Healthy Resting Heart Rate

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

Resting Heart Rate of a Healthy Individual

As mentioned earlier, according to health experts, resting heart rate reflects the overall health and fitness of a person. The relation between resting heart rate 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 human heart beats, it actually pumps blood to all the remaining organs of our body. When the heart beats fast in a minute, it actually requires extra efforts to supply the blood and hence, higher resting heart rate is considered to be unhealthy. Thus, the resting heart rate also determines whether the heart and lungs or the whole cardiovascular system of an individual is working efficiently or not.

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

Calculating the Resting Heart Rate

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

• 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 your resting heart rate with 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 thumb 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

Age	RHR for Athletes	Excellent	Good	Above Average	Average	Below Average	Poor
18-25	49-55	56-61	62-65	66-69	70-73	74-81	82+
26-35	49-54	55-61	62-65	66-70	71-74	75-81	82+
36-45	50-56	57-62	63-66	67-70	71-75	76-82	83+
46-55	50-57	58-63	64-67	68-71	72-76	77-83	84+
56-65	51-56	57-61	62-67	68-71	72-75	76-81	82+
65+	50-55	56-61	62-65	66-69	70-73	74-79	80+

Healthy Resting Heart Rate for Women

Age	RHR for Athletes	Excellent	Good	Above Average	Average	Below Average	Poor
18-25	54-60	61-65	66-69	70-73	74-78	79-84	85+
26-35	54-59	60-64	65-68	69-72	73-76	77-82	83+
36-45	54-59	60-64	65-69	70-73	74-78	79-84	85+
46-55	54-60	61-65	66-69	70-73	74-77	78-83	84+
56-65	54-59	60-64	65-68	69-73	74-77	78-83	84+
65+	54-59	60-64	65-68	69-72	73-76	77-84	84+

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