Why Is It Important To Get It Checked
Often an irregular pulse is harmless. However, it’s important to get it checked by a health professional, because sometimes it’s a sign of a heart condition.
The most common kind of heart rhythm condition is atrial fibrillation , which can put you at greater risk of having a stroke. Fortunately, if you have AF, there’s medication you can take to help reduce this stroke risk.
Your doctor can do a simple test called an ECG to further check your irregular pulse.
Myth: If My Heart Rate Is Slow It Means I Have A Weak Heart
Not necessarily. A slow heart rate can be a sign that you’re healthy and fit. An athlete’s heart muscle is in better shape, so it doesn’t have to work as hard to keep up a steady beat.
In general, Patel says, slow rates are only a problem if you also pass out, feel dizzy, are short of breath, or have chest pain. See your doctor if you have any of those symptoms.
What Should Your Normal Resting Heart Rate Really Be
And what can happen if your ticker’s not beating up to par
2.5 billion. No, it’s not how old the Earth is. It’s the average amount of times the heart beats in a lifetime, according to the American Heart Association.
Breaking it down even further, your heart beats 100,000 times every day, pumping about 2,000 gallons of blood.
Your heart rate dictates the exact number of times your heart beats per minute. And while your specific number for that might not be as familiar to you as, say, your blood pressure or your weight, its still pretty important. Thats because your resting heart tells a great deal about your heart muscle is functioning.
Your resting heart rate refers to the number of beats your heart pumps when youre not exerting yourselflike when youre relaxed, lying down, and calm. Your heart rate is typically lowest when sleeping or otherwise inactive and then increases with physical activity.
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During: Make A Pit Stop
Whether youre a professional athlete who trains for several hours or you have a low to moderate routine, keep your body hydrated with small, frequent sips of water.
Platt notes that you dont need to eat during a workout thats an hour or less. But, for longer, high-intensity vigorous workouts, she recommends eating 50-100 calories every half hour of carbohydrates such as low-fat yogurt, raisins, or banana.
Correlation With Cardiovascular Mortality Risk
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A number of investigations indicate that faster resting heart rate has emerged as a new risk factor for mortality in homeothermic mammals, particularly cardiovascular mortality in human beings. Faster heart rate may accompany increased production of inflammation molecules and increased production of reactive oxygen species in cardiovascular system, in addition to increased mechanical stress to the heart. There is a correlation between increased resting rate and cardiovascular risk. This is not seen to be “using an allotment of heart beats” but rather an increased risk to the system from the increased rate.
Given these data, heart rate should be considered in the assessment of cardiovascular risk, even in apparently healthy individuals. Heart rate has many advantages as a clinical parameter: It is inexpensive and quick to measure and is easily understandable. Although the accepted limits of heart rate are between 60 and 100 beats per minute, this was based for convenience on the scale of the squares on electrocardiogram paper a better definition of normal sinus heart rate may be between 50 and 90 beats per minute.
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Charts Of Normal Resting And Exercising Heart Rate
The heart is an organ located just behind and slightly to the left of the breastbone, and pumps blood through a network of veins and arteries known as the circulatory system. The right atrium is sent blood from the veins, and delivers it to the right ventricle. It’s then pumped into the lungs where it is oxygenated. The left atrium is sent oxygen enriched blood from the lungs and delivers it to the left ventricle, where it’s then pumped throughout the body, and the ventricular contractions create blood pressure.
A pulse is the beating of the heart as it’s felt through the walls of an artery, such as the radial artery at the wrist. Pulse rates can also be felt and measured at the carotid artery located on the side of the neck, the temporal artery at the temple, or the femoral artery on the anterior side of the hip, and a chart showing normal heart rate can be used to check on your heart rate.
Maximum And Target Heart Rate
There is no definitive medical advice on when a resting heart rate is too high, but most medical experts agree that a consistent heart rate in the upper levels can put too much stress on the heart and other organs. If a person has a high heart rate at rest and is experiencing other symptoms, doctors may examine his or her heart function, Bauman said.
Knowing your heart rate during workout sessions can help know whether you are doing too much or not enough, the AHA says. When people exercise in their “target heart zone,” they gain the most benefits and improve their heart’s health. When your heart rate is in the target zone you know “you are pushing the muscle to get stronger,” Bauman said.
A person’s target heart rate zone is between 50 percent and 85 percent of his or her maximum heart rate, according to the AHA.
Most commonly, maximum heart rate is calculated by subtracting your age from 220. For a 30-year-old person, for example: 220 30 = 190.
