Heart Rate

So I bought a pulse oximeter to measure my oxygen level and heart rate and a stop watch.
MY beats per minute average between 76-80 and my oxygen level is at 99%.
After chilling on the couch for a while I got my BPM down to 65.
I put the sensor on and held my breath and watched as the sensor rose to 94 BPM.
Is it normal for your heart rate to increase so dramatically during a breath hold?

Thats interesting... Looking forward to hearing the answer.

Yes.

While you hold your breath, oxygen is being converted to CO2. When you don't exhale, that CO2 is absorbed into the blood stream in the form of carbonic acid. Increase levels of carbonic acid lower the blood's pH. When chemoreceptors detect the change, they send out signals to stimulate the breath rate and heart rate to increase in order to pump blood more rapidly so the CO2 can be expelled more quickly.

This is why breathe up's are so important. A proper breathe up is designed to slightly lower the levels of CO2, thus slowing the heart rate down. Since CO2 levels are a stimulant to breathe, however, it is crucial that you don't hyperventilate and lower your CO2 levels to an extent that you have no urge to breathe and have shallow water blackout occur.

IMO, it's best to breathe up naturally and have your tolerance to CO2 gradually improve over time

Excellent Rick!

That was about as concise a description as I could have ever asked for.
Thank yo so much for explaining it the way you did.

According to the book we used during a free dive class "Freedive" by Terry Mass & David Sipperly, once in the water, it is normal for your heart rate to DROP.  Mammalian dive reflex.

also, that chest compression even on land should cause your rate to drop.  It said that it will rise rapidly (it might even double) but then after 30 seconds it should go back down below your normal resting rate.  They give an example of resting rate of 70 climbing to 120 in 10 seconds but then falling to 45 in the next 20 seconds.

I just tried it now, and I started at 80, stayed at 80 and ended at 80.  Your results may vary 

Rick, that was a perfect physiological explanation.  In my experience with deeper freediving, my heart rate will rise then drop between 35-45, which can be a bit scary as I thought that blackout was a real possibility with this abnormally slow heart rate.  So far so good, and I only get that if I'm deeper than 40 feet.  Freediving is an interesting sport, and maybe we should all read up on it a little more.  I know I should...

Very cool.

I am a bit of a cycling enthusiast (read hardcore endurance cyclist) and school teacher.  During the summer months when I have more time to ride, my middle of the day resting heart rate is commonly in the 44 to 46 bpm range.  Sometimes I wear my heart rate monitor while I am sleeping to get a resting heart rate.  In the very early morning around 5:30 or 6 am during months when I am in very good shape and also well rested, I have recorded my lowest resting heart rates.  So far the absolute lowest I have recorded on multiple occasions was 36 bpm. 

I am not sure if heart rate determines whether or not you are conscious.  I would guess it is a contributing factor, but a more telling factor might be the amount of oxygen or percent oxygen saturation of your blood at the time.  We or someone should get one of those (oxygen saturation) meters.  I think they could be pretty inexpensive, I can remember my daughter on one, the sensor was an LED clamped onto her finger.

FYI

Kris

So I bought a pulse oximeter to measure my oxygen level and heart rate and a stop watch.
MY beats per minute average between 76-80 and my oxygen level is at 99%.

It was $35 at Walmart and it clips onto your finger tip.