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.
Whats A Normal Heart Rate
Most adults have a resting heart rate between 60 and 100bpm.
The fitter you are, the lower your resting heart rate is likely to be. For example, athletes may have a resting heart rate of 40 to 60bpm, or lower.
See a GP to get checked if you think your heart rate is continuously above 120bpm or below 40bpm, although it may simply be that this is normal for you.
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What’s A Normal Heart Rate
Most adults have a resting heart rate between 60 and 100bpm.
The fitter you are, the lower your resting heart rate is likely to be. For example, athletes may have a resting heart rate of 40 to 60bpm, or lower.
See a GP to get checked if you think your heart rate is continuously above 120bpm or below 60bpm, although it may simply be that this is normal for you.
Find out more about how to check your pulse on the British Heart Foundation website.
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How To Take Your Heart Rate
You can measure your heart rate by finding your pulse. The pulsating rhythm of your bloodyour pulsematches the movements of your heart and indicates your heart rate. Using your middle and index finger, press firmly in an area of your body that has a pulse. One of the most common places to take your pulse is on the inside of your wrist. Other body parts that reveal your pulse include:
- The side of your neck
- The pit opposite your elbow
- The base of your toe
Once you locate your pulse, using a stopwatch, begin counting each beat for 60 seconds. Alternatively, you can count the beats for 15 seconds and multiply your results by 4. This measurement indicates your approximate resting heart rate.
Does Your Heart Stop When You Sneeze
When you sneeze, the intrathoracic pressure in your body momentarily increases. This will decrease the blood flow back to the heart. The heart compensates for this by changing its regular heart beat momentarily to adjust. However, the electrical activity of the heart does not stop during the sneeze.
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What Is A Normal Exercising Heart Rate
To determine what a normal exercising heart rate is, you first need to determine your age-predicted maximal heart rate. Here is the generalized equation for predicting maximal heart rate in healthy adults:
HRmax = 208
For example, a 20-year-old person, the age-predicted maximal heart rate would be 194 beats per minute and for a 65-year-old person, the age-predicted maximal heart rate would be 163 beats per minute. A simplified age-predicted maximal heart rate equation is commonly used, but it overestimates maximal heart rate in young adults and increasingly underestimates the maximal heart rate in older adults.
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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What Your Resting Heart Rate Means
Your resting heart rate will become lower as your fitness level increases. Vigorous aerobic exercise, such as running or cycling, has the most effect on lowering your resting heart rate. Moderate-intensity exercise such as brisk walking has less effect.
RHR is lowered as the heart muscle becomes stronger and gets better at pumping out more blood per heartbeat. The body needs fewer heartbeats to pump the same amount of blood. If your heart muscle is weak, it needs to beat more times to pump the same amount of blood.
If you are tracking your resting heart rate and see it rise, there could be several causes that aren’t related to your fitness level, including:
- Being sleep-deprived
- Dehydration or in cases of high heat and humidity
- Developing an illness or a medical condition
- Mental, emotional, or physical stress
How To Lower Heart Rate
If your heart rate is too high there are ways to lower it safely. Your heart rate could be high after exercising or because youre feeling stressed or anxious.
Here are some fast-acting methods that can help lower a fast heart rate:
- Breathing exercises: You can use your breathing to raise the aortic pressure in your heart, which will lower your heart rate. To do this, close your mouth and nose and raise the pressure in your chest. Breathe in for five to eight seconds, hold it for three to five seconds, and then exhale slowly. This can be repeated several times.
- Taking a bath: This can help relax you and bring your heart rate down.
- Light yoga: Calming yoga or meditation can help relax you and bring a high heart rate down.
- Moving to a cooler location: If your heart rate is raised because youre too hot, moving to a cooler location will help bring it down.
Here are some long-term solutions that can help you achieve a healthy heart rate:
- Exercising regularly: Starting and keeping an exercise program will help decrease resting heart rates over time.
- Eating healthy:Healthy diets that contain whole grains, leafy greens, fruits, and omega-3 fatty acids are great for supporting long term heart health and will help keep heart disease at bay.
- Quitting smoking:Non-smokers have a lowered risk of recurrent heart attacks and cardiovascular disease.
- Staying hydrated:Drinking enough water allows the heart to pump blood more easily throughout the body.
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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.
Female Resting Heart Rate Chart: Average Bpm By Age
Normal resting heart rate for women increases slightly with age, and is also generally a few BPM higher than the average for men.
The graphic above shows the average resting heart rate of female and male WHOOP members ages 20-50. As you can clearly see, women normally have a slightly higher RHR than men do .
There is also usually a minor increase in RHR with age between a persons 20s and 50s . The normal bpm for women in their 20s is about 58, but by their 40s its closer to 60.
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Is A Resting Heart Rate Of 52 Bad
Resting heart rate is a quick way to determine how efficiently your heart is working. What is considered normal can vary greatly from person to person? Your RHR is the amount of blood your heart pumps when you’re not exercising. If you’re sitting or lying down, calm and relaxed and not sick, your heart rate should be between 60 and 100 beats per minute .
