Measuring your heart rate

Your heart rate can serve as a basic indicator of your cardiovascular fitness level and your heart's efficiency. If you check your resting heart rate regularly you can also see results from your regular exercise. The general range for healthy adults is to have a resting heart rate between 60 and 100 beats per minute. If you are an athlete that participates in intense training and competition then the range is going to be lower, 40 to 60 beats per minute. To check your resting heart rate do it when you are relaxed and haven't been moving around a lot. Sit down and find your pulse, the easiest place is going to be in your neck slightly to either side of your throat, or on the inside of your wrist toward the thumb side. Once you can feel your pulse look at a clock and count the beats for 30 seconds, be sure you are counting your pulse beats and not the seconds on the clock. Multiply the number of beats you counted by 2 and you'll have your resting heart rate in beats per minute. It might be a good idea to write it down and check it every few days or once a week. Also, you may want to record what time of day you checked it so you can see if there is any variance throughout the day. Factors that will have an impact on your resting heart rate are: Activity level, Fitness level, Air temperature, body position, emotions, body size, and some medications. If you find that your heart rate is consistently below 60 or over 100 I recommend you go see your doctor and point it out to him/her.