Resting Heart Rate What It Means, and How to Improve It

Tucked away in your wrist and neck is one of the simplest and most revealing health measurements you have, and it costs nothing at all to check. Your resting heart rate, the number of times your heart beats each minute while you are calm and still, offers a quiet window into how well your heart is working, and even hints at how long and how healthily you may live. Yet most of us have never taken a moment to measure it. Let's change that, with a friendly look at what the number means, how to check it properly, and the simple steps that can nudge it in a healthier direction.

What Is Resting Heart Rate?

Your resting heart rate is exactly what it sounds like: how many times your heart beats per minute when you are awake but at rest, not moving, not stressed, and not fresh from a cup of coffee or a brisk walk. It is measured in beats per minute, and it reflects how hard your heart has to work simply to keep blood flowing while your body is at ease.

What's a Normal Number? 

For most adults, a resting heart rate somewhere between 60 and 100 beats per minute is considered normal. Within that band, lower generally points to better fitness and a more efficient heart. People who are very physically fit, and trained athletes in particular, often have resting rates well below 60, sometimes down in the 40s, simply because their hearts have grown so strong and efficient.

It is worth knowing that "normal" and "ideal" are not quite the same thing. Because so many people today are less active than they could be, the average is not necessarily the target. Many experts suggest that a resting rate closer to the lower half of that range, say somewhere in the 50s or 60s, is a healthier place to be. A rate that regularly sits near the top of the range, approaching or above 90, is worth paying attention to, even though it still counts as normal. 

What Your Resting Heart Rate Says About Your Health 

Here is where this humble number becomes genuinely fascinating. A large body of research has found that a lower resting heart rate tends to go hand in hand with better cardiovascular fitness and a longer life, while a higher resting rate is associated with a greater risk of heart disease, stroke, and even early death. Some research goes further, suggesting the link may be more than a coincidence, and that a lower rate may actually help protect health over the long term.

The idea makes intuitive sense. Every beat asks a little something of your heart, and over the years those beats add up. A heart that beats more efficiently, and therefore less often, faces less cumulative wear and tear across a lifetime. Studies have shown that even within the normal range, a resting rate near the top carries more risk than one comfortably in the 60s. So this simple measurement is not just a snapshot of today. It can be a gentle signpost toward your future health.

What Can Affect Your Resting Heart Rate 

Many everyday things can nudge your heart rate up or down, which is why it is best measured under calm, consistent conditions. Factors that commonly raise it include: 

Stress, anxiety, and strong emotions.

Caffeine, alcohol, and smoking.

Poor sleep and dehydration. 

Hot weather, illness, or a fever. 

Carrying extra weight, or being out of shape.

Certain medications, while others, such as some blood pressure drugs, can lower it. Because of all these influences, one high or low reading means very little on its own. What matters is your typical resting rate over time, measured when you are genuinely at rest. 

How to Measure It Properly 

Checking your resting heart rate takes about a minute, and the best time is first thing in the morning, before you get out of bed, while you are still calm. Here is how: 

1) Find your pulse. The two easiest spots are the inside of your wrist, just below the base of your thumb, and the side of your neck, beside your windpipe. 

2) Place your index and middle fingers gently on the spot. Do not use your thumb, which has its own faint pulse, and do not press hard on your neck. 

3) Once you feel a steady beat, count the beats for a full 60 seconds. For a shorter count, tally 30 seconds and double it. 

4) Repeat on a few different mornings and take the average, since a single reading can be thrown off by a restless night or an odd moment. 

If you happen to own a fitness tracker or a smartwatch, it likely records your resting heart rate automatically, day after day. That can be handy, not so much for any single number as for the trend over weeks and months, which shows you whether your efforts are paying off. 

When to Talk to Your Doctor
A resting heart rate is a useful guide, but it is your doctor who can interpret it in the context of your own health. It is worth a conversation if: 

Your resting rate is regularly on the high side, consistently around or above 90 to 100 beats per minute. 

