How Long Does An Elevated Heart Rate Last After Exercise
If youve completed a session of low to moderate aerobic exercise intensity, your heart rate will usually get back to normal between 10 to 20 minutes after exercise.
However, if youve worked out for speed, power, and strength, youll be making use of energy from anaerobic energy systems, which means youll endure less recovery time between sets. When working out for muscular endurance and anaerobic fitness, your heart rate will increase incrementally throughout the workout.
This is why it takes longer for your heart rate to go back to normal after the exercise youre looking at between 20 and 40 minutes.
This basically occurs as a result of more demand put on the cardiovascular system to move more blood out of working muscles and return the blood to vital organs, while cleaning out waste products: CO2 and lactate.
If your exercise intensity fluctuated during your session, your heart rate will also fluctuate. This has been seen in periods of high-intensity exercise mixed with periods of lower-intensity exercise.
The heart rate will basically copy the intensity it will increase when the intensity does and increase when the intensity drops.
Where Is It And What Is A Normal Heart Rate
The best places to find your pulse are the:
- wrists
- side of your neck
- top of the foot
To get the most accurate reading, put your finger over your pulse and count the number of beats in 60 seconds.
Your resting heart rate is the heart pumping the lowest amount of blood you need because youre not exercising. If youre sitting or lying and youre calm, relaxed and arent ill, your heart rate is normally between 60 and 100 .
But a heart rate lower than 60 doesnt necessarily signal a medical problem. It could be the result of taking a drug such as a beta blocker. A lower heart rate is also common for people who get a lot of physical activity or are very athletic. Active people often have a lower resting heart rate because their heart muscle is in better condition and doesnt need to work as hard to maintain a steady beat. A low or moderate amount of physical activity doesnt usually change the resting pulse much.
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.
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How To Lower Resting Heart Rate
What Are The Best Places To Check Pulse
The best places to check your heart rate are your wrist, the side of your neck, the inside of your elbow, and the top of your foot .
How to Check Your Pulse Video
Watch Emily Reeve, the Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, show you how to check your pulse.
Heart Rate Monitors
You can track your heart rate with a wrist monitor like the popular LETSCOM Fitness Tracker .
Or, check out this detailed review of heart rate monitors to help you find the right one for you.
Heart rate monitors make it easier to track your heart rate consistently and learn which activities raise or lower your pulse the most.
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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.
Children Have Higher Resting Heart Rates Than Adults
According to Purvi Parwani, MD, director of Women’s Heart Care at Loma Linda University International Heart Institute, children tend to have a higher resting heart rate than adults because of a faster metabolism. “For example, a newborn heart rate of 100 to 150 bpm is considered normal,” Parwani says.
However, the average resting heart rate of a child also depends on age and activity level during the day. According to the US National Library of Medicine, the resting heart rate range for children changes every few years until around 10 years old:
- Newborns 0 to 1 month old: 70 to 190 bpm
- Infants 1 to 11 months old: 80 to 160 pm
- Children 1 to 2 years old: 80 to 130 bpm
- 3 to 4 years old: 80 to 120 bpm
- 5 to 6 years old: 75 to 115 bpm
- 7 to 9 years old: 70 to 100 bpm
- 10 years and older: 60 to 100 bpm
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How Can You Use Your Target Heart Rate
You can use your target heart rate to know how hard to exercise to gain the most aerobic benefit from your workout. You can exercise within your target heart rate to either maintain or raise your aerobic fitness level. To raise your fitness level, you can work harder while exercising to raise your heart rate toward the upper end of your target heart rate range. If you have not been exercising regularly, you may want to start at the low end of your target heart rate range and gradually exercise harder.
To take your heart rate during exercise, you can count the beats in a set period of time and then multiply by a number to get the number of beats per minute. For example, if you count your heartbeat for 30 seconds, double that number to get the number of beats per minute. You can also wear a heart rate monitor during exercise so you do not have to take your pulse. A heart rate monitor shows your pulse rate continuously, so you see how exercise changes your heart rate. Then you can work harder or easier to keep your heart working in your target heart rate range.
Target heart rate is only a guide. Each individual is different, so pay attention to how you feel, how hard you are breathing, how fast your heart is beating, and how much you feel the exertion in your muscles.
How To Find Your Target Heart Rate
First, it helps to know your resting heart rate, Martin says. Find your pulse . Then count the number of beats in a minutethats your resting heart rate. The average resting heart rate is between 60 and 100, he says. The more fit you are, the lower your resting heart rate for very fit people, its in the range of 40 to 50 beats per minute.
Target heart rate is generally expressed as a percentage of your maximum safe heart rate. The maximum rate is based on your age, as subtracted from 220. So for a 50-year-old, maximum heart rate is 220 minus 50, or 170 beats per minute. At a 50 percent exertion level, your target would be 50 percent of that maximum, or 85 beats per minute. At an 85 percent level of exertion, your target would be 145 beats per minute. Therefore, the target heart rate that a 50-year-old would want to aim for during exercise is 85 to 145 beats per minute.
But theres an easier way to figure it out if you want to skip the math: Wear a fitness tracking device, or exercise on a treadmill or other machine that calculates target heart rate for you, Blaha suggests.
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What Is A Normal Heart Rate In Your Age
Heart rate, also known as pulse, is the number of times a persons heart beats per minute. A normal heart rate depends upon the individual, age, body size, heart disease, whether the person is sitting or moving, medication use and even air temperature level. Even feelings can have an impact on heart rate. For instance, getting excited or scared can increase the heart rate. But most significantly, getting fitter decreases the heart rate, by making heart muscles work more efficiently.
