Woman shares results after Apple Watch tracks her heart rate during painful breakup

A woman has shared her shocking results after her Apple Watch tracked her heart rate during a breakup.

In a viral Reddit post shared to the r/AppleWatch subreddit, a woman posted screenshots of her fluctuating heart rate date after her longtime partner had called it quits. “Partner of multiple years decided to break up with me today. Although mutually agreed it’s for the best, it still hurt like hell,” she began her post, which was shared last week.

Alongside the post, the woman shared “some objective data” that was collected by her Apple Watch before, during, and after the breakup. The graphs, which showed her various heart rate ranges and beats per minute (BPM), highlighted exactly how emotional stress can lead to physical changes in the body.

While a person’s average resting heart rate range is between 60 BPM and 100 BPM, the woman shared that her heart rate range had begun at 55 BPM and reached 176 BPM by the end of the day. According to the Apple Watch data, her heart rate went up to 88 BPM due to an “intense gym session” earlier in the day.

Their breakup conversation occurred at 4pm and lasted for about an hour and a half. At the start of the intense conversation, the woman’s resting heart rate was in a range of 93 to 151 BPM. By the time they had officially broken up, her heart rate range changed to 116-138 BPM.

She also shared that she received five “high” heart rate notifications throughout the day because she had a custom alert set, which notified her when her heart rate was above 120 BPM. “I have anxiety and don’t need to be shamed for that by my watch,” she jokingly added.

The woman revealed in the comments section that she had a resting heart rate range of 110-150 BPM for about five hours while she was “actively sobbing” and “having panic attacks” over the breakup. She shared that her “best friend came over after [the breakup] for another emotional (but healing) conversation,” where it went as high as 176 BPM.

However, it went down to 70-90 BPM towards the end of the day until she had gone to bed. While her normal average heart rate is typically 68 BPM, she wrote in the comments that her overall resting heart rate had gone up to 88 BPM due to the pain of the breakup.

“This was my first love, first real relationship, and thus first heartbreak. I look forward to the days when I think about this wonderful relationship with mostly joy, rather than this intense sadness,” the woman wrote. “All I can really say – love your people while you have them.”

The woman received an outpouring of support from fellow Reddit users in the comments of her post. Many people left encouraging messages about healing from a breakup, like one person who wrote: “Been there, sucks… heart rate will probably do something similar when you fall in love again.”

“This is good data. That being said, I’m sorry for the stress it imparted,” another person said. “I’m not gonna give the spiel about other fish in the sea, but in the story of your life some people are meant to occupy chapters, while others only a single page. There’s a litany of stories ahead of you and one day sooner than later, this picture may be the only reminder of the hurt and loss you’re feeling right now.”

Meanwhile, someone else shared that they experienced the same rising heart rate when they went through a breakup two years ago. “My average heart rate was higher than normal for weeks. Wish you all the best, it’s maybe hard to believe now but everything is going to be fine at the end,” they said.

In the wake of the breakup, the woman told commenters that she plans on “focusing a lot” on her own self-care. “Journaling, meditation, walks in nature, my cat, my awesome friends. Got myself out of the house for 10 minutes last night to watch the sunset, that was nice,” she said.

She also revealed that “the first thing on [her] horizon” post-breakup is applying to medical school. “But who knows, maybe love will find its place along the way!” she added.

According to the American Heart Association, increased stress levels can cause heart rates to speed up and blood pressure to rise. While some smartwatches and phones can collect health data, another way to monitor heart rate is by pressing the index and middle fingers of one hand on the opposite wrist just below the base of the thumb, or gently against the side of the neck.

There are also several ways to lower heart rate, such as exercising more frequently or engaging in low-stress activities, like meditating or journaling.