The target zone for a 30-year-old person would be between 50 and 85 percent of his or her maximum heart rate:
- 50 percent: 190 x 0.50 = 95 bpm
- 85 percent: 190 x 0.85 = 162 bpm
For a 60-year-old person, the target zone would be between 80 and 136 bpm.
You can either manually calculate your heart rate during exercise or use heart rate monitors that wrap around the chest, or are included in sports watches.
However, that’s not to say that exercising without getting the heart rate up to the target zone has no benefit, Bauman said.
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What Is A Normal Resting Heart Rate
A normal resting heart rate for adults is between 60 beats per minute and 100 bpm. An abnormal pulse rate below 60 bpm or above 100 bpm could increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, or early death.
Normal Resting Heart Rate for Women
The normal resting heart rate for adult women is similar for men, between 60 bpm and 100 bpm. Age and activity level are more important factors for heart rate.
Studies show that having high resting heart rate increases your risk even after controlling for other factors such as physical fitness, blood pressure, and lipid levels.
Is a resting heart rate of 80 bad? A bpm of 80 is still within the normal range, but over 90 can be dangerous.
For example:
One study tested the resting heart rate of about 3,000 men over 16 years. The study found that, after accounting for other risk factors, men with a resting heart rate over 90 bpm were three times more likely to die than the men with the lowest RHR.
Further, an increase in heart rate over time is associated with an increased risk of death from heart disease and all-cause mortality.
Is A Low Resting Heart Rate Good Or Dangerous?
At the other extreme, one study found that having a low resting heart rate is a risk factor for atrial fibrillation in athletes.
Having a heart rate below 60 bpm doesnt mean that youre not healthy. For example, a low RHR could be the result of taking a drug such as a beta-blocker. Moreover, athletes generally have lower heart rates.
Things Your Resting Heart Rate Can Tell You
Youre Not Active EnoughA normal resting heart rate for the average adult is 60 to 100 beats per minute or 40 to 60 bpm for highly conditioned athletes.If youre sedentary most of the day, your RHR likely approaches or exceeds the top end of this range. This may be because your heart is less efficient. The good news? By regularly engaging in moderate to vigorous aerobic activities , you will help your heart become more efficient at pumping blood, plus you might shed a few pounds, all of which will lower your resting heart rate over time. Even modest reductions in resting heart rate can dramatically reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and add years to your life!
Youre OvertrainingWhile pushing your body can lead to great gains, it can also be detrimental. If you notice an increase in your resting heart rate when youre going heavy on the training and light on the rest, your body may be telling you that you need to scale back. By giving it the proper rest it needs, your body can repair and adapt and you may bounce back stronger than ever.
Youre Sleep DeprivedAlways exhausted? Chronic sleep deprivationwhich can lead to fatigue, a lower metabolism, and extra snackingcan also raise your resting heart rate. Aim for at least 7 hours of sleep each night.
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How To Measure Your Resting Heart Rate
Taking your own pulse is a good habit to cultivate, whether you are trying to get into tip-top shape or you have any health concerns. This can be especially helpful if you keep notes or draw a graph of how it changes over time, which a fitness tracking app makes easy to do.
The only time to measure your resting heart rate is as soon as you get up. Even by the time youve finished brushing your teeth, your cardiovascular system has switched from pumping blood through a supine body to an upright one. Theres probably more blood flowing to your organs, coffee may have been consumed, and a whole bunch of your bodys systems have started to reboot.
If you dont have a heart rate monitor, the easiest way to determine your pulse is to use a wristwatch that can indicate seconds. Using your index and middle finger, try to locate a clearly palpable beat in the hollow between your collar bones, adjacent to your windpipe , or on the side of your neck roughly below either eye.
If you cant find a pulse here, try on your wrist at the base of your thumb, but dont use the thumb of your other hand, or the pulses in both will tend to overlap. Simply count the number of beats in 30 seconds and multiply by two to get Beats per Minute.
How To Lower Your Heart Rate With Exercise
High-Intensity Interval Training is a training method where you give 100% effort in a quick, intense burst of exercise, followed by a short resting period. HIIT increases your maximum heart rate and lowers your RHR.
HIIT is as simple as doing one exercise, like sprinting, as fast as you can safely run for 30 seconds, then resting for 90 seconds.
Warm-up first and start with one rep.
Rest for several days in between HIIT days. Build up slowly to a workout of several reps that only takes about 15 minutes. Then try adding new exercises.
For the best results, dont set an arbitrary time. Instead, push yourself to your max. And then rest and recover until youre ready to give 100% again. For instance, give 100% effort for 15 seconds and rest for five minutes.
