How To Calculate Resting Heart Rate

Learning how to calculate your resting heart rate is easy. Knowing your resting heart rate is important because it can be an indication of possible illnesses and your level of fitness. Because your resting heart rate is affected by many different variables, your number will be more accurate if you do it more than once. Use these tips to learn how to calculate your resting heart rate.

1. Choose a consistent time to calculate your heart rate. The American Heart Association recommends calculating you resting heart rate in the morning. It is best to get a good sleep the night before and to check your heart rate before getting out of bed. To maximize accuracy, you could also try to check your resting heart rate in the same position each time.
2. Choose a place to measure heart rate. You can calculate your heart rate on many different arteries in the groin, neck, arm and temple. The radial artery is probably the easiest. If you turn your hand over, so that you are looking at your palm, the radial artery is on the side closest to your thumb.
3. Calculate beats per minute (BPM). You can calculate your resting heart rate by counting the number of beats you feel in the course of a minute. You can also calculate BPM by counting for fifteen seconds and then multiplying that number by four.
4. Know what your number means. A "healthy" resting heart rate can be anywhere from 60 to 100 beats per minute. If you are an endurance athlete, your resting heart rate could be slightly lower and this is normal. The most important thing to note is if any consistent changes occur. For example, if your resting heart rate is normally in the 60s and it suddenly changes to the 80s (more than a few times), you should make an appointment with your doctor.
    

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Resting Heart Rate