Your rate is low and you also feel dizzy, faint, unusually tired, weak, or short of breath. A low rate is usually a sign of fitness, but paired with symptoms it deserves a look, particularly in older adults. 

Your pulse feels irregular, skipping or fluttering rather than keeping a steady rhythm. An irregular heartbeat is common with age and is always worth reporting. 

None of this is cause for alarm, but your heart is worth a little attention, and these are simply the signals worth mentioning at your next visit.

Medications a Doctor Might Prescribe 

For some people, healthy habits are not the whole answer. When there is an underlying condition, a doctor may prescribe medication that deliberately slows or steadies the heartbeat. These are not for a healthy person who simply wants a lower number. They are treatments for specific problems, most often a heart rate or rhythm that is too fast or irregular, high blood pressure, chest pain, a previous heart attack, or heart failure. Here are the kinds most commonly used, in plain terms: 

Beta blockers. These are the most familiar heart-slowing medicines, with names like metoprolol, atenolol, carvedilol, bisoprolol, and propranolol. They ease the heart's workload and slow its rate, and are prescribed for high blood pressure, angina (chest pain), after a heart attack, for heart failure, and to control the rate in atrial fibrillation and certain other rapid rhythms. They are sometimes used to calm the symptoms of an overactive thyroid or a persistent tremor as well.

Certain calcium channel blockers. Two in particular, diltiazem and verapamil, slow the heart rate. They are used for high blood pressure, angina, and to steady the rate in atrial fibrillation, often when a beta blocker is not the right fit. Some other medicines in this same family mainly lower blood pressure without slowing the heart much.

Digoxin. An older, time-tested medicine that can both slow a fast heart rate and strengthen the heart's pumping. It is used in atrial fibrillation and heart failure. Because the right amount is important, doctors monitor its level with a simple blood test. 

Ivabradine. A newer medication that works directly on the heart's own natural pacemaker to slow the rate, without affecting blood pressure. It is used in some people with heart failure or angina whose heart rate stays high despite a beta blocker, or who cannot take one. 

Rhythm-steadying medicines. For an irregular rhythm such as atrial fibrillation, drugs like amiodarone or sotalol may be used to help restore or maintain a normal, even beat. These are more specialized and are watched closely by the doctor. 

A few important points tie all of this together. These medicines are carefully matched to the individual, and a heart rate lowered by medication is not the same thing as a low rate earned through fitness. Above all, never start, stop, or change the dose of a heart medication on your own. Stopping some of them suddenly, beta blockers in particular, can be dangerous and cause the heart rate and blood pressure to rebound. If you are taking one of these and notice unusual tiredness, dizziness, fainting, or a very slow pulse, or if a reading ever worries you, speak with your doctor rather than making any change yourself. This article is general information, not medical advice, and the right choice for you is always a conversation to have with your own doctor.

How to Improve Your Resting Heart Rate  

The best news of all is that your resting heart rate is not fixed. With a few steady habits, you can often bring it down over time, and every few beats lower is a meaningful gift to your heart. Here are the most effective steps: 

Move your body regularly. Aerobic exercise is by far the most reliable way to lower your resting heart rate. Brisk walking, cycling, swimming, or dancing, done consistently, gradually strengthen the heart so it can do more with each beat. Even modest amounts help, and picking up the pace now and then helps all the more. If you are starting out or have any health concerns, check with your doctor and build up gently. 

Ease your stress. Ongoing tension keeps the heart racing. Simple practices like slow, deep breathing, gentle stretching, meditation, prayer, or time spent in nature can all help calm the heart down. 

Sleep well. Good, regular sleep gives your heart the rest it needs and tends to lower your resting rate over time.

Stay hydrated. When you are low on fluids, your heart has to work a little harder. Drinking enough water through the day is a small, easy help. 

Go easy on caffeine and alcohol. Both can push your heart rate up, so cutting back, especially later in the day, can make a difference. 

