Know Your Numbers: Maximum And Target Heart Rate By Age
This table shows target heart rate zones for different ages. Your maximum heart rate is about 220 minus your age.3
In the age category closest to yours, read across to find your target heart rates. Target heart rate during moderate intensity activities is about 50-70% of maximum heart rate, while during vigorous physical activity its about 70-85% of maximum.
The figures are averages, so use them as a general guide.
Preparing For Your Appointment
To prepare for your appointment, see the topic Making the Most of Your Appointment.
You can help your doctor diagnose and treat your condition by being prepared to answer the following questions:
- Do you have a history of problems with your heart rate or rhythm? If so:
- Did you see a doctor?
- What was the diagnosis?
- What tests were done?
- How was it treated?
If you have kept a record of your heart rate or rhythm changes, be sure to discuss this with your doctor.
What Is Your Pulse
When your heart beats it pushes blood around your body. This heart beat can be felt as your ‘pulse’ on your wrist or neck.
Your pulse is measured by counting the number of times your heart beats in one minute. For example, if your heart contracts 72 times in one minute, your pulse would be 72 beats per minute . This is also called your heart rate.
A normal pulse beats in a steady, regular rhythm. However, in some people this rhythm is uneven, or ‘jumps about’. This is known as an irregular pulse.
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Myth: If My Heart Rate Is Normal My Blood Pressure Is Fine
Sometimes your heart rate and your blood pressure go hand in hand. For example, when you exercise, or get angry or scared, they both go up.
But they’re not always linked. If your heart rate is normal, your blood pressure may not be. It could be too high or too low, and you may not realize it.
Even if your heart rate seems fine, get your blood pressure checked regularly.
Why Is My Heart Rate So High
Heart rates that are consistently above 100, even when the patient is sitting quietly, can sometimes be caused by an abnormal heart rhythm. A high heart rate can also mean the heart muscle is weakened by a virus or some other problem that forces it to beat more often to pump enough blood to the rest of the body.
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How Your Heart Feels During A Panic Attack
Panic attacks typically last from five to 15 minutes with a clear build up, peak, and let down. The feeling of a racing heart is similar to what it feels like after something has really scared you, if you’ve had an excessive amount of caffeine, or during an intense work out. Your heart may be pounding in your ears, and it may feel like it’s going to beat out of your chest. Many people find this feeling incredibly uncomfortable and unsettled. The increased heart rate may occur in conjunction with other symptoms, including:
- Lightheadedness or faintness
- Dissociation, or feeling like you aren’t in your body, or aren’t connected to the world
- Feeling like you are dying
- Shaking
What Is An Irregular Pulse
An irregular pulse is when the heart doesn’t beat in a regular, steady rhythm. This is also called an irregular heart rate or an arrhythmia.
If your heart rate is irregular, you may notice that your pulse:
- seems irregular or is ‘jumping around’
- is racing, even when you’re at rest
- seems unusually slow some or most of the time.
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Target Heart Rates Chart
What should your heart rate be when working out, and how can you keep track of it? Our simple chart will help keep you in the target training zone, whether you want to lose weight or just maximize your workout. Find out what normal resting and maximum heart rates are for your age and how exercise intensity and other factors affect heart rate.
What Is A Good Sleeping Heart Rate By Age
A normal resting heart rate for an adult is usually between 60 and 100 beats per minute . Well-conditioned athletes may have a resting heart rate closer to 40 bpm. Children under 10 years old tend to have a much higher resting heart rate for newborns, the 100 to 150 bpm range is considered normal.
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Extra Or Skipped Heartbeats
Premature ventricular contractions or PVCs can happen during a heart attack that leads to the generation of extra abnormal beats. PVCs occur due to inadequate blood flow during a heart attack. However, PVCs can also happen in healthy hearts. These extra beats develop in lower chambers of the heart that interfere with the normal rhythmic pumping action of the heart. Extra heartbeat can also be a skipped heartbeat in the chest with a feeling of fluttering or pounding in the chest. With the increase in PVCs, heart rate also increases disturbing the normal rhythm of the heart.
Common Questions About Heart Attack In Women
Weve all seen the movie scenes where a man gasps, clutches his chest and falls to the ground. In reality, a heart attack victim could easily be a woman, and the scene may not be that dramatic.
Although men and women can experience chest pressure that feels like an elephant sitting across the chest, women can experience a heart attack without chest pressure, said Nieca Goldberg, M.D., medical director for the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women’s Health at NYUs Langone Medical Center and an American Heart Association volunteer. Instead they may experience shortness of breath, pressure or pain in the lower chest or upper abdomen, dizziness, lightheadedness or fainting, upper back pressure or extreme fatigue.
