Resting Heart Rate During The Night
Nightly average RHR varies widely between individuals. A normal heart rate can range anywhere from 40 to 100 beats per minute and still be considered average. It can also change from day to day, depending on your hydration level, elevation, physical activity, and body temperature. As with many of your bodys signals, its best to compare your RHR with your own baseline. Avoid comparisons to those around you.
When looking at your RHR curve, pay special attention to these three things:
- Your trend: Does your RHR go up, down, or stay level during the night?
- Your lowest point: When is your RHR lowest?
- Your end: Right before you wake up, does your RHR change?
With these questions in mind, here are three patterns you may recognize in the night-time heart rate curves you can see with Oura:
How To Determine Your Target Heart Rate Zone
If you’re aiming for a target heart rate in the moderate range of 70% to 80%, you can use the heart rate reserve method to calculate it like this:
x +
For example – Say your age is 30 and you want to figure out your target heart rate zone for moderate exercise using the HRR method. Follow these steps:
- First, subtract 30 from 220 to get 190 this is your maximum heart rate.
- Next, check your resting heart rate first thing in the morning. It’s usually somewhere between 60 and 100 beats per minute for the average adult. Say its 80 beats per minute.
- Calculate your HRR by subtracting 80 from 190. Your HRR is 110.
- Multiply 110 by 0.7 to get 77, then add your resting heart rate of 80 to get 157.
- Now multiply 110 by 0.8 to get 88, then add your resting heart rate of 80 to get 168.
- Your target heart rate zone for moderate exercise is 157 to 168 beats per minute.
These two numbers are your average target heart rate zone for moderate exercise intensity when using the HRR to calculate your heart rate. Your heart rate during moderate exercise should generally be between these two numbers.
Heart Rate Training Zones Sample Zone 3 Training Sessions
The key with Zone 3 training is to use interval method, instead of just maintaining it throughout the session. This approach will limit the build up of lactic acid in the body, clear the excess and will allow to tolerate more intervals.
- 3×10-30 minutes throughout a long easy session in Zones 1 or 2
- 6x6min with 6 minute recovery in Zone 1 in between
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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.
What Exactly Is Heart Rate Tracking
Heart rate tracking is a technique to determine how a specific workout or work overload affects heart rate. It can be determined using a fitness band or detectors on cardio equipment that provide hearts beats per minute . Each of the five heart rate regions corresponds to the frequency and supports working or exercising in that region.
Zone 1: Very low MHR, between 50 and 60 percent.
Zone 2: Light .
Zone 3: Moderate, with an MHR of 70% to 80%.
Zone 4:Extremely difficult, with MHR ranging from 80% to 90%.
Zone 5: Extremely difficult, requiring 90 percent to 100 percent MHR.
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What Should My Heart Rate Be When Exercising
- 220 – 70 = 150
- 150 / 6 = 25
- 25 x 0.50 = 12.5
- 25 x 0.85 = 21.25 .
To perform a cardio respiratory workout, your heart rate should be 60% to 80% of your maximum heart rate. You can use a basic formula to determine your maximum heart rate for safe exercise. Subtract your age from 220. For example, a 30-year-old has a maximum heart rate of 220-30 = 190. His target heart rate for cardio respiratory exercise would then be 114-152 . It is recommended that you consult with your physician before starting cardio respiratory activity if you havent regularly exercised before.
Your exercising heart rate depends on the intensity that you wish to work. First you must determine your maximum heart rate, which is calculated by subtraction your age from 220. . To determine your target heart rate take this number and multiple it by the intensity percentage at which you wish to work. For example, if you are 40 years old and wish to work at a moderate intensity of 70% the formula would look like this:
* 70% = a target heart rate of 126 bpm.
Ideally Fuel Up Two Hours Before You Exercise By:
- Hydrating with water.
- Eating healthy carbohydrates such as whole-grain cereals , whole-wheat toast, low-fat or fat-free yogurt, whole grain pasta, brown rice, fruits and vegetables.
- Avoiding saturated fats and even a lot of healthy protein because these types of fuels digest slower in your stomach and take away oxygen and energy-delivering blood from your muscles.
If you only have 5-10 minutes before you exercise, eat a piece of fruit such as an apple or banana.
The key is to consume easily digested carbohydrates, so you dont feel sluggish, Platt said.
