Abnormal Heart Rates or Heart Beats reflect the cardiac conditions of the body. If unnoticed and untreated, this can sometimes be fatal. Conditions when the heartbeat goes beyond 120-140 beats per minute or falls below 60 beats per minute, can be considered dangerous, and immediate doctor's intervention is a must.
If you're sitting down and feeling calm, your heart shouldn't beat more than about 100 times per minute. A heartbeat that's faster than this, also called tachycardia, is a reason to come to the emergency department and get checked out. We often see patients whose hearts are beating 160 beats per minute or more.
According to the American Heart Association, a normal adult resting heart rate is between 60 beats per minute (BPM) and 100 BPM for people 15 years and older. A resting pulse rate of 120 BPM in adults would be considered high.
Normally, your heart rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute when you're not active. When your heart beats more than 100 times a minute at rest, that's tachycardia.
Conditions when the heartbeat goes beyond 120-140 beats per minute or falls below 60 beats per minute, can be considered dangerous, and immediate doctor's intervention is a must.
Your resting heart rate
For most healthy adult women and men, resting heart rates range from 60 to 100 beats per minute.
It's normal for a woman or a person assigned female at birth to have a higher heart rate, and it seems hormones play a role. But if your heart rate is consistently above 100 beats per minute while you're resting, you should call your healthcare provider.
Your resting heart rate, though, tends to be stable from day to day. The usual range for resting heart rate is anywhere between 60 and 90 beats per minute. Above 90 is considered high. Many factors influence your resting heart rate.
Many factors can affect your resting heart rate. And a higher heart rate does not always mean there's a medical problem or heart condition. Your heart rate might be high because of stress, caffeine, or a lack of sleep. Your recent food and water intake, and even some supplements, can lead to a higher heart rate.
While a heart rate is considered normal if the rate is between 60 and 100 beats per minute, most healthy relaxed adults have a resting heart rate below 90 beats per minute.
For adults, a normal resting heart rate ranges between 60 and 100 beats a minute.
Tachycardia (tak-ih-KAHR-dee-uh) is the medical term for a heart rate over 100 beats a minute.
Between 40 to 50 beats per minute (bpm) is considered an average sleeping heart rate for adults, though this can vary depending on multiple factors.
A resting heart rate between 60 and 100 beats per minute is normal for adults. (Children's hearts beat faster than than those of adults). Generally speaking, the more efficient the heart, the lower the resting heart rate. Athletes can have resting heart rates around 40 beats per minute.
The Apple Watch is capable of tracking many health-related aspects of your body, including heart rate. While it's not as precise as the measurement a person would get in a hospital or medical setting, numerous studies over the past few years suggest the Apple Watch's readings have a decent accuracy rate.
The physical symptoms of a panic attack are caused by your body going into "fight or flight" mode. As your body tries to take in more oxygen, your breathing quickens. Your body also releases hormones, such as adrenaline, causing your heart to beat faster and your muscles to tense up.
For most people, a heart rate of 60 – 100 bpm while at rest is normal. If your heart beats less than 60 times a minute, it is slower than normal.
You can estimate your maximum heart rate based on your age. To estimate your maximum age-related heart rate, subtract your age from 220. For example, for a 50-year-old person, the estimated maximum age-related heart rate would be calculated as 220 – 50 years = 170 beats per minute (bpm).
Staying hydrated
A 2017 study found that a 335-milliliter drink of water could reduce resting heart rate over a 30-minute period. This decline continued for another 30 minutes. Drinking plenty of beverages throughout the day could lower a person's heart rate.
Potassium can help regulate your heart rate and can reduce the effect that sodium has on your blood pressure. Foods like bananas, melons, oranges, apricots, avocados, dairy, leafy green vegetables, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tuna, salmon, beans, nuts, and seeds have lots of potassium.
This may be because an increased resting heart rate may be a warning sign of a cardiovascular change, like higher blood pressure or early heart disease. Other reasons a resting heart rate may trend upward include a poor reaction to medication, elevated thyroid hormone levels, anemia, or an underlying infection.
Studies have consistently shown that a lower resting heart rate, at least down to 40 bpm, is associated with a longer life span, both in comparisons between individuals and between species. For every 20 additional beats per minute of resting heart rate, mortality increases by 30–50 percent.