Does anyone's heart rate drop to 40bpm?

[MyronH]

I've been doing good on my BIPAP machine, with low AHI <1 most nights. But my Contec SpO2 monitor is showing some weird drops in HR occassionally. I'll be at 50-70bpm most nights with no issue. Then on occasion, I see a drop to the low 40's. At my age, 46yo, that seems odd. Blood pressure has been 120/80 during day, and HR around 60bpm as well.

Last night, the Contec device beeped waking me up. It recorded a drop to 40bpm within a minute. Then when i woke up it went back to normal. I sent this to my cardiologist to look at but i have a feeling he will says its normal, and nothing to be worried about. 

I'm starting to wonder if i should just throw away the Contec device, and not monitor myself.

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[Walla Walla]

Odds are that it was just the connection getting jostled. Happens a lot.

[PaulaO2]

I found this:

Several studies, as well as expert consensus, indicate that the normal resting adult human heart rate is probably a range between 50 and 90 bpm,[1][2][3][4] though the American Heart Association states the normal resting adult human heart rate is 60–100 bpm.[5] Tachycardia is a fast heart rate, defined as above 100 bpm at rest.[6] Bradycardia is a slow heart rate, defined as below 60 bpm at rest. During sleep a slow heartbeat with rates around 40–50 bpm is common and is considered normal. When the heart is not beating in a regular pattern, this is referred to as an arrhythmia. Abnormalities of heart rate sometimes indicate disease.[7]

(wikipedia - Heart Rate)

Some medications (like beta blockers) can really slow the heart rate down. I've seen mine drop into the 40s and 50s while asleep.

And unless you are concerned about blood oxygen at night or are needing to do a comparison between machine data and oximeter data, there's no need to wear an oximeter every night.

[PaulaO2]

Looking at your graph, you're doing good. While the rate dropped, the O2 did not change. That's a good thing.

Your sleeping O2 looks good as well.

[MyronH]

Looking at your graph, you're doing good. While the rate dropped, the O2 did not change. That's a good thing.

Your sleeping O2 looks good as well.

Thanks. The reason I've been wearing a monitor was to show my sleep doctor that my O2 drops as low as 78% during some relatively short 20-30 sec OA/CA. It happened latter last night. Dropped several times during OA's to 80% for about a minute until my O2 monitor woke me up.

My machine usually remains at my starting pressures of IPAP 8/ EPAP 5. My sleep study was titrated at much higher IPAP 10-12 or so from what I remember. But that was at a constant pressure so my O2 remained great.

Dropping to 80% several times a night can't be good. Plus two weeks ago there were two nights I had runs of CA's waking me up, it was scary  

My doctor doesn't seem to care about my concerns and this is the second sleep doctor I've seen.

[JesseLee]

I am on a beta blocker for tachycardia and its not uncommon for my wrist monitor to record upper 40s bpm in the night. Long periods in the lazy boy and I'll hit 50s.

[Mosquitobait]

Just make sure that your cardilogist's office doesn't drop the ball. If you don't hear from him in a day or two, call the office.

[Ron AKA]

I take bisoprolol which is a beta blocker for blood pressure. I see on my sleep study they recorded a minimum heart rate of 49. 40 seems low especially if you are not on a medication that would reduce it. I would discuss with the doctor.

[Mosquitobait]

Just make sure that your cardilogist's office doesn't drop the ball. If you don't hear from him in a day or two, call the office. Let that doc make the call on whether this is a concern or not. My doc has me using the oximeter (since I have it) several days in a row once a month. Using it all the time will just make you crazy. However, it's very useful when you have concerns to rule out other stuff. FWIW, I have bradycardia, and the lowest my heart rate drops is 42.

[PsychoMike]

Also, how fit are you? Are you an avid runner or cyclist? What is your normal resting pulse like?

I'm a big guy, but an avid cyclist and my resting pulse is in the mid-50's to low 60's. I know folks who are "more serious" about their running and cycling that have resting pulses even lower than that. You don't want to be bradycardic (too low a pulse), but if you are super fit, you can be on the lower end and it not be a big issue.