovascular fitness and is not necessarily a problem

 

[tara]

My resting BPM is always very low. It’s always under 35, right now it’s 32.

Are you sure oyou have a reliable way of measuring? If so, it is very low.
Other signs and symptoms?
How much are you eating - how many cals/day?
What kinds of foods?
Body temps? Physical energy?
Happen to have thyroid lab tests?

 

[JustAGuy]

How do you feel? Hypothyroid symptoms? Low resting heart rate can also be due to high cardiovascular fitness and is not necessarily a problem

I feel okay, though could have more energy for sure. Especially in the morning I find my energy lacking, though I have been weighlifting intensively lately, which usually correlates with this. If I take a one week break I have a lot more energy instantly, especially in the mornings. I am looking for ways to make weightlifting less of a burden, like avoiding heavy CNS intensive compounds like squats and deadlifts, and doing exercises laying or seated whenever possible.

Are you sure oyou have a reliable way of measuring? If so, it is very low.
Other signs and symptoms?
How much are you eating - how many cals/day?
What kinds of foods?
Body temps? Physical energy?
Happen to have thyroid lab tests?

I eat about 3000 calories, 80/10/10~ish macro-wise, mostly focussing on starch like rice, wheat, cereals, I also eat a few pieces of fruit daily, like guavas mangos bananas dragonfruit grapes etc. supplemented with skim milk and a little lean meat here and there. about ~75 gram protein a day, fat usually like 20 grams.

Body temps depend heavily upon my fluid intake, I don't have a measuring device currently. I notice I get cold toes upon waking it if I overdid it in the gym the day before though (used too much adrenaline). If I manage to keep my usual pace exercising and don't overdo it I don't have this.
Sleep is also affected by how much I tap into my adrenaline in the gym (I feel this by "taking energy from my chest", that rush feeling that comes from the heart), if I don't tap into my adrenaline sleep is good, otherwise I might wake like twice in the night and sleep a bit more restless.

Physical energy is okay but could be better, but again heavily depends on how much I am exercising and how intensively. If I remove all weightlifting for a week my energy goes high, but if I am training 3-4x a week it goes down considerably I guess.
I don't have any thryoid labs, haven't been to a doctor in a long time.

 

[dreamcatcher]

Hello,

My resting BPM is always very low. It’s always under 35, right now it’s 32.
I am wondering if this is really a problem?
What would be the best way to increase this? Slowly upping my calories by 50-100 weekly? And what is a good goal to have for resting BPM? (I am 24)

Are you writing this from the other side?

 

[JustAGuy]

Are you writing this from the other side?

What do you mean?

 

[Animalinstinct]

I presume it was a rather insensitive joke about you being practically dead with that kind of bpm.

But yeah man, that is low. Any idea how high it gets when you lift?

 

[dreamcatcher]

What do you mean?

Lol. It was a joke.

 

[dreamcatcher]

I presume it was a rather insensitive joke about you being practically dead with that kind of bpm.

But yeah man, that is low. Any idea how high it gets when you lift?

Yes, I'm very insensitive!!

 

[tara]

Bear in mind that I'm no expert, these are my hunches as a lay person, not medical advice.

If I take a one week break I have a lot more energy instantly, especially in the mornings. I am looking for ways to make weightlifting less of a burden, like avoiding heavy CNS intensive compounds like squats and deadlifts, and doing exercises laying or seated whenever possible.

It's possible you are not eating enough to support your high stress training, and this may be adding to your stress. The body will adapt as best it can. In chronic energy deficit, one of the things the body can do for self preservation is to reduce base metabolism. That involves reducing resting cellular energy production, fuel and oxygen consumption, heart rate, body temps, maintenance and repair, etc.

It sounds as though you may be pushing yourself into high stress, high adrenaline states that are more than your system can easily recover from. This doesn't seem likely to be doing you good. I'd suggest easing off before you do more harm.

Is there any good reason to not reduce your weight lifting to 2 sessions/week instead of 3-4?
Even that may not be enough of a reduction, but you could try it and see if it helps. If not, you may need more of a reduction or complete break.

I'd recommend getting a thermometer so you can measure body temps. Hold in place for at least 5 mins so temps can stabilise, even if the things says it's ready in a minute or so. This give an easy DIY sign you can monitor yourself without going to the doctor. Cold feet is relevant too, but core temps are hard to gauge subjectively.

