The Human Heart Rate: What Is Normal and What Changes It

Your heart rate — or pulse — is the number of times your heart beats per minute (bpm). For adults at rest, 60 to 100 bpm is normal. The number moves all day long, and most of those changes are exactly what a healthy heart should do.

What is a normal heart rate?

For adults and children aged 10 and older, a resting heart rate between 60 and 100 bpm is considered normal. Many healthy, active adults rest in the 50s, and well-trained endurance athletes can sit around 40 bpm. Younger children have faster normal rates: a newborn's resting pulse can range from 100 to 190 bpm (MedlinePlus lists 70–190, but in a newborn a rate below 100 needs prompt medical assessment), and it gradually falls to adult values by about age 10.

* Newborns: MedlinePlus lists 70–190 bpm. We use 100 as the lower limit, because in a newborn a heart rate below 100 needs prompt medical assessment (newborn resuscitation guidance treats under 100 as bradycardia).

What your resting heart rate tells you

Your resting heart rate is a rough gauge of aerobic fitness. Regular endurance exercise strengthens the heart muscle, so each beat moves more blood and fewer beats are needed at rest. A resting rate that drifts down over months of training is a good sign; a rate that creeps up without explanation — over several days — can be an early hint of illness, overtraining, poor sleep or stress.

A low number on its own is not a worry. Pay attention when an unusual heart rate comes with symptoms such as dizziness, fainting, unusual tiredness, shortness of breath or chest pain.

What changes your heart rate

• Age: resting rates fall through childhood; your maximum heart rate falls with age throughout adulthood (roughly 220 minus your age).
• Fitness: the fitter you are, the lower your resting rate tends to be.
• Body position: standing up raises the pulse by about 10–15 bpm for a short time while blood pressure adjusts.
• Emotions: stress, anxiety, anger and excitement release adrenaline and speed the heart up.
• Temperature: heat and humidity make the heart work harder to cool you; fever adds roughly 10 bpm per degree Celsius.
• Caffeine, nicotine and alcohol raise the heart rate; alcohol can keep it raised into the next day.
• Medications: beta blockers slow the heart; decongestants, some asthma inhalers and thyroid medication can speed it up.
• Body size: obesity tends to raise the resting heart rate.

Heart rate during exercise

Exercise raises the heart rate to deliver more oxygen to your muscles — that is normal and healthy. Most fitness guidelines describe moderate intensity as about 64–76% of your maximum heart rate and vigorous intensity as about 77–93%. The common estimate for maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age, so a 40-year-old has an estimated maximum of about 180 bpm. Read more in heart rate zones explained.

How to measure your heart rate

1. Sit quietly for five minutes.
2. Place the tips of your index and middle fingers on the inside of your wrist, just below the base of the thumb (radial pulse). Alternatively, press gently on one side of your neck, beside the windpipe (carotid pulse) — never both sides at once.
3. Count the beats for 30 seconds and multiply by two. If the beat feels irregular, count for a full 60 seconds.

Or use the tap-to-measure tool on our start page. Wearables and blood pressure monitors also show your pulse; chest straps are the most accurate consumer devices (see heart rate monitors).

When to see a doctor

• Your resting heart rate is regularly above 100 bpm.
• It is regularly below 60 bpm and you are not a trained athlete — especially with dizziness or fatigue.
• Your pulse feels irregular, skips or races suddenly without reason.

Call 911 (US) or your local emergency number for a fast or slow heartbeat together with chest pain, fainting, severe shortness of breath or confusion.