What Sinus Arrhythmia Looks Like on Your Watch ECG

Key Takeaways

Tell-tale signs of Sinus Arrhythmia include an irregular heart rhythm, R-R Intervals with lengths that differ by more than 120 milliseconds, and a constant and normal PR Interval.
While it's technically an arrhythmia, Sinus Arrhythmia is normal in otherwise healthy individuals and isn't a cause for concern.
Nevertheless, if you're experiencing symptoms, you may have another underlying heart condition outside of Sinus Arrhythmia, so always consult your healthcare provider as soon as possible if you're experiencing symptoms.

Tell-tale signs of Sinus Arrhythmia include an irregular heart rhythm, R-R Intervals with lengths that differ by more than 120 milliseconds, and a constant and normal PR Interval.
While it's technically an arrhythmia, Sinus Arrhythmia is normal in otherwise healthy individuals and isn't a cause for concern.
Nevertheless, if you're experiencing symptoms, you may have another underlying heart condition outside of Sinus Arrhythmia, so always consult your healthcare provider as soon as possible if you're experiencing symptoms.

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Got other questions on Sinus Arrhythmia? See the Qaly guides on Sinus Arrhythmia:

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Introduction

Hello, heart hero. In your quest to identify that irregular heart rhythm you just felt, you may have come across the term Sinus Arrhythmia. With your trusty watch ECG now in hand, you may be wondering, "What does Sinus Arrhythmia look like on my watch ECG?" In this guide, we'll help you see Sinus Arrhythmia on your watch ECG. Let's dive in.

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What's Sinus Arrhythmia?

Before trying to identify Sinus Arrhythmia on your ECG, it's helpful to remind yourself what Sinus Arrhythmia actually is. (If you're confident in your Sinus Arrhythmia knowledge, though, skip on ahead to the next section for some visual examples of a Sinus Arrhythmia ECG).

To start, remember how your heart beats? It produces an electrical signal, which squeezes and unsqueezes your heart, which in turn pumps your blood to your lungs for oxygen and then out to the rest of your body.

With Sinus Arrhythmia, that electrical signal is produced from your heart's "sinus node" as it should be. You can think of your heart's sinus node as your heart's natural pacemaker.

But instead of beating at a regular pace like a clock, Sinus Arrhythmia means that your heart is beating at an irregular pace, and can often be confused with Normal Sinus Rhythm.

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So What Does Sinus Arrhythmia Look Like on My Watch ECG?

To identify Sinus Arrhythmia on your ECG, look for these tell-tale signs:

On your ECG, the time between each of your heartbeats is called your R-R Interval.
The difference between your R-R intervals is greater than 120 milliseconds.
With Sinus Respiratory Arrhythmia, a type of Sinus Arrhythmia, your R-R Intervals get longer when your breathe in and shorter when you breathe out.
In other words, your heart rate increases when you breathe in and decreases when you breathe out, since your heart rate is your R-R Interval averaged over many heartbeats.
Normal P Waves.
Constant PR Interval.

For visual examples, take a look at Sinus Arrhythmia seen on Qaly members' watch ECGs.

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Here's Sinus Arrhythmia caught on a Qaly member's Apple Watch ECG. Notice the normal PR Interval, and the difference in the R-R Interval that's greater than 120 milliseconds.

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Here's another Sinus Arrhythmia caught on a Qaly member's Apple Watch ECG. Here, too, notice the normal PR Interval, and the difference in the R-R Interval that's greater than 120 milliseconds.

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Here's another Sinus Arrhythmia caught on a Qaly member's Apple Watch ECG. You'll find that Sinus Arrhythmia can often appear as an Inconclusive Apple Watch ECG, Inconclusive Fitbit ECG, or Inconclusive Samsung ECG.

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Is Sinus Arrhythmia a Cause for Concern?

Sinus Arrhythmia is usually not a cause for concern. It's certainly irregular in a technical sense, and it's called an "arrhythmia," but it's a normal finding in young, otherwise healthy people. That being said, if you're feeling symptoms, and you see signs of Sinus Arrhythmia, you may have another heart condition that requires medical attention outside of Sinus Arrhythmia.

As always, if you show signs of Sinus Arrhythmia, contact your healthcare provider immediately to rule out the presence of other harmful, underlying conditions.

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Conclusion

Well, that just about wraps up our guide on what Sinus Arrhythmia looks like on your watch ECG. We hope this could be of some help to you.

If you still need help interpreting your ECGs, don't worry, we understand how scary and confusing it can be to experience abnormal heart rhythms or irregular heartbeats. That's why we created the Qaly app for you and for the hundreds of millions of people around the world who live with heart palpitations and abnormal heart rhythms. On the Qaly app, human experts will interpret your ECGs within minutes for clarity and peace of mind.

To get started with the Qaly app, grab the Qaly app from the App Store or Play Store today. If you have any more questions, or if you need our help in any other way, don't hesitate to reach out to us at support@qaly.co.

As always from the team at Qaly, stay heart healthy ❤️

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