I eat about 3000 calories, 80/10/10~ish macro-wise, mostly focussing on starch like rice, wheat, cereals,

Would you consider swapping out some of the starchy grains for starchy roots like potatoes etc for the minerals?

 

[JustAGuy]

Bear in mind that I'm no expert, these are my hunches as a lay person, not medical advice.


It's possible you are not eating enough to support your high stress training, and this may be adding to your stress. The body will adapt as best it can. In chronic energy deficit, one of the things the body can do for self preservation is to reduce base metabolism. That involves reducing resting cellular energy production, fuel and oxygen consumption, heart rate, body temps, maintenance and repair, etc.

It sounds as though you may be pushing yourself into high stress, high adrenaline states that are more than your system can easily recover from. This doesn't seem likely to be doing you good. I'd suggest easing off before you do more harm.

Is there any good reason to not reduce your weight lifting to 2 sessions/week instead of 3-4?
Even that may not be enough of a reduction, but you could try it and see if it helps. If not, you may need more of a reduction or complete break.

I'd recommend getting a thermometer so you can measure body temps. Hold in place for at least 5 mins so temps can stabilise, even if the things says it's ready in a minute or so. This give an easy DIY sign you can monitor yourself without going to the doctor. Cold feet is relevant too, but core temps are hard to gauge subjectively.


Would you consider swapping out some of the starchy grains for starchy roots like potatoes etc for the minerals?

I tried eating 4500 kcal/week before for a few weeks, just added fat it didn’t do a lot for my energy levels honestly. Though I was also getting in way too much protein back then and exercising intensely.

Rather than reducing my workout days I am gonna try to increase it from 3 days to 5 days. Though I will keep volume the same, just having shorter workouts at a lower pace more evenly spread out. For me it feels after training for over like 30 minutes I start running on adrenaline. Will also try eat some candy during my workout (never did any intra-workout nutrition before). Going to consume some sugar before/during/after the workout to try and minimize the stress it causes. In addition to this I will perform reps a tad slower, do the bulk of my work in higher rep range.

Like doing a lot of slow paced walking never feels stressful to me. It is when I start running that I can feel energy coming from my chest (adrenaline). Going to try and minimize this during my workout with strategies mentioned above .

Will also try replace some of my rice with a tuber like taro root or cassava or potatoes.

 

[ddjd]

Sometimes it's a sign of very high nitric oxide.

 

[tara]

I tried eating 4500 kcal/week before for a few weeks, just added fat it didn’t do a lot for my energy levels honestly. Though I was also getting in way too much protein back then and exercising intensely.

If chronic energy deficit has been a significant factor in lowering metabolism, then recovery might include a period when your body tells you to rest.
Overexercising could hinder recovery.
It could take more than a few weeks.
It might take a reasonable amount of carbs. To what extent was your choice of foods was guided by appetite?
Gaining fat does not prove or disprove.
You could try something in between calorie-wise.

What would be the best way to increase this? Slowly upping my calories by 50-100 weekly?

Maybe do this till you get up to 3500, and then just eat more only if your appetite calls for it on a particular day?

Will also try eat some candy during my workout (never did any intra-workout nutrition before). Going to consume some sugar before/during/after the workout to try and minimize the stress it causes.

How about making that juice, or gelatin jellies made with fruit juice, or milk if it agrees with you, or something else with minerals along with the sugars in it?

Rather than reducing my workout days I am gonna try to increase it from 3 days to 5 days. Though I will keep volume the same, just having shorter workouts at a lower pace more evenly spread out. For me it feels after training for over like 30 minutes I start running on adrenaline.

That heart rate is very low, if you are measuring it correctly. It's possible that you have something serious going on. Consider seeing a doctor to get an opinion on whether there could be medical issues that you need to know about. (Whatever they say, or test, you can still decide what to do about it.)
You may need a complete break form exercise for a while to recover your metabolism, and to avoid doing more serious harm.
You seem to be under significant chronic stress. My hunch is that your body would benefit from a decent opportunity for recovery and maintenance in between workouts.
Dropping back to less frequent workouts to see if it helps is a modest suggestion that may not be enough.
By all means reduce the intensity of the workouts as well to reduce the acuteness of the stress for a while. How about switching some of those workouts for a gentle walk outdoors in the daylight, especially if you can get sunlight?

