Resting Heart Rate

Your resting heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute while you are awake, calm and have not exerted yourself recently.

At rest, your heart only has to pump enough blood to cover your body’s oxygen demand, and for most adults that work takes between 60 and 100 beats per minute. A stronger, better-conditioned heart moves more blood with every beat, so it needs fewer beats to do the same job. That is why the lower half of the range usually reflects better cardiovascular fitness.

What Does Your Resting Heart Rate Mean?

• 60–100 bpm: Normal for adults, including older adults
• 40–60 bpm: Common in well-trained athletes and can be normal for them
• Above 100 bpm: Tachycardia
• Below 60 bpm without a clear reason: Bradycardia

Your Resting Heart Rate Can Be Affected By

• Medications: Some medications alter heart rate. Beta blockers, for example, are meant to slow the heart down, so a low reading is not automatically a problem.
• Health Conditions: Fever, dehydration and illness can affect heart rate.

How to Measure It Correctly

For a reading to count as a resting heart rate, you need to have been resting for at least 10 minutes. A measurement taken straight after exercise, a coffee or a stressful moment will be higher and does not describe your resting rate.

A resting heart rate that stays above 100 beats per minute (tachycardia), or below 60 without a clear reason such as training or medication (bradycardia), is worth discussing with your health care provider, especially if it comes with dizziness, shortness of breath or fainting.

These ranges are the ones published by the American Heart Association in “All About Heart Rate (Pulse)” and by MedlinePlus, the health information service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s health information service, in the article Pulse.

Heart Up does not provide medical diagnoses. The information provided here is for general educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

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