Heart rate

Heart rate describes the number of times your heart beats per minute, oftentimes also referred to as your pulse. You can actually check your heart rate yourself by feeling your pulse in your wrist, inside of the elbow, side of the neck, or top of the foot. The number of beats in 60 seconds will communicate your resting heart rate.

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Heart rate is an important metric to understanding overall heart health and fitness levels. When it comes to heart health, a normal resting heart rate is typically between 60 to 100 beats per minute. A higher resting heart rate can indicate tachycardia, while a lower resting heart rate can indicate bradycardia. While these can certainly suggest underlying conditions, they aren’t always indicative of a greater problem. Things like temperature, body position, exercise, emotions, body size, and medications can all influence one’s heart rate.

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Your heart rate can also be an indicator of your fitness level. For example, athletes tend to have a lower heart rate because they have a healthy heart muscle that doesn’t need to work as hard. Additionally, when you engage in physical activity, your heart rate can increase depending on how intensive the workout is. You can use heart rate zones to optimize your training (e.g., fat-burning versus endurance) or to measure recovery time.