If reducing frequency, duration and intensity of workouts doesn't help, then it might take a more complete rest form it.

I'm suggesting this based on your very low heart rate, indicating very low base metabolism, possibly from serious excessive chronic stress, and your observations that taking a rest from workouts has improved your energy levels significantly when you've done it.

If you have not already done so, I'd also suggest running your typical diet through cronometer or similar to seeroughly what nutrition you are getting from your food, including how well all your micronutrients are being met, and whehter there are any obvious gaps.

 

[nwo2012]

How do you feel? Hypothyroid symptoms? Low resting heart rate can also be due to high cardiovascular fitness and is not necessarily a problem

As mainstream an answer as can possibly be found on RP inspired forum. Wondering if you actually read or listened to anything RP actually has said? I would doubt it.

Back to OP, that is extremely low. I have probably checked the resting heart rates of 10s of thousands people and I have never seen them go below 40 unless still under the effects of anesthesia or with known cardiac issues, or have taken too many drugs such as digoxin.

 

[tara]

I eat about 3000 calories, 80/10/10~ish macro-wise, mostly focussing on starch like rice, wheat, cereals, I also eat a few pieces of fruit daily, like guavas mangos bananas dragonfruit grapes etc. supplemented with skim milk and a little lean meat here and there. about ~75 gram protein a day, fat usually like 20 grams.

If you are running yourself down eating a restrictive diet and overexercising, one of the areas that can be taking damage before you are aware of it is the myelin sheathing on nerves. These are made of fats. Tests on heart etc may show up fine, even while this is beginning to happening. They take a while to recover, and benefit from dietary fats.

I'm not saying this is definitely happening to you. Just that it is one of the risks of pushing energy deficit, overexercise, insufficient recovery time, etc, and that it might not show up until damage has progressed more than is good.

 

[Collden]

As mainstream an answer as can possibly be found on RP inspired forum. Wondering if you actually read or listened to anything RP actually has said? I would doubt it.

What do you think is the significance of low resting heart rate if a person in question has no other signs of hypothyroidism? There are plenty of people who have very low heart rates without being hypothyroid or unhealthy so it can definitely be due to other factors.

I dont know how big OP is, but being weight stable at 3000kcal/day with only a few weight lifting sessions a week does not suggest that his metabolism is particularly suppressed. Not saying he couldn't benefit from easing up on the weight lifting since he reports having much more energy when he does, but I doubt that is gonna make his heart rate shoot up to 80.

 

[nwo2012]

What do you think is the significance of low resting heart rate if a person in question has no other signs of hypothyroidism? There are plenty of people who have very low heart rates without being hypothyroid or unhealthy so it can definitely be due to other factors.

I dont know how big OP is, but being weight stable at 3000kcal/day with only a few weight lifting sessions a week does not suggest that his metabolism is particularly suppressed. Not saying he couldn't benefit from easing up on the weight lifting since he reports having much more energy when he does, but I doubt that is gonna make his heart rate shoot up to 80.

I was very hypothyroid without many symptoms as a bodybuilder. Eating less than 4000 calories a day would mean losing weight. Resting heart rate in the 50s. The term fitness means very little in the world of health. Do you know how many 'super-fit" people have a cardiac arrest with tbeir "super-fit" hearts.
It is nothing more than mainstream garbage.

Of course his heart rate wont just shoot up to 80, you said that not I. It will take years of being very careful with the thyroid gland to do that. People spend decades damaging their thyroid, cant expect any quick fixes.
And i doubt there are "no other signs" either.

 

[Collden]

How can you be hypothyroid without actual hypothyroid symptoms, how does that work? I think Peat would be the first to say actual symptoms are a better indicator of thyroid function than lab numbers.

Since both cortisol and adrenaline are known to elevate heart rate, how could a low resting heart rate indicate elevated stress hormones? If anything it indicates a strong parasympathetic dominance. It could be the case if the OP has severely suppressed thyroid function due to stress, but then he would also have symptoms of low thyroid such as chronically cold extremities.

OP reports quickly getting more energy when he takes a break from exercise, this also suggests he is not running on chronically elevated stress hormones since in that case one would experience a sharp drop in energy when not exercising due to lowered stress hormones.