If you smoke, seek help to quit. Smoking raises heart rate and strains the heart, and quitting brings the rate down along with countless other benefits. 

Look after your weight, cholesterol, and blood pressure. Keeping these in a healthy range eases the load on your heart, which can help lower how hard and fast it needs to beat.

A Sensible Word of Perspective 

As useful as it is, your resting heart rate is only one guidepost among many, not the whole story of your health. There is natural variation from person to person, and a number slightly outside the usual range is not automatically a problem. The goal is not to turn it into a competition or a source of worry, but simply to know your own baseline, keep a friendly eye on it, and let it encourage the healthy habits that help your whole body, not just your heart.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for food, medicines, exercises and so on.   

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Sleep hours might elevate risk of cancer, early death in adults

What can bolster the risk of cancer and early death in mid-aged adults with high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke is less sleeping hours!

Yes, it has been found that these adults are at a high risk of cancer and dying early if they sleep for less than six hours a day.

“Our study suggests that achieving normal sleep may be protective for some people with these health conditions and risks,” said lead author.

Researchers analysed data of more than 1,600 adults (20 to 74 years old, more than half women) from the Penn State Adult Cohort who were categorized into two groups as having stage 2 high blood pressure or Type 2 diabetes and having heart disease or stroke.

Participants were studied in the sleep laboratory (1991-1998) for one night and then researchers tracked their cause of death up to the end of 2016.

In this study, of the 512 people who passed away, one-third died of heart disease or stroke and one-fourth died due to cancer.

People who had high blood pressure or diabetes and slept less than 6 hours had twice the increased risk of dying from heart disease or stroke.

People who had heart disease or stroke and slept less than 6 hours had three times the increased risk of dying from cancer.

The increased risk of early death for people with high blood pressure or diabetes was negligible if they slept for more than 6 hours.

“Short sleep duration should be included as a useful risk factor to predict the long-term outcomes of people with these health conditions and as a target of primary and specialized clinical practices,” the author said.

Sleep duration in this study was based on observing one night’s sleep, which may be affected by the first-night effect where participants sleep significantly worse the first night in a lab compared to other consecutive nights, which is the type of sleep study routinely used in clinical practices. 

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A positive outlook may be good for your heart, suggests new study

Having an optimistic mind-set may reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease and early death, a review of studies has found.

In previous studies, optimism has been shown to be associated with a range of favourable physical health outcomes and with greater success in work, school and relationships.

This new meta-analysis,  included 15 studies that measured optimism and pessimism by asking the level of agreement with such statements as “In uncertain times, I usually expect the best,” or “I rarely expect good things to happen to me.”

Analysis of the 10 studies that looked at heart disease, which pooled data on 209,436 people, found that compared with pessimists, people with the most optimistic outlook had a 35 per cent lower risk for cardiovascular events.

Nine studies with data on all-cause mortality included 188,599 participants and found that optimists had a 14 per cent lower risk of premature death than the most pessimistic people.

The studies had an average 14-year follow-up and controlled for various health and behavioural characteristics, including a wide range of cardiovascular disease risk factors.

“It seems optimists have better health behaviours,” said the lead author “They’re more likely to exercise and to have better diet. And there is evidence of direct biological effects — they have less inflammation and fewer metabolic abnormalities.” 

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Novel device measures stiffness and stickiness of red blood cells

Researchers have created a versatile device that measures two important properties of red blood cells that are relevant for sickle cell and other diseases: deformation and adhesion.

The team, from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, OH, describes the innovative device - a microfluidic platform with a computer algorithm that does the math - in a paper published in the journal Technology.

Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders. People with the disease have abnormal hemoglobin - the protein that carries oxygen - in their red blood cells. The abnormal hemoglobin is called sickle hemoglobin.

Red blood cells containing normal hemoglobin are flexible and shaped like a doughnut with a thin flat area in the middle instead of a hole. This allows them to squeeze round bends in blood vessels and through smaller ones to deliver vital oxygen to tissues and organs.

