70 BPM · Free heart rate app for iPhone
70 BPM: see what caused every heart rate spike
70 BPM lays your Apple Health heart rate over your calendar, so every spike has a name: the standup, the client call, the commute home.
Free to download · Optional Pro in-app purchases · Reads from Apple Health · Stays on your iPhone
Key facts
- PLOS Digital Health (retrospective cohort, 5,109,185 person-days from 20,968 wearable users): alcohol intake was associated with higher nocturnal resting heart rate, lower heart rate variability, shorter sleep and lower next-day physical activity.
- A study at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Nutrients followed 40 healthy adults wearing smartwatches and reported about a 3 BPM increase in nocturnal resting heart rate during alcohol exposure, returning to baseline after drinking stopped.
- Both are observational wearable studies. They show association, and individual responses vary with amount, age, sex and fitness.
Why does alcohol raise heart rate?
Alcohol widens blood vessels, acts on the nervous system, dehydrates and fragments sleep. The heart tends to beat faster overnight while the body processes it, so the sleeping rate that is normally your lowest of the day stays higher.
What does heart rate after alcohol look like?
| When | What wearable data tends to show |
|---|---|
| During the evening | A modest rise, mixed with the effect of food, noise and company |
| Overnight | A higher nocturnal resting rate and lower HRV than a normal night |
| Next morning | Often a higher resting rate, usually returning to baseline once drinking stops |
Sizes differ between people and with how much was drunk, so treat these as directions, not targets.
How to see it in 70 BPM
- Wear an Apple Watch (or another device that writes heart rate to Apple Health) as normal.
- Put the evening in your calendar as an event, for example Dinner and drinks, 19:00 to 23:00.
- Open 70 BPM and tap the event to see only the heart-rate readings inside it, next to the rest of your day.
70 BPM is free to download for iPhone and reads from Apple Health on your device; see how it handles privacy.
How can I compare a night with alcohol to a normal night?
Compare three windows: the evening event, the sleeping hours and the first waking hour, against a similar night without drinking. Pair this with the sleeping heart rate guide. Several comparisons say more than one.
When should I seek help?
A racing or irregular heartbeat after drinking, faintness or chest pain is not something to track. Seek medical help.
Not medical advice. 70 BPM shows heart-rate data your watch has already written to Apple Health. It is not a medical device and cannot diagnose or treat anything. In an emergency, call your local emergency number (911 in the US, 112 in the EU, 999 in the UK). If your heart rate is often high at rest, or you have chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness, see a doctor.