By Mayo Clinic staff Show The better you understand your heart rate, the more you can maximize your movement to give your heart a good workout. What is your heart rate?Your heart rate, or pulse, is the number of times your heart beats per minute. Your resting heart rate is the heart pumping the lowest amount of blood you need because you're not exercising. If you are sitting or lying down ― and you're calm, relaxed and aren't ill ― your heart rate is normally between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Other factors can affect your heart rate include:
Why your heart rate mattersCardiovascular exercise, also called cardio or aerobic exercise, keeps you and your heart healthy. This specific type of exercise gets your heart rate up and heart beating faster for several minutes at a time. Cardiovascular exercise helps strengthen your heart, allowing it to pump blood more efficiently, which improves blood flow to all parts of your body. It also boosts your high-density lipoprotein, or HDL or "good," cholesterol, and lowers your low-density lipoprotein, or LDL or "bad," cholesterol. This may result in less buildup of plaque in your arteries. Learn why you should track physical activity. What's considered normal?Your target heart rate is the minimum heart rate in a given amount of time to reach the level of energy necessary to give your heart a good workout. To find your target heart rate to maximize your cardiovascular exercise, the first step is determining your maximum heart rate. Your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. Your target heart rate for moderate exercise is about 50%–85% of your maximum heart rate. Averages by age as a general guide are:
What you can do
Learn more about how to hit your target heart rate. Know your numbersMany wearable activity trackers can monitor your heart rate when you exercise and periodically throughout the day. If you do not have an activity tracker, you can use the radial artery in your wrist or in the carotid artery in your neck. If you have heart disease or long-standing diabetes, it's best to use the artery on your wrist. To find your heart rate manually:
If your heart rate is too high, take it easier. If it is too low, add some intensity and push yourself to get your heart rate closer to your target. If you are just beginning to exercise, aim for the lower range in your target zone and gradually build up over time. Learn more about how to take your pulse. Abnormal heart rateIf you experience irregular heartbeats, including a racing heartbeat, slow heartbeat or a feeling of fluttering in your chest, you may be experiencing a heart arrhythmia. Heart rhythm or heartbeat problems can occur when the electrical impulses that coordinate your heartbeats don't work properly, causing your heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly. If you believe you are experiencing heart rhythm problems, contact your nearest heart care expert. What is a normal heart rate while walking around?For the high end of your target heart rate, multiply 220 bpm minus your age by 0.85 (85 percent). For example, for a 40-year-old it'd be 180 bpm x 0.85 = 153 bpm. For this person, their target heart rate while walking would be between 90 and 153 beats per minute.
Is 110 bpm normal for walking?For example, a 10- to 15-minute brisk walk typically elevates the heart rate to 110 to 120 beats per minute. Also, the sinus node increases the heart rate when the body is stressed because of illness. In all of these circumstances, the heart rate increase is a normal response.
What standing heart rate is too high?You should visit your doctor if your heart rate is consistently above 100 beats per minute or below 60 beats per minute (and you're not an athlete), or you're also experiencing: shortness of breath. fainting spells. lightheadedness or dizziness.
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