Learn more about the health benefits of HIIT and how to do it the right way in this short HIIT video from Thomas DeLauer.
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What Is A Good Resting Heart Rate By Age
Normal resting heart rate values can range from anywhere between 60-100 beats per minute . As cardiovascular fitness increases, the resting heart rate value decreases. Resting heart rate is the number of beats per minute the heart takes while a person is fully rested. It is an indicator of both fitness and general health.
The below tables provide appropriate charts for RHR as per age and sex.
Table 1. Resting heart rate values for men
Resting heart rate values for men
Exercise And Heart Rate
Like any other muscle, your heart needs exercise to keep it fit and healthy. Regular exercise can help reduce your risk of heart disease and other health conditions, such as diabetes.
To keep your heart healthy, you should aim to do 150 minutes of low to moderate intensity exercise a week. If you have a heart condition, talk to your doctor about what exercise and target heart rates are safe for you.
One way to measure the intensity of your exercise is by using your heart rate. To exercise at a low to moderate intensity your heart rate should be at 50 to 70% of your approximate maximum heart rate.
The easiest way to get an approximate maximum heart rate is to calculate 220 your age. You then need to calculate 50 to 70% of your MHR.
For example, if youre 40-years-old:
- your approximate maximum heart rate is: 220 40 = 180 beats per minute
- 50% of your MHR is 180 X 0.5 = 90 bpm
- 70% of your MHF is 180 X 0.7 = 126 bpm.
Alternatively, you can use our heart rate chart below to get a rough idea.
Remember if youre on medications to slow your heart rate down, you may not be able to meet these upper heart rates and the aim should be to exercise at a rate that makes you lightly puff.
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What Is A Healthy Resting Heart Rate For An Adult
A normal resting heart rate for adults lies somewhere between 60 and 100 beats per minute , and varies based on age group and gender. Women’s heart rates are about 2-7 BPM faster than men’s on average.
Generally speaking, you want to keep your resting heart rate as low as possible. One large, long-term study compared men with heart rates above 90 and those below 80. The men with higher average heart rates were associated with triple the risk of death.
People with lower heart rates tend to be more active and get more exercise than others. A young, highly-trained athlete’s healthy resting heart rate may be as low as 40 BPM.
If You Slow Your Resting Heart Rate Can You Slow Down Aging
Having a lower resting heart rate is associated with having a longer lifespan.
Athletes generally have a lower resting heart rate due to their physical fitness.
One study found that the more physically fit you are, the lower the resting pulse. The same study found that even controlling for physical fitness, people with a higher resting heart rate had a shorter life expectancy compared to those with a lower resting heart rate.
So a high resting heart rate is not just a marker of risk, but a risk factor for premature death. The difference between a risk marker and a risk factor is that if you can control the risk factor, you can control the risk.
Why Is A High Resting Heart Rate Dangerous?
If your heart is beating fast 24 hours a day, all that circulatory stress can damage the elastic fibers supporting your arterial walls causing them to become stiff. Your arteries do not have enough time to relax between beats.
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What Is Considered A Dangerously Low Heart Rate
The American Heart Association designates 60 bpm as the threshold for bradycardia, which is considered slower than normal. But, obviously, trained athletes may fall into this range, so whether or not its dangerous is specific to the individual. Anyone concerned about their heart rate should consult a physician.
What Should You Know About Your Heart Rate
Even if youre not an athlete, knowledge about your heart rate can help you monitor your fitness level and it might even help you spot developing health problems.
Your heart rate, or pulse, is the number of times your heart beats per minute. Normal heart rate varies from person to person. Knowing yours can be an important heart-health gauge.
As you age, changes in the rate and regularity of your pulse can change and may signify a heart condition or other condition that needs to be addressed.
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Your Resting Heart Rate
When you are at rest, your heart is pumping the lowest amount of blood to supply the oxygen your body’s needs. For most healthy adult women and men, resting heart rates range from 60 to 100 beats per minute. However, a 2010 report from the Women’s Health Initiative indicated that a resting heart rate at the low end of that spectrum may offer some protection against heart attacks. When WHI researchers examined data on 129,135 postmenopausal women, they found that those with the highest resting heart ratesmore than 76 beats per minutewere 26% more likely to have a heart attack or die from one than those with the lowest resting heart rates62 beats per minute or less. If your resting heart rate is consistently above 80 beats per minute, you might want to talk to your doctor about how your heart rate and other personal factors influence your risk for cardiovascular disease.