How to Find Resting Heart Rate

The heart rate measured when you are at rest is your Resting Heart Rate (RHR). It is also known as normal heart rate or normal pulse rate. Measuring your pulse is the easiest way of measuring your heart rate. How many times your heartbeats or contracts in a minute is referred to as 'heart rate'. The unit of heart rate is 'beats per minute' (bpm). The heart rate keeps on changing according to the activity level. It also varies according to age, gender, anxiety, stress and overall health. Certain medications can affect the heart rate seriously. Having healthy resting heart rate is a sign of having healthy heart and lungs. If you are thinking of improving the capacity of your heart and lungs, then first find out your resting heart rate. Here is the simple way to find your RHR.

Find Your Resting Heart Rate

You can feel your pulse if you press your fingers lightly on the back side of the wrist or at the side of the neck. The rhythmic expansion and contraction of the arteries at various sites help calculate resting heartbeat. You can feel your pulse easily at the following spots:

• Wrist - Radial artery
• Ankle joint - Posterior tibial artery
• Neck - Carotid artery
• Inside of the elbow - Brachial artery
• Behind the knee - Popliteal artery

Lightly press the tip of your index, second or third finger at these spots and you will feel the beating of your heart. Measuring the RHR before getting out of the bed in the morning is the most reliable way of measuring the RHR. But if this is not possible, you can rest for 15 minutes and then count your heartbeats for 15 seconds. Multiply this count by 4, so that you will get beats per minute. This will be your RHR. If you notice 19 beats within 15 seconds, then 19 X 4 = 76; so your RHR is 76 bpm.

• RHR for newborn infants: 100 - 160 bpm
• RHR for children belonging to the age group 1-10 years: 70 - 120 bpm
• RHR for children over 10 and adults (even elderly): 60 - 100 bpm
• RHR for well-trained athletes: 40 - 60 bpm.

Browse through the article 'resting heart rate chart' to get an idea of your fitness level. The charts of RHR for women and men in the article show what is good, better, excellent, exceptional, average and poor RHR.

By undergoing endurance training and by performing intensive exercises regularly, athletes enhance the capacity of their lungs and hearts. With less contractions, their hearts can pump the required quantity of blood. The heart which beats faster and harder to meet the demands of the body is a weak heart. A healthy heart, beats slowly and steadily. Very high or very low resting heart rate indicates seriously affected heart health. If the question how to improve heart health is lingering in your mind, then find the information in the next section.

Improvement in the Resting Heart Rate

Your target heart rate during an exercise program depends upon your resting heart rate and age. The instant calculator available on any web site uses the simple age related formulas to find out the Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) during exercise for both men and women. Here are the formulas.

• Maximum Heart Rate for Men = 220 - age
• Maximum Heart Rate for Women = 226 - age

Common people can work with 50-70 % of their MHR. Athletes are well trained to exercise with 80-85% of their MHR or even with a heart rate above 90% of MHR. Regular exercise improves the capacity of the heart and the lungs. With the help of exercise and healthy diet you can improve the capacity of the heart to pump more blood in one contraction. This will improve your RHR. You heart rate during exercise can be gradually increased over a period of months.

Infants and kids have a higher RHR than adults. Women have a slightly higher RHR than men. Younger adults have a slightly higher RHR than the elderly. Overweight people also have higher RHR than normal weight people. During pregnancy, a woman notices increased RHR owing to increased metabolism. I hope this article whets your appetite regarding how to find resting heart rate and how to improve heart health. Exercising with very high heart rate can prove to be harmful for the heart. Consult your physician about healthy RHR if you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity or any other ailment; and if you are on medication.