Regular Heart Rate

Heart, the most wonderful organ of the body, works like a motor pump. It continuously provides pure blood to all organs of the body, through the circulatory system. The rate at which the heart beats (or contracts) in one minute is known as heart rate (HR) or pulse rate. The regular or normal heart rate of an individual depends upon various factors like age, gender, activity level, overall health, medications, etc.

Heart Rate Measurement

You must have noticed that whenever you have any health problem, doctors first check the heart rate. You can compare your pulse rate with the ideal pulse rate and check whether the heart is pumping the blood normally or not. The maximum heart rate (Max HR) is the highest number of times that one's heart can contract per minute. While evaluating the health of your heart, doctors usually take into consideration the regular (resting) heart rate (also called RHR) and working heart rate (WHR). The RHR is the number of times your heart contracts per minute while you are resting, usually early in the morning, just after rising. The increased heart rate or the WHR, calculated during exercise informs more about the strength of your heart.

To evaluate your fitness level, doctors also make use of the recovery heart rate, the rate measured 2 minutes after exercise. For instance, if you WHR is 150, and when you stop exercising, your heart rate decreases to 90, then 90 is called your recovery heart rate. The average heart rate is calculated with the help of different heart rates measured during an exercise.

When at rest, you can feel the pulse and measure the resting/regular heart rate at the wrist, the carotid artery (in the neck), inner side of the elbow, the groin, ankle, behind the knee, artery on the back side of the leg (going through the calf muscle), over the abdomen, the chest, lateral edge of the bone forming the lower jaw and the temple. A stress test under the supervision of a physician helps measure the strength of the heart.

Regular Heart Rate Per Minute

Even in a healthy individual, heart rate is not constant all the time. It changes according to the activity level or stress level. According to the ideal heart rate chart, RHR for adults, measured while resting, is about 60 to 100 beats per minute (BPM). The rate may drop to 40 BPM when the person is asleep. Some well conditioned athletes can have a HR below 60 as an efficient heart beats less number of times per minute (especially when you are resting). The higher level of RHR indicates how harder the heart has to work. The rate may shoot up to 150 to 200 BPM, while performing strenuous exercises. Doctors usually suggest to measure the RHR regularly, as it is one of the best ways to monitor your health progress. With regular and proper exercises, the efficiency of heart can be increased and hence RHR can also be improved. The RHR is higher for infants and young children when compared to adults. RHR for an infant is about 110 BPM. Heart rate varies according to gender too. RHR for women above 13 years of age usually tends to be more than the RHR for men of the same age. The factors which influence RHR are smoking, illness, fatigue, medications and over training.

Thus, regular heart rate is one of the most vital heart performance parameters. Healthy RHR is associated with healthy living. The RHR of a fit person is usually below average. Abnormal HR indicates an underlying heart disease. Thus, the heart rate always reflects your health.