Healthy Resting Heart Rate

Checking the resting heart rate is considered to be one of the methods to judge one’s fitness level. A normal adults resting heart rate ranges from 60-80 beats per minute. The following article provides information about how to calculate a resting heart rate and its importance.

The heart rate is defined as the figure that indicates the number of times your heart beats in one minute. While resting heart rate (RHR) is nothing but your heart rate when your body is at rest. RHR is used to determine the physical fitness of an individual and the unit used to measure it is bpm (beats per minute). The RHR differs from person to person and there are many factors that affect it.

Resting Heart Rate of a Healthy Individual

As aforementioned, RHR reflects the overall health and fitness of a person. The relation between RHR and fitness level can be given as, lower the heart rate, healthier is the person and vice versa. Thus, a lower resting heart rate can be called healthy. When the heart beats, it pumps blood to all the organs of our body. When the heart beats fast, it actually requires extra efforts to supply the blood and hence, higher resting heart rate is considered to be unhealthy. Thus, the RHR also determines whether the heart and lungs, or the whole cardiovascular system of an individual is working efficiently or not.

The factors that affect it are age, sex, physical activity, anxiety level, medication, etc. Healthy resting heart rate for men is usually somewhere between 60-75 bpm, while that for women is between 60-80 bpm. For athletes, it can be as low as 30 bpm. Moreover, many athletes keep referring to their RHR to determine their fitness level. If you are following a fitness program then monitoring your RHR can give you an idea of your health improvement. Given below are the ways to measure it.

Calculating the Resting Heart Rate

It should always be measured when your body is at complete rest. According to health experts, the best time to measure it is early in the morning, even before you get out of the bed. Here are the steps to measure the RHR.

• Once you wake up, give some time for the body to relax.
• To take proper readings it is recommended that you lie down for a while after waking up.
• You can measure it with the help of carotid pulse (neck) or radial pulse (wrist).
• To measure your radial pulse, place your third fingertip and index fingertip of your right hand on the front side of your left wrist. Once you sense the beats, hold the fingertips and count the pulse for 10 seconds.
• To measure your carotid pulse, place your third fingertip and index fingertip of your right hand below your jaw, along the throat and windpipe. Once you sense the beats, hold the fingertips and count the pulse for 10 seconds.
• Multiply the count by 6 and the result you get is your resting heart rate.

Given below are resting heart rate charts for men and women.

Healthy Resting Heart Rate for Men

Healthy Resting Heart Rate for Women

The figures given in the above charts indicate healthy RHR for different age and gender. Higher resting heart rate has been linked to risk of developing heart problems. To maintain a healthy heart rate, you should maintain the perfect weight for your height, reduce sodium intake, and exercise regularly.