However, sickle hemoglobin has a tendency to form stiff rods inside the red blood cell - changing it into the crescent or sickle shape that gives the disease its name.

Red blood cells containing sickle hemoglobin are less flexible than normal red blood cells and also tend to be stickier. These two features increase the risk that they will cause a blockage in a blood vessel and impede the delivery of oxygen to nearby tissues and organs.

When such a blockage occurs, it causes a sudden and severe attack of pain - called a pain crisis - that is typical of sickle cell disease. Pain crises occur without warning and often require hospitalization for effective treatment.

In extreme cases, the blockage of blood vessels in sickle cell disease can lead to widespread organ damage and early death.

Currently, the only way to cure sickle cell disease is with a stem cell transplant. But unfortunately, most patients are either too old for a transplant or do not have a relative with a good enough genetic match to receive transplantable stem cells from.

Effective treatments exist and these can reduce symptoms and prolong life. Early diagnosis and regular monitoring to prevent complications also helps.
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Potential monitor of disease progression

By assessing the extent of stiffness and stickiness, or the "dynamic deformability and adhesion," of red blood cells, the new microfluidic device offers great potential as a way to monitor progression of sickle cell disease, note the researchers.

They say the device could also help with research and developing new treatments for sickle cell disease.

Other ways to measure stiffness and stickiness in red blood cells - such as atomic force microscopy and optical tweezers - do exist, but they do not lend themselves to working with whole blood in a clinical setting, say the researchers.

They note their device can assess the stiffness of a single red blood cell, and also, by mimicking blood vessel properties, assess the stickiness of red blood cells from whole blood of sickle cell patients.

Lead investigator Umut Gurkan, an assistant professor in CWRU's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, says:

"The microfluidic system developed here has the potential to be used in a high-throughput manner with an integrated automated image processing algorithm for measurement of RBC [red blood cell] deformability and adhesion in patients' blood."

The authors explain that healthy red blood cells undergo reversible deformation when they circulate around the body in blood vessels. They respond to "fluid shear stresses" extremely fast - they can bend and regain their shape in the space of 100 milliseconds.
'Interplay between dynamic deformability and increased adhesion'

To assess dynamic deformability of red blood cells, the researchers used what they call a dynamic deformability index (DDI), which they define as "the time-dependent change of the cell's aspect ratio." Essentially, a cell's DDI is a measure of how quickly it springs back to its normal shape after experiencing flow shear stress.

In their paper, the team describes a range of tests where they measured the DDI of deformable and non-deformable red blood cells.

The researchers also compared adhesion of deformable and non-deformable red blood cells from blood samples taken from sickle cell patients. They tested the stickiness of the cells under different flow shear stresses - both within and outside ranges experienced in normal blood vessels.

They found that at flow shear stresses "well above the physiological range," non-deformable sickle red blood cells were much stickier than deformable sickle red blood cells, "suggesting an interplay between dynamic deformability and increased adhesion" of red blood cells when blood vessel blockage occurs.

The team suggests the device may also be useful for studying the deformation of cells that could be relevant in other diseases - such as diabetes, malaria and the bone marrow disorder polycythemia vera.

The researchers plan to study red blood cell stiffness and stickiness in more sickle cell disease patients so they can link the two properties with other disease and patient characteristics.

As the technology for making them becomes cheaper and more widely available, more and more researchers are using microfluidic devices in all kinds of ways to investigate, diagnose and perhaps even treat disease.

For example, Medical News Today recently learned how an "IVF chip" incorporating microfluidics with imaging techniques enabled researchers to film a single sperm fusing with an egg cell.

And in May 2015, another article described how scientists are using microfluidic technology to develop new immunotherapy vaccines. Using microfluidic technology, they can squeeze immune system B cells so their membranes develop temporary holes through which antigens that program specific immune responses can be inserted.

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