Even when the signs are subtle, the consequences can be deadly, especially if the victim doesnt get help right away.
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Is It Bad To Workout At 150 Bpm
The American Heart Association recommends that a person does exercise that is vigorous enough to raise their heart rate to their target heart-rate zone50 percent to 85 percent of their maximum heart rate, which is 220 beats per minute minus their age for adultsfor at least 30 minutes on most days, or about 150
What Are The Symptoms Of A Heart Attack
A heart attack is when part of your heart doesnt get enough blood. This usually happens because an artery that supplies blood to the heart is blocked. Common heart attack symptoms include:
- Chest pain or pressure.
- Nausea or vomiting.
- Feeling of impending doom.
A heart attack can be life-threatening, so dont wait to see if the symptoms go away. Seek immediate medical care if you have signs of a heart attack.
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What Is A Dangerous Heart Rate
A number of conditions can impact your heart rate. An arrhythmia causes the heart to beat too quick, too slow or with an irregular rhythm.
Tachycardia is normally considered to be a resting heart rate of over 100 beats per minute, according to the National Institutes of Health, and generally triggered when electrical signals in the hearts upper chambers fire unusually. If the heart rate is closer to 150 bpm or higher, it is a condition known as supraventricular tachycardia . In SVT, your hearts electrical system, which controls the heart rate, runs out whack. This usually requires medical attention.
Bradycardia is a condition where the heart rate is too low, generally less than 60 bpm. This can be the result of issues with the sinoatrial node, which functions as the pacemaker, or damage to the heart as an outcome of a heart attack or heart disease.
Chest Pain Pressure Squeezing And Fullness
Picture someone having a heart attack, and chances are you imagine them gasping for air and clutching their chest before falling unconscious. While you may experience chest pain during a heart attack, it may not be as dramatic. In some cases, it may not even be described as pain. Instead, it may feel more like pressure or squeezing in the chest.
Chest pain or chest discomfort is caused by an insufficient supply of oxygen-rich blood to your heart. During a heart attack, you may feel this pain in the center of the chest. It can last for a few minutes and disappear, or it may recur after a short break.
This symptom is a warning sign of blocked or narrowed arteries. Dont hesitate to report this to your doctor, even if this and other symptoms are not intense.
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Is A High Heart Rate A Sign Of A Heart Attack
An elevated heart rate is not a reliable sign of a heart attack.
There are three types of heart attack, each of which affect heart rate differently. The three types are:
- ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction
- non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction
- coronary artery spasm
STEMI can be the most severe form of heart attack. It typically causes an elevated heart rate during the event but certain types of STEMIs can cause damage to the electrical system of the heart and slow the heart rate. NSTEMI heart attacks are usually less damaging to the heart, but may also increase the heart rate. Sometimes the NSTEMI is a result of fast heart rate as a result of some other underlying issue with a fixed blockage of the coronary arteries.
Coronary artery spasms occur when the artery walls tighten and restrict blood flow to the heart. They can also affect the heart rate.
Your Maximum Heart Rate
The rate at which your heart is beating when it is working its hardest to meet your body’s oxygen needs is your maximum heart rate. Your maximum heart rate plays a major role in setting your aerobic capacitythe amount of oxygen you are able to consume. Several large observational studies have indicated that a high aerobic capacity is associated with a lower risk of heart attack and death. And a small controlled trial demonstrated that men and women with mild cognitive impairment who raised their aerobic capacity also improved their performance on tests of memory and reasoning.
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Does Hiit Burn Belly Fat
Because HIIT training can increase the rate at which your body burns calories, it is an excellent training method to burn overall body fat, including belly fat. One study showed that people performing HIIT three times a week for 20 minutes lost an average of 4.4 pounds in 12 weeks without any dietary changes.
Why Is My Resting Heart Rate So Low
Healthy young adults and athletes often have heart rates of less than 60 beats a minute. In other people, bradycardia is a sign of a problem with the hearts electrical system. It means that the hearts natural pacemaker isnt working right or that the electrical pathways of the heart are disrupted.
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What Happens To The Heart During A Heart Attack
During a heart attack, your heart muscles receive less blood.
This can be because one or more arteries are unable to deliver a sufficient flow of blood to the heart muscles. Or, the cardiac demand is higher than the cardiac supply available.
Blockages and artery spasms can both restrict blood flow to the heart. This reduction in blood flow can start causing damage to heart muscles within minutes .
This lack of oxygen leads to the breakdown of the heart muscle at the cellular level. As the oxygen depletion continues, this damage continues.