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How To Measure Your Target Heart Rate
You can take your heart rate manually: Find your pulse on the inside of your wrist or your neck using the tips of your first two fingers on the opposite hand. Count the beats for 30 seconds and multiply by two to find your beats per minute.
Of course, technology can help, too. Wearable activity tracker devices such as a Fitbit or Apple Watch have gained in popularity in the past decade and can help you monitor your heart rate during exercise and rest.
Best Smartwatch For Heart Rate: Apple Watch Series 6
Price when reviewed: £379
We can debate whether you should call the Apple Watch Series 6 a sports watch or a smartwatch, but there’s no doubting it’s become a solid device for heart rate monitoring and its latest Watch much like the Series 5 impresses in the heart rate monitoring department. In fact, it might be offer one of the best wrist-based optical sensors we’ve tried.
From a fitness point of view, we’ve put it through the same rigorous testing as we do with all of the wearables on this list and it really impresses where a lot of wrist-based monitors falter. We’re talking high intensity interval training.
Data is viewable inside of Apple’s own Workout app but the benefit of having a strong collection of third party Watch apps means you can also view that data in places like Strava and Runkeeper.
If you don’t care about working in heart rate zones though, it’s well equipped for taking reliable resting heart rate readings throughout the day and with the addition of an ECG, it’s now fit to tap into heart rate readings to detect serious heart issues including atrial fibrillation.
That data can be viewed inside of Apple’s own Health app and also be exported to a PDF to be shared with medical professionals.
Along with the improved hardware, Apple has clearly done some software tinkering too to improve the performance of its heart rate monitor in a big way.
Sample Apple Watch Series 6 data:
HR compared: Apple Watch Series 6 and Wahoo Tickr chest strap monitor
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Measuring Your Heart Rate
Your heart rate is individual to you and your age is a big factor in how high it can go when exercising. The best way to detect your heart rate is by wearing a heart rate monitor. The pulse sensors on treadmills are inaccurate. The best monitor is a heart rate chest strap or the new fitness wrist bands.
The best heart rate chest straps are made by polar* and give very accurate and clear readings that are easy to understand on a wrist watch that accompanies the strap. They change readings as soon as your heart rate changes. Some treadmills can pick up the transmission from the strap and display your heart rate on the console.
The new way to measure your heart rate is using fitness bands or activity trackers* which have been selling in massive quantities. These you wear like a watch and they have sensors next to the wrist that can accurately measure your heart rate. These connect to cell phones and computers and display information over a period of time in graph formats.
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Heart Rate Training Zones Sample Zone 2 Training Sessions:
Professional athletes usually start their season with a 3-4 week training camp where they focus mostly on Zone 1 & 2 training. Every day they would put in 5-6 hours of easy work to train the heart, focus on the form, as well as work on the base muscle strength.
- Long base-building sessions of over 90 minutes entirely in Zone 2
- Aerobic maintenance sessions of ~30 to 90 minutes with varying intensity
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Best Sports Watch For Heart Rate: Garmin Forerunner 945
Price when reviewed: £519.99
The Forerunner 945 sits at the top table of Garmin’s sport watch line up, and is designed with hardcore triathletes in mind. It makes use of Garmin’s latest Elevate optical HR tech – so it’s reliable for runs although problematic for HIIT. You can still pair with a chest strap for better data.
You can train in heart rate zones, receive heart rate alerts, and broadcast heart rate data over ANT+ with paired devices. You can go swimming with it of course, but you’ll need to pair it with on of Garmin’s HRM chest strap monitors to get reliable data in the water.
And it will produce a tonne of useful metrics from you heart rate data. Training Effect, Training Load, recovery and VO2 Max are all gleaned from tracked runs, using Firstbeat’s heart rate variability algorithms. It’s actionable and interesting data that can help you learn more about your session.
Outside of workouts, you can also perform HRV stress tests to asses how well recovered your body is for taking on your next workout session. Additional heart rate-based metrics including lactate threshold can be unlocked when it’s paired with Garmin’s Running Dynamics Pod.
In our testing putting it up against Polar’s H10 chest strap, it actually fared really well and is definitely an improvement on what we’ve seen from Garmin’s heart rate setup in the past.
Check out our full Garmin Forerunner 945 review.