Bradycardia :
- If your RHR is consistently lower than 60 bpm , you have bradycardia , which may be a sign of excellent physical fitness or maybe a sign of illness, in which case it can be accompanied by light-headedness, dizziness or chest discomfort.
- If your RHR is significantly lower than 60 bpm and you don’t feel well, you should see a doctor and get electrocardiography done.
Tachycardia :
- If your RHR is consistently above 100 bpm, you have tachycardia and should see a doctor, especially if you have other symptoms such as chest tightness, fatigue, or shortness of breath.
- Fast RHR can indicate various conditions. You could be dehydrated or have poor physical fitness, or it could be a sign of something more serious going on with your heart or lungs.
Checking your RHR is a noninvasive way to assess your health. Take your RHR after waking up for three consecutive mornings.
The best results will be obtained immediately upon waking however, if this is not possible, ensure that you rest quietly and destress for at least 15 minutes before determining your beats per minute.
Maximum And Target Heart Rate
Monitoring your heart rate during workout sessions can help you determine whether you are doing too much or not enough, the AHA says. When people exercise in their “target heart zone,” they maximize the cardiovascular benefits of their workout that’s because, when your heart rate is in the target zone, “you are pushing the muscle to get stronger,” Bauman said.
A person’s target heart rate zone is between 50% and 85% of their maximum heart rate, according to the AHA. Most commonly, maximum heart rate is calculated by subtracting your age from 220. So for a 30-year-old person, for example, the maximum heart rate would be 190 bpm: 220 30 = 190.
The target zone for a 30-year-old person would therefore lie between 50 and 85% of 190:
- 50%: 190 x 0.50 = 95 bpm
- 85%: 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. It just doesn’t challenge the heart to its fullest extent.
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Does Heart Rate Increase Or Decrease With Age
As you grow older, your resting heart rate does not change very much, though your heart cant beat as fast during physical activity or stress as it did when you were younger, according to the National Institute on Aging.
- Body size
- Body position
If your resting heart rate changes drastically, talk to your doctor. A higher resting heart rate can be a sign of a heart problem, so if you are an adult with a resting heart rate of 80 to 100 BPM, you might be at risk.
Keeping track of your heart rate can help you improve your overall health and adjust your exercise routine to stay healthy. Want to learn more about your heart? Visit the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute online.
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What Is The Heart Rate
The heart rate is the number of times the heart beats in the space of a minute.
The heart is a muscular organ in the center of the chest. When it beats, the heart pumps blood containing oxygen and nutrients around the body and brings back waste products.
A healthy heart supplies the body with just the right amount of blood at the right rate for whatever the body is doing at that time.
For example, being frightened or surprised automatically releases adrenaline, a hormone, to make the heart rate faster. This prepares the body to use more oxygen and energy to escape or confront potential danger.
The pulse is often confused with the heart rate but refers instead to how many times per minute the arteries expand and contract in response to the pumping action of the heart.
The pulse rate is exactly equal to the heartbeat, as the contractions of the heart cause the increases in blood pressure in the arteries that lead to a noticeable pulse.
Taking the pulse is, therefore, a direct measure of heart rate.
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Blood Pressure Vs Heart Rate
Some people confuse high blood pressure with high heart rate. Blood pressure is a measurement of the force of the blood against the walls of arteries, while heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute. You can measure your heart rate by taking your pulse, which reflects how often the arteries expand and contract in response to the heart beating, according to MedicalNewsToday heart rate and pulse rate are equal to each other, so the terms are often used interchangeably.
There is no direct correlation between blood pressure and heart rate, so having high blood pressure, or hypertension, does not necessarily result in having a high pulse rate, and vice versa. Heart rate goes up during strenuous activity, but a vigorous workout may only modestly increase blood pressure.
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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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What Causes A Low Heart Rate
Many things can bring on a slow heart rate.
A heart malfunction
The most common cause for bradycardia is a malfunction in the hearts natural pacemaker, the sinus node. It controls how quickly the top and bottom heart chambers pump blood through the body.
AV Block
Another cause of bradycardia is atrioventricular block , in which the top and bottom chambers dont communicate well and your heart rate drops as a result.
Its like having virtual electrical cables and wires inside the heart, Dr. Baez-Escudero says. These deteriorate as we age. Common medications used in older populations can also often make bradycardia more significant.
Age
Age is the most common risk factor for developing bradycardia. The condition is most common among men and women over age 65.
Having certain illnesses or conditions
Illness or other conditions may also cause bradycardia. These include:
- Heart attacks due to coronary artery disease.
- A bacterial infection in the blood that attacks your heart.
- Inflammation of your heart muscle.
- Low thyroid function.
- Too much potassium in your blood.
- Certain medications, including beta blockers and antiarrhythmics.
Congenital heart defects, diabetes or long-standing high blood pressure all may make bradycardia more likely, says Dr. Baez-Escudero.