A normal healthy human heart beats at a rate of 50 to 100 per minute. Heart rate is a sensitive indicator of human health and illness. It is common for the health care provider to check resting pulse rate to gauze a patient’s health.
Resting pulse rate can be measured by keeping two fingers at the wrist and counting pulse rate for 30 seconds and multiplying the value by two. Alternately one can measure using a pulse oximeter or apps on the mobile phone. The American Heart Association suggests the best time to measure resting pulse rate is early morning before getting off the bed. Twice or thrice a week measurements and maintaining a journal helps one a track of the same.
Low resting heart rate shows good physical fitness and is associated with lower chances of heart problems like heart attacks. On the other hand, an increased resting heart rate says greater cardiac risk. An increased heart rate can also be associated with stress, anxiety or excess caffeine consumption, hypertension etc. In a study published in 2023, where 3000 males followed up for 16 years, those with a resting heart rate greater than 90 had a 3-fold higher chances for premature death. Those with greater resting heart rate were obese, lower physical fitness and unhealthy lipid levels in this study.
A low resting heart rate if associated with giddiness and fatigue is a marker of cardiac problem, especially in the elderly. This indicates that the heart is aging and the electrical impulses of the heart are not transmitted in the usual fashion.
The best ways to keep the resting heart rate low are regular physical activity to improve endurance, control of blood lipid levels and high blood pressure. A high-intensity aerobic exercise keeping the heart rate at 65% of target rate for at least one hour per week shown to reduce resting heart rate. Controlling the heart rate with medicines is not usually done unless the person has significant symptoms. For those patients drugs such as beta blockers and ivabradine are available. They need to be prescribed after excluding a serious problem leading to fast heart rate.
(Dr C Raghu, Cardiologist, Yashoda Hospital, Secunderabad)