Sample Garmin Forerunner 945 data:
HR sample data: Garmin and chest strap
How Do I Calculate My Maximum Heart Rate
That is why it is easier to say that a safe upper limit is 60% to 90% of your maximum heart rate rather than us trying to provide you with a specific number. If you want a general idea of what your maximum exercise heart rate should be, then you take 220 and subtract your age.
That is the maximum rate your heart should beat while exercising. If you are exceeding that amount, then you are working too hard and need to back off until your rate is 60% to 90% of that level.
When it comes to exercising, you want your heart rate to go up. The goal is not to keep your heart rate down, something that many people dont understand. You want your resting heart rate to be low, not your exercising heart rate.
You really want your heart rate to be elevated and if you arent achieving an increase of at least 50% of your maximum heart rate, then you arent benefiting like you should from your exercises.
As you get into better shape, you want to try to achieve 90% of your maximum heart rate to get the most benefit from your exercises.
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Cardiovascular System Science: Investigate Heart
Health
IntroductionAs Valentine’s Day approaches, we’re increasingly confronted with “artistic” images of the heart. Real hearts hardly resemble to two-lobed shapes adorning cards and candy boxes this time of year. And the actual shape of the human heart is important for its function of supplying blood to the entire body. You have likely noticed that your heart beats more quickly when you exercise. But have you ever taken the time to observe how long it takes to return to its normal rate after you’re done exercising? In this science activity you’ll get to do some exercises to explore your own heart-rate recovery time.
BackgroundYour heart is continuously beating to keep blood circulating throughout your body. Its rate changes depending on your activity level it is lower while you are asleep and at rest and higher while you exerciseto supply your muscles with enough freshly oxygenated blood to keep the functioning at a high level. Because your heart is also a muscle, exercise, in turn, helps keep it healthy. 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 minutes a week in total. So for a 20-year-old, the maximum heart rate would be 200 bpm, with a target heart-rate zone of 100 to 170 bpm.
Materials
Preparation
Target Heart Rate Calculator
Ever ask yourself, how do I find my target heart rate? Finding your target heart rate is easy with our target heart rate calculator. Target heart rate calculation can be determined for any age and activity level, enabling you to use a heart rate monitor and get the most benefit from your workouts.
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What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Different Heart Rate Monitor Models
Advantages
- The strapless designs have a higher level of accuracy.
- Designs to choose from.
- They provide consistent heart rate data without the need to evaluate or view it.
Disadvantages
- Basic models have an open transmitter that may cause a disturbance with other monitors.
- Typically, they are more expensive.
- Some people find chest straps inconvenient.
Target Heart Rate For Weight Loss: Make Workouts Work For You
Learning how to calculate your target heart rate zone is an important piece of the weight loss puzzle. Your target heart rate zone, comprised of an upper and lower heart rate, makes both high-intensity and low-intensity workouts more efficient no matter how long they last.
In addition to burning more fat and calories, exercising in your target heart rate zone provides insight into how your body works and what it needs for optimal results. Whether youre looking to slim down or bulk up, heres how to apply your target heart rate for weight loss.
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How To Lower Your Heart Rate
Staying physically active by doing moderate to vigorous exercise regularly is one of the best ways to achieve a lower heart rate that leads to a healthy and long life.
Changes in your lifestyle that may lower your heart rate include:
- Reducing the intake of coffee and caffeine-containing products
- Avoiding binge drinking
- Intake of a healthy diet to keep weight under check
- Doing deep breathing to manage stress and anxiety
If your heart rate becomes too high suddenly, and you feel shortness of breath or chest pain, you need to consult your doctor immediately to get medications prescribed for you. This could be a sign of an impending heart attack or other life-threatening heart problems.
How Can You Calculate Your Maximum Heart Rate For Peak Performance
Your maximum heart rate is what your heart can handle during physical activity. To reap the benefits from your exercise , you need to reach 55-70% of your maximum heart rate during moderate exercise or 70-85% during vigorous exercise.Get out your calculators, folks. To work out your max heart rate, simply subtract your age from 220.
Letâs take 50-year-old Jenny for example. Jennyâs maximum heart rate is 170 . For the best results, Jenny needs to be working out at around 102 beats per minute during moderate exercise or if sheâs doing something more intensive, 136 beats per minute .
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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 40bpm, although it may simply be that this is normal for you.
Visit the British Heart Foundation for more information on checking your pulse.
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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