Understanding Your Heart Rate Data

Your heart rate is one of the key metrics your HLTH Band tracks. Here's how it's measured and how to make sense of your numbers over time.

⚠️ If you feel unwell: If you have a very high or very low heart rate along with chest pain, dizziness, fainting, shortness of breath, or a racing or pounding heart, contact a medical professional or emergency services straight away. Don't rely on your band.

What Is Heart Rate?

Heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute (bpm). It shows how hard your heart is working. At rest, a lower heart rate generally means your heart is working efficiently. During exercise, a higher heart rate reflects more physical effort.

Your band measures heart rate using optical sensors on the back of the band. These detect tiny changes in blood flow under your skin with each heartbeat.

How Your Band Measures Heart Rate

Automatic readings: Throughout the day and night, your band records your heart rate automatically at regular intervals, rather than second by second. This builds your daily averages, trends and heart rate zones over time. Because readings are taken at intervals, the latest number in the app may not be your heart rate right now.

Live readings: For a current reading, you can use:

• One Key Measurement in the QWatch Pro app, for a quick check right now
• Sports Record in the app, which records your heart rate throughout a workout. Start a session before you begin exercising.

Where to Find Your Heart Rate Data

Open the QWatch Pro app and go to the Heart Rate section. You'll see:

• Your latest reading
• A graph of your heart rate through the day
• Your daily average
• Time spent in each heart rate zone

Apple Health: On iPhone, your heart rate can sync from QWatch Pro to Apple Health.

Heart Rate Zones

The app uses these general zones:

• Resting (below ~60 bpm): at rest, relaxed or asleep
• Warm Up (~60–90 bpm): light movement and everyday activity
• Fat Burning (~90–120 bpm): moderate activity
• Aerobic Endurance (~120–150 bpm): steady activity that builds cardiovascular fitness
• Anaerobic Endurance (~150–175 bpm): short bursts of high-intensity effort
• Limit (above ~175 bpm): maximum or near-maximum effort

These are general guides, and your own zones depend on your age, fitness and health. A normal resting heart rate for adults is usually between 60 and 100 bpm, so it's normal for your resting heart rate to show in the Warm Up zone.

What Affects Your Heart Rate?

• Stress and anxiety can raise your resting heart rate
• Caffeine and other stimulants can raise it temporarily
• Poor sleep often raises your resting heart rate the next day
• Dehydration makes your heart work harder
• Illness: a higher resting heart rate than usual can be an early sign you're unwell
• Fitness: a resting heart rate that slowly falls over weeks often means your fitness is improving

How to Use Your Heart Rate Data

Look at trends over days and weeks rather than single readings. Because automatic readings are taken at intervals, one reading on its own doesn't tell you much. But if your resting heart rate has been slowly rising for two weeks while your sleep has been getting worse, that's a pattern worth noticing.

Things to keep an eye on:

• Your resting heart rate, usually lowest at night or first thing in the morning, is a useful sign of your overall fitness and recovery
• A sudden rise in your resting heart rate overnight can mean your body is dealing with something, such as illness, dehydration or overtraining
• Time in the aerobic zones during exercise shows your workouts are challenging your fitness

Does It Detect Irregular Heart Rhythms?

No. Your HLTH Band doesn't have an irregular heart rhythm alert, and it can't detect conditions such as atrial fibrillation (AFib). If you have any concerns about your heart rhythm, speak to your doctor.

Heart Rate Looks Wrong?

Most issues come down to fit. Make sure your band sits about one finger-width above your wrist bone, with the sensor flat and snug against your skin. For more help, see How to Wear Your Band Correctly.

Important

Your band's heart rate data is designed for everyday wellness and trend tracking. It isn't a replacement for medical monitoring and can't diagnose or treat any condition. If you have concerns about your heart health, speak to a qualified healthcare professional.

Still have questions? Email us at info@hlthtrack.com.