Elevated Resting Heart Rate on Apple Watch after watchOS 11.2 update

Hi LD, thanks for the response. Ok, so that is an interesting point and different use case thereby related data point. As I do wear it overnight and it records sleep and I usually have a RHR when I wake up in the morning (which has usually been a good indicator of previous days/nights activities). Then through the day it may or may not change but by a few beats. E.g. 50 would be 54 by EOD / but now it's spiking from like 48/52 to 60+. Now, here is where I see an issue, if the pulse reading never went below 60 then fine, that's an accurate RHR. But the pulse range through the day seems to be the same i.e. in the 50s when I'm resting (not just during sleep). But regardless the RHR calculated is still higher.

Thanks for responding cl! I was wondering the same, I've been checking the community since December and found no similar posts or questions, that made me wonder is it only the case with me/my device. Then I finally decided to post one myself! I agree, it is annoying when a data point suddenly begins showing as an aberration, you no longer have confidence in it or even other related metrics. E.g. if this isn't accurate, are the heart zones on runs and associated data reliable.

Btw for all who follow this discussion, I understand and endorse that one shouldn't read a lot into these. I am just a long term and curious user trying to understand what's changed with the device/software that's been fairly consistent for several years.

Yes, the pattern is the same; usually drops during summers and then is higher in the winters. Weekly/ Monthly averages are between 52-56. See a months snapshot for comparison. The first is a regular month some variances. The second is post the update, see how it arbitrarily jumps over the 60s. Has to be some change in the way its measure.

Probable Solution: Turn OFF ‘Track Sleep with Apple Watch’. You won’t get the ‘Vitals’ report anymore, but I am Ok with that. I track sleep via a 3P app anyways, RHR, O2 you can always view it by yourself.

Changing this setting showed an immediate change from weekly average of 64 down to 54 the next week, and also daily RHRs were back to familiar values. Then the Week after I fell sick and as expected it spiked up on my severe illness days. And as I’m getting better it’s coming back into normal range. Am sharing this, cause this was the reason of my initial concern on the random increase, it's usually accurately corresponds with low fitness, ill health. Disclaimer: just a data correlation not a medical advice.

Also from the conversations on this thread, most of us who seem to see the random change since December are ones who wear the watch to sleep. Hence, whether RHR is accurate for when worn to sleep vs. when not, different topic to experiment and resolve. Post recovery, I plan to NOT wear the watch to sleep for a week and see how it compares to my RHR of when worn to sleep.

Hope this helps all fellow users who have been troubled by this.

Confirming the Solution works: Turn OFF ‘Track Sleep with Apple Watch’. See change in trend and weekly average. It's a bug that needs to be fixed, if we want to use the feature.