April 1, 2021

Your Heart Rate & Your Health

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the naked eye.”

- Antoine De Saint-Exupery

We put a lot of pressure on the heart to guide us and heal after it’s been broken and stay strong when we need it…so we should do our best to take care of it.

Your heart rate, or pulse, is the number of times your heart beats per minute and it’s one of the best indicators of heart health that you can watch yourself. The heart rate, how many your heart pumps a minute, will vary based on how hard your body had to work to pump blood to your heart. While everyone’s normal heart rate will be different, it’s important to know your resting heart rate because abrupt changes in your heart rate not related to exercise could be a sign of trouble.

Your Heart Rate

Normal heart rate: 60-100 beats per minute

Athletes or Active individuals: As low as 40. These people often have lower resting heart rates because their heart muscle is in better condition and doesn’t need to work as hard to maintain a steady beat.

Studies have found that a higher resting heart rate is linked with lower physical fitness and higher blood pressure and body weight.

An abnormal heart rhythm is when your heart beats too fast or too slow. This change isn’t always bad. Innocent things that can impact your heart rate include:

Caffeine
Some medications
Low potassium or electrolytes

And of course your heart rate will go up when exercising.

Exercise and Your Heart Rate

When you’re exercising, your target heart rate will be based on your age. When you’re active, your rate during moderate intensity activities is about 50-70% of maximum heart rate, while during vigorous physical activity it’s about 70-85%.

Use this chart from the American Heart Association to determine your ideal heart rate during intense activity.

Age	Target HR Zone 50-85%	Average Maximum Heart Rate, 100%
20 years	100-170 beats per minute (bpm)	200 bpm
30 years	95-162 bpm	190 bpm
35 years	93-157 bpm	185 bpm
40 years	90-153 bpm	180 bpm
45 years	88-149 bpm	175 bpm
50 years	85-145 bpm	170 bpm
55 years	83-140 bpm	165 bpm
60 years	80-136 bpm	160 bpm
65 years	78-132 bpm	155 bpm
70 years	75-128 bpm	150 bpm

When you’re working out, track your heart rate (either manually or with a fitness tracker) and try to stay within your target range. If you’re too high, it means your heart is straining. If it’s too low, you might not be pushing yourself hard enough, especially if you’re trying to lose weight.

How long it takes for your heart rate to return to normal after your workout can also be an indicator of your heart health. The more fit you are, the more quickly it will return to normal. Your heart rate drops most sharply in the first minute after you stop exercising; it should then fall about 20 beats a minute—a drop of less than 12 beats a minute is considered abnormal. This “recovery heart rate” is measured as part of an exercise stress test.

Keep an Eye on your Heart Rate

Knowing your resting heart rate helps you keep an eye on your health. While you don’t need to be obsessed with your heart rate, you should watch it during exercise and watch for the following indicators of an abnormal heart rate.

Shortness of breath
Dizziness
Frequent sweating
Heart fluttering or palpitations

Your heart rate will get checked during a medical exam or whenever you see your doctor but you might want to track it a little more closely if any of these risks apply to you:

You smoke
You have a primarily sedentary lifestyle
You eat a diet high in fats, cholesterol, and other unhealthy foods
You have more than two drinks a day
You have high blood pressure

Heart Healthy Tips

It’s no secret you need to take care of your heart. Here are a few quick tips to help keep your ticker in tip top shape.

NO SMOKING
Get rid of idle hands: Activities like knitting, sewing, coloring, and more, can help relieve stress and keep your heart calm.
Eat heart healthy foods like:

black beans
fish
wine (yup! moderately, of course)

Cut back on salt: and other high sodium foods.
Get up and move: sitting shortens your lifespan so make sure you stay active as often as possible.
Meditate: Integrating the practice into a daily routine has been linked to lower heart rate and blood pressure, which may lower your risk of heart disease.
Do Yoga: According to research published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative MedicineTrusted Source, yoga has the power to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease.