Resting Heart Rate

‘Resting heart rate’ refers to your heart rate in beats per minute when you are completely at rest.Your resting heart rate is often a good determination as to how fit you are, as well as indicating if you’re either over training or unwell - showing up as unxplained increases in resting heart rate.

Your resting heart rate is best recorded when you naturally wake up in the morning ( not with a heart starting alarm) and before you get out of bed. Any physical activity will raise your heart rate, so you’re best to have a stop watch beside the bed for the mornings recording.

You may record your pulse for one minute, although recording it over a number of minutes and dividing the result will give an average and a more accurate result. One method is to start the stop watch and count a pre-determined number of beats, recording the time taken, and then divide the number of beats by the recorded time. For example you record the time taken for 150 beats, the result is 2 minutes 30 seconds - 150/2.5 = 60 beats per minute. The advantage of this method is that you just count the beats, stopping the clock at the end, rather than counting the beats and watching the clock. it is also recommended that you take reading over three days to get an accurate average result.

The pulse rate (which in most people is identical to the heart rate) can be measured at any point on the body where an artery’s pulsation is transmitted to the surface - often as it is compressed against an underlying structure like bone. The two most commonly used are either the inside of the wrist on the side of the thumb or on the neck (carotid artery), the strong pulse felt just below the corner of your jaw.

NOTE: The thumb should never be used for measuring heart rate as it has its own pulse which will interfere with an accurate recording.

You can use the cycling software on this site to track the progress of you resting heart rate as it is generally a great indicator of fitness. Be sure to use a consistant method for measuring any of the health stats and over time they will provide extremely useful information to extend your training and track your progress.

To record your Resting Heart Rate open the Health Dialogue Box by using th Add menu or double clicking on a calendar day in the Health Calendar.