Understanding Your Heart Rate: Key Considerations

Heart Rate, Also Known As Pulse, Is An Important Heart-Health Gauge

Even if you’re not an athlete, knowledge about your heart rate can help you monitor your fitness level — and it might even help you spot developing health problems.

Your heart rate, or pulse, is the number of times your heart beats per minute. Normal heart rate varies from person to person. Knowing yours can be an important heart-health gauge.

As you age, changes in the rate and regularity of your pulse can change and may signify a heart condition or other condition that needs to be addressed.

Where is it and what is a normal heart rate?

The best places to find your pulse are the wrists, inside of your elbow, the side of your neck and the 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 you’re not exercising. If you’re sitting or lying and you’re calm, relaxed and aren’t ill, your heart rate is normally between 60 (beats per minute) and 100 (beats per minute).

But a heart rate lower than 60 doesn’t 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 lower heart rates because their heart muscle is in better condition and doesn’t need to work as hard to maintain a steady beat.

Moderate physical activity doesn’t usually change the resting pulse much. If you’re very fit, it could change to 40. A less active person might have a heart rate between 60 and 100. That’s because the heart muscle has to work harder to maintain bodily functions, making it higher.

How Other Factors Affect Heart Rate

1. Air temperature: When temperatures (and the humidity) soar, the heart pumps a little more blood, so your pulse rate may increase, but usually no more than five to 10 beats a minute.
2. Body position: Resting, sitting or standing, your pulse is usually the same. Sometimes as you stand for the first 15 to 20 seconds, your pulse may go up a little bit, but after a couple of minutes it should settle down.
3. Emotions: If you’re stressed, anxious or “extraordinarily happy or sad” your emotions can raise your pulse.
4. Body size: Body size usually doesn’t change pulse. If you’re very obese, you might see a higher resting pulse than normal, but usually not more than 100.
5. Medication use: Meds that block your adrenaline (beta blockers) tend to slow your pulse, while too much thyroid medication or too high of a dosage will raise it.

When To Call Your Doctor

If you’re on a beta blocker to decrease your heart rate (and lower blood pressure) or to control an abnormal rhythm (arrhythmia), your doctor may ask you to monitor and log your heart rate. Keeping tabs on your heart rate can help your doctor determine whether to change the dosage or switch to a different medication.

If your pulse is very low or if you have frequent episodes of unexplained fast heart rates, especially if they cause you to feel weak or dizzy or faint, tell your doctor, who can decide if it’s an emergency. Your pulse is one of the tools used to help get a picture of your health.

Understanding the difference between blood pressure and pulse

While your blood pressure is the force of your blood moving through your blood vessels, your heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute. They are two separate measurements and indicators of health. For people with high blood pressure (HBP or hypertension), there’s no substitute for measuring blood pressure.

Heart rate and blood pressure do not necessarily increase at the same rate. A rising heart rate does not cause your blood pressure to increase at the same rate. Even though your heart is beating more times a minute, healthy blood vessels dilate (get larger) to allow more blood to flow through more easily. When you exercise, your heart speeds up so more blood can reach your muscles. It may be possible for your heart rate to double safely, while your blood pressure may respond by only increasing a modest amount.

Heart rate and exercise. Your target heart rate is based on age and can help you monitor the intensity of your exercise.

If you measure your heart rate (take your pulse) before, during and after physical activity, you’ll notice it will increase over the course of the exercise. The greater the intensity of the exercise, the more your heart rate will increase. When you stop exercising, your heart rate does not immediately return to your normal (resting) heart rate. The more fit you are, the sooner your heart rate will return to normal.