The can affect how much damage your heart will take during an attack:
- how quickly you receive treatment
- how much blood flow the blockages stop
- the size of the area the blockage affects
Since the heart muscle cannot easily regenerate itself, the heart heals after an attack by forming scar tissue. The heart tissue not affected by the oxygen loss may get bigger over time, and the heart may change shape.
There are three types of heart attacks, and each can affect heart rate in different ways:
- STEMI
- NSTEMI , which has many subtypes
- coronary spasm
The ST segment is part of the pattern on an electrocardiogram . This is a test that measures your hearts electrical activity and displays it on a monitor as a continuous line. A persons ST segment will typically appear as a flat period between peaks.
What Is A Normal Heart Rate
A normal heart rate, when you’re not being active, is between 60 100 beats per minute. This is called your resting heart rate. If you’ve been active, you’ll need to wait at least five minutes before taking your pulse.
When you’re active, your heart beats faster to get more oxygen to your working muscles. The harder your body is working, the faster your heart will beat. For example, your heart rate when you’re sprinting will be much faster than your heart rate when you’re walking. If you’re exercising hard it’s normal for your heart rate to get up to 160 beats per minute or more.
There are other things that can make your heart beat faster, like caffeine, nicotine, recreational drugs and some kinds of medications. Your heart will also beat faster when you feel strong emotions, like anxiety or fear.
Athletes or people who are very fit may have resting heart beats of less than 60 bpm.
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Is A Heart Rate Of 35 Dangerous
Is bradycardia dangerous? For most young people, highly trained athletes, and people who exercise regularly, a below-60 heart rate is normal and healthy. It is very possible to have a slow heart rate and experience no symptoms. However, if you have symptoms but ignore them, it can sometimes cause more serious problems.
How Do You Find Your Pulse
The easiest place to find your pulse is in your wrist.
- Turn your hand so that your palm is facing upwards.
- Now place the three middle fingers from your other hand over your wrist below the base of your thumb.
- Press lightly to feel the pulse under your fingers. If you can’t feel anything press slightly harder.
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How Do I Get My Heart Rate In The Target Zone
When you work out, are you doing too much or not enough? Theres a simple way to know: Your target heart rate helps you hit the bullseye so you can get max benefit from every step, swing and squat. Even if youre not a gym rat or elite athlete, knowing your heart rate can help you track your health and fitness level.
What Are Heart Palpitations
A heart palpitation is when you suddenly become aware of your heart beating, usually in an irregular way. Sometimes you can feel it in your ears or your chest when youre lying down. Your heart beat may feel:
- too fast or slow
- like its fluttering
- like its thudding, or pounding.
It is not unusual to feel heart palpitations occasionally and mostly they are harmless. However if youre experiencing them on a regular basis, see your doctor.
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Is Resting Heart Rate Different By Age
For most of us , between 60 and 100 beats per minute is normal.1 The rate can be affected by factors like stress, anxiety, hormones, medication, and how physically active you are. An athlete or more active person may have a resting heart rate as low as 40 beats per minute. Now thats chill!
When it comes to resting heart rate, lower is better. It usually means your heart muscle is in better condition and doesnt have to work as hard to maintain a steady beat. Studies have found that a higher resting heart rate is linked with lower physical fitness and higher blood pressure and body weight.2
What Happens To Heart Rate During A Heart Attack
A persons heart rate may increase or stay the same during a heart attack.
The heart rate at the time of treatment can sometimes predict recovery success. According to one 2018 study across 58 hospitals, a heart rate above 80 beats per minute had the highest risk of mortality following a heart attack.
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When Heart Rate Or Rhythm Changes Are Minor
Many changes in heart rate or rhythm are minor and do not require medical treatment if you do not have other symptoms or a history of heart disease. Smoking, drinking alcohol or caffeine, or taking other stimulants such as diet pills or cough and cold medicines may cause your heart to beat faster or skip a beat. Your heart rate or rhythm can change when you are under stress or having pain. Your heart may beat faster when you have an illness or a fever. Hard physical exercise usually increases your heart rate, which can sometimes cause changes in your heart rhythm.
Natural health products, such as goldenseal, oleander, motherwort, or ephedra , may cause irregular heartbeats.
It is not uncommon for pregnant women to have minor heart rate or rhythm changes. These changes usually are not a cause for concern for women who do not have a history of heart disease.
Well-trained athletes usually have slow heart rates with occasional pauses in the normal rhythm. Evaluation is usually not needed unless other symptoms are present, such as light-headedness or fainting , or there is a family history of heart problems.