Heart Rate - Part 1: Basics

What is Heart Rate?
Your heart rate (aka pulse) is the number of times your heart beats in one minute. With each beat, your heart is pumping blood with oxygen and carbon dioxide to circulate throughout your body and through your lungs. Measuring heart rate is one tool that can be used to determine heart efficiency and heart health. When you are sitting still, your resting heart rate should be between 60-100, but the lower the better.
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Examples of resting heart rate (RHR):

Alice: RHR = 60; Alice's heart is beating 1 time every 1 second
Brenda: RHR = 90; Brenda's heart is beating 1.5 times every 1 second (3 times every 2 seconds)
Carol: RHR = 120; Carol's heart is beating 2 times every 1 second

In this example, Brenda's and Carol's hearts are having to pump faster to circulate blood, even though they are sitting still. So Brenda's and Carol's hearts are seemingly less efficient than Alice's. Since Carol's heart is working extra hard to circulate blood even when sitting still, this could be an indication of a health concern and Carol should consult a doctor. 
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How to Manually Check Your Heart Rate
You can manually check your heart rate using any spot on your body where you feel your pulse. The 2 most common spots are on the front side of your throat slightly below your lower jaw (carotid pulse), or on the underside of your wrist near the base of your thumb (radial pulse).

Carotid pulse: Hold your index and middle finger together and locate your voice box at the front of your throat. "Walk" your fingers 2 steps over towards the same side as your hand until they sink into the "valley" beside your voice box. Slide your fingers up the valley to just below your jawbone. You may need to move your fingers slightly higher or lower, or press in gently, until you feel the pulse.

Radial pulse: Turn one hand palm up and use the index and middle finger of the other hand to touch your upturned thumb. Slide those 2 fingertips down your thumb until they land on the start of the wrist. You may need to press your fingers gently into your wrist to feel the pulse.

Before you start counting beats, you will need a device to help you visually keep time in seconds - a stopwatch, timer, analog clock with seconds hand, or digital clock that blinks in seconds. Once you have located your pulse and feel the beat, watch the seconds and count the number of beats. The most accurate reading is to count the beats for a full 60 seconds, but an easy shortcut to estimate would be to count the number of beats during 15 seconds and multiply that number by 4.

For example, if you count 20 beats during 15 seconds, then your estimated heart rate would be 80 because 20 x 4 = 80. This heart rate falls within the normal range of 60-100.


Other Methods

• Use a heart rate app on your smartphone or digital device. 
• Use a blood pressure monitor and refer to the pulse/HR reading.
• Some fitness machines like treadmills or elliptical trainers are equipped with metal handgrips to provide heart rate readings.

Now that you know how to measure heart rate, read Part 2 to learn how to use this number to maximize results from exercise.