Evaluation Of An Abnormal Heart Rate
If your pediatrician is concerned about your childs heart rate, they may order tests to see if there is an underlying heart abnormality. For example, in addition to your childs pulse, your doctor may also check their blood pressure and order an electrocardiogram .
The ECG allows your doctor to not only verify your childs heart rate, but also the rhythm, or electrical activity, of the heart. It can also provide clues on whether the heart is enlarged or working too hard.
In addition to heart problems, your doctor may also do blood tests, such as a complete blood count or a thyroid test, to check for underlying infections and conditions like anemia or hyperthyroidism that can affect your childs heart rate.
In some instances, your doctor may refer you to a pediatric cardiologist, a specialist in heart conditions for children.
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Resting Heart Rate And Fitness
Your resting heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute while at complete rest. It is an indicator of your physical fitness. Your resting heart rate will decrease as your heart becomes stronger through aerobic exercise training.
A low resting heart rate indicates better fitness in people who are in athletic training or a workout program, but it can have other health significance for people who are not physically fit .
Show Your Heart Some Love
Your heart is your life force, so dont forget to show your heart daily gratitude with habits to improve your health!
Your overall well-being is greatly affected by your heart health. So, when you start incorporating healthy lifestyle choices such as exercise, a healthy diet, stress-reducing techniques, more sleep and water, and fewer stimulants into your daily life, youll start to notice big changes. Maybe you notice an increase in energy or a clearer mind, or maybe you recognize how much easier your daily activities become! And, whats not to love about that?!
As always, if you suspect you may have an underlying health condition affecting your heart rate, consult a doctor.
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What To Expect At The Doctors
Your doctor may use a variety of diagnostic tools to help diagnose your condition, including:
- Electrocardiogram. Also referred to as an ECG or EKG, this diagnostic tool uses small electrodes to record the electrical activity of your heart. Your doctor can use the information collected to determine if heart abnormalities are contributing to your condition.
- Imaging tests. Imaging can be used to assess if there are any structural abnormalities in your heart that may be contributing to your condition. Possible imaging tests can include echocardiogram, CT scan, and MRI scan.
- Laboratory tests. Your doctor may order blood tests to determine if your condition is caused by something such as an electrolyte imbalance or thyroid disease.
Once a diagnosis is made, your doctor will work with you to develop a plan to treat and manage your condition.
Depending on the findings from the diagnostic tests, your doctor may refer you to a cardiologist. A cardiologist specializes in treating and preventing diseases of the heart and circulatory system.
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 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.
Consult your doctor if you are experiencing some of these symptoms and you have an associated slow heart rate:
- Lack of energy.
- Confusion/memory problems.
- Heart palpitations or flutters.
If your heart rate drops into the 30s, you might not get enough oxygen to your brain, making fainting, lightheadedness, and shortness of breath possible. Blood can also pool in your heart chambers, causing congestive heart failure.
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.
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Why Has My Resting Heart Rate Increased
As shown above, there are many factors to consider if you find yourself suddenly asking why is my resting heart rate getting higher? Its important to first think about the aspects that can contribute towards a raised resting heart rate that isnt a cause for concern.
Most people will notice their resting heart rate rising with age.
Most people will notice their RHR rising with age. While you cant control your bodys aging process, you can reduce its impact on your cardiovascular system. Try exercising within a variety of heart rate zones as this can be effective in reducing resting heart rate.
Not getting enough sleep can contribute towards your resting heart rate going up. If youre always exhausted, you could be experiencing chronic sleep deprivation. Not only does this lead to feelings of fatigue and a slower metabolism but it can also result in resting heart rate increasing. You should always try to get at least seven hours of sleep every night to ensure your body is sufficiently recovered.
Similarly, if youre training at an intense level but not allowing your body enough time to rest, you may notice hey, my resting heart rate has gone up! This is a sign that you need to give your body the time to repair properly so it can absorb the benefits of your workouts. Otherwise, all that hard work could end up having a detrimental effect.
Resting Heart Rate : Everything You Need To Know
Originally published July 6, 2016 3:58 pm, updated August 18, 2021
One of the easiest and maybe most effective ways to gauge your health and aerobic fitness level is via your resting heart rate . By measuring it regularly, you can see both your long-term progress and daily fluctuations, which can indicate whether youre fit for training, overtrained, or stressed. Heres everything you need to know to understand what affects RHR and why it matters.
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Foods That Lower Resting Heart Rate
People in the Blue Zones, areas where people live longer than average, eat plenty of beans. One reason beans are so healthy is that they can help lower your pulse.
In one study, participants were given a cup a day of beans, chickpeas, or lentils. Participants lowered their resting heart rate from an average of 74.1 to 70.7, a 3.4 point drop. The change was similar to those in the other study who exercised for 250 hours!
You might consider eating beans regularly to keep your resting heart rate in a healthy range. Beans are also an excellent source of vegan protein.
Does Your Heart Have A Maximum Number Of Beats
The maximum number of lifetime heartbeats for humans is about 3 billion. But you wont die when you reach a set number of heartbeats. Heartbeats, however, are a marker of your metabolic rate. The faster your metabolic rate , the shorter your lifespan.
For example:
The total number of heartbeats per lifetime is amazingly similar across all mammals. For example, a mouse has a heart rate of 500 to 600 beats per minute but lives less than two years. At the other extreme, a Galápagos tortoise has a heart rate of about six beats per minute and has a life expectancy of 177 years.
Do the math and the heart of a mouse beats 100 times faster than that of a tortoise. But a tortoise lives 100 times longer than a mouse. Humans, however, have about 60 bpm and have about 3 billion heartbeats per lifetime.
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