At your doctor’s office, the nurse puts her fingers on your pulse after taking your blood pressure. At the gym, you stop the treadmill now and then to check the carotid artery in your neck.
Heart rate is an important measure of your exercise intensity as well as your overall health. Do you know your resting heart rate and what it means? Do you understand about target heart rates during exercise? In terms of health, recovery heart rate may be the most important of all.
Heart rate refers to how many times the heart beats every minute–pumping blood out to every cell in the body. Pulse is the palpable form of the heart rate that you can feel or touch, the bulging of an artery as the blood is pumped through.
The pumping is done by the left lower chamber of the heart, which must be healthy enough to sustain the effort, minute after minute, day after day–about 100,000 beats a day, 37 million beats a year, at least 3 billion in a lifetime.
Resting heart rate is what the name implies–the number of beats the heart is making when you’re resting. The best time to take your resting heart rate is when you first wake up in the morning, preferably before you get out of bed. Count the beats for a full 60 seconds.
The number you get will be a bit higher once you stand up, but that’s okay. The most important thing is that you take your pulse the same way every day.
It makes sense that a healthy heart is capable of accomplishing its task more efficiently. As a result, the resting heart rate is going to be lower. And studies have found that persons with lower heart rates are not only fitter but tend to live longer.
What Is Normal?
Ideal resting heart rate varies with age–120-160 for a newborn, 75 to 120 for a toddler and 60 to 100 for an adult. Because of the training effect, athletes are likely to have even lower average heart rates–40 to 60 beats per minute. Generally, it’s best to be at the lower end of the range.
If you’re just starting an aerobic exercise program, it’s a good idea to take your resting heart rate every morning and track the trend. You can expect a steady drop over the first six to eight weeks. That means that you are getting fitter, with a more efficient and healthy cardiovascular system.
If your resting heart rate suddenly goes up 10 or 15 beats some morning without explanation, it may be a sign that you are training too hard and would benefit from a rest.
When you’re working out, you may notice your heart beating faster; that’s normal. The goal of aerobic exercise is to raise your heart beat and keep it there for an extended period.
For maximum benefit, most trainers recommend a target heart rate of 65 to 85 percent of maximum heart rate. Anything over 85 percent puts you at risk of injury and gives very little extra benefit.
Again, there is a great deal of individual variation, but, as a rule of thumb, maximum heart rate can be determined by subtracting your age from 220 if you are a male or 226 if you are a female. In other words, a 40-year-old female has a maximum heart rate of 186 and should work out at an intensity between 121 (65 percent) and 158 (85 percent) beats per minute. A heart rate of 50 percent of maximum (93 beats) will give a lower intensity, though still beneficial workout.
Most persons who exercise regularly can usually tell by perceived effort alone whether they are working out at low, moderate or high intensity. The higher the intensity, the more labored the breathing because the working muscles are not being supplied with nourishment quickly enough.
If you use the carotid artery to determine your heart rate during exercise, take it for 10 seconds and then multiply by 6. Another good method is to use a heart rate monitor to guide your exercise. For about $50, you can buy a monitor that straps around your chest and gives a heart rate reading on a watch.
In terms of cardiovascular health, one very important factor is how quickly your heart recovers after a strenuous workout. This is known as recovery heart rate.
Complete recovery back to your resting heart rate may take several hours after even a moderate workout and often several days after a marathon run. But what you’re looking for is how much your heart beat slows during the first minute or two of rest.
The quicker your heart rate comes down, the better. That’s a sign of increased fitness and also a measure of your overall cardiovascular health. If your heart rate comes down 22 to 52 beats during the first two minutes, your biological age is about the same as your calendar age. If it’s less than that, you may have health problems.
One study published in the New England Journal of Medicine [October 28, 1999] found that a reduction of the heart rate of less than 12 beats during the first minute after exercise was a “powerful and independent predictor of the risk of death,” whether from cardiovascular disease or other causes.
There are external factors that can affect heart rate, including heat, dehydration, chronic medical conditions and medications. A sudden, unexpected increase in heart rate during exercise could be an indication that you’re getting over-heated and/or underhydrated. Slow down or stop and drink some fluids.
Smoking, drinking a lot of caffeine, anemia and thyroid disorders can also elevate heart rate. A resting heart rate that is consistently high–even at the high end of normal–is reason to see your doctor.
If you notice a flutter, a flip flop or a missed beat or two while you’re taking your pulse, it’s probably nothing to worry about. Nearly everyone has an irregular beat from time to time. An irregular rhythm, though, is more serious. A substantial number of veteran endurance athletes develop atrial fibrillation, a heart arrhythmia.
Particularly during the early stages, atrial fibrillation (afib) strikes intermittently. You may have only occasional episodes when workouts become very difficult. These episodes may be associated with consuming a bit more alcohol or caffeine than usual; or there may be no apparent reason. Until you see a doctor, it’s probably a good idea to limit the intensity of your workouts.
Ultimately, no matter how healthy or fit you are, the beat is your clue to how efficiently your heart is doing its job.
REFERENCES:
“All about heart rate,” Heart.org, updated October 15, 2012.
Cleveland Clinic, “Pulse & target heart rate (THR),” reviewed by Dr. Gordon Blackburn.
Christopher R. Cole, M.D., et al, “Heart rate recovery immediately after exercise as a predictor of mortality,” NEJM, October 28, 1999.
Larry Cresswell, M.D., “Heart rate and recovery–and heart rate recovery (HRR), Endurance Corner
David Freeman, “5 heart rate myths debunked,” WebMD Feature, reviewed by James Beckerman, M.D. FACC, September 16, 2013.
“High heart rate at rest signals higher risk of death even in fit healthy people,” Science Daily, April 15, 2013.
“Pulse,” MedlinePlus, updated by Linda J. Vorvick, M.D., January 22, 2013.
“Resting heart rate,” Netfit.com.uk.
“Slower heart rate may translate into longer life, reports the Harvard Heart Letter,” News from Harvard Health, December, 2008.
“Target heart rates,” Heart.org, last reviewed March 22, 2013.
Junko Watanabe, M.D., et al, “Heart rate recovery immediately after treadmill exercise and left ventricular systolicdysfunciton as predictors of mortality,” Circulation, 2001;104:1911-1916.
“What is heart rate? What is a healthy heart rate?” Medical News Today, October 8 , 2011.
05/29/2014
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