Heart Rate

I just checked my pulse about a million times and i keep getting 48bpm which does seem to be a little low. I do remember my mum saying she has a slow pulse rate, could this be hereditory? I also remember a couple of years ago in science, i had the lowest pulse but the teacher said it meant i was healthy. But does 48 seem a little too slow?

A normal pulse rate is 60 - 100 beats per second.  Trained athletes can have lower pulse rates i.e. in the 40's, and that's considered normal for them.  Do you do a lot of athletics?

Hmmm.. I just checked mine and its 52 bpm... and im not close to being a trained athlete.

Is it at all related to your body fat percentage... coz mine is in the low range...

Just an idea.

I am not sure about the low body fat /slow heart rate thing. My resting pulse is 90 and I just had my body fat measured last week and it was 11%. Hope this helps!

it's not directly related to body fat %age.  a low RHR can be an indicator of cardiovascular efficiency (as in athletes) or of malfunction.

a heart rate in the 40s or 50s, if you're not extremely fit, is  cause for concern.

Probably sounds silly but how do you increase your resting heart rate... is it consistent exercise? increasing bodyweight?

see a doctor first.

You can't raise your resting heart rate ... your heart rate goes up when it needs to pump out more blood to the body to fill the demand for oxygen rich blood .... I also have a low resting heart rate and if you are healthy it's just fine.  If you have concerns though you should go see your doctor ... concerns might including dizziness, faintness, and/or palpitations.    

My readings this morning were 104/61 with a 41 pulse. I have exercised at least two hours a day for about thirty years (when I could) so those readings are normal for me.

Unless you don't feel well, the lower the pulse the less the heart has to beat so theoretically the longer it will last.

That's a good thing.

Sue

I just did light strength training i.e lunges, squats for 30min and i took my pulse and got 62 bpm. I remember now that in science a few years ago it was 54 and i reckon i am fitter now compared to then. I don't think i do excessive exercise, up until last week i did about 40min a day on an elliptical and sometimes 30mins of power walking and walking around at work but thats it. I never get dizzy, never fainted and i don't lose my breath. Maybe i have a good heart lol.

hmm...I have a lower heartrate and blood pressure which I was told had to do with my low body weight. My heart rate has increased a little in the last few years, but when I weight 80 lbs I was admitted to the ER because my heartrate was 37 bpm. yikes.

Thanks for the replies.

I feel better now, because I haven't experienced any problems as such, so im not going to target raising my heart rate or anything.... just hope that it does go up a bit as i gain weight.

Hi again,

I went to the doctors about an hour ago, and my doctor advised me to increase my salt intake (????) because of very low blood pressure and increase exercise and healthy eating to increase my heart rate. (also, he confirmed that my heart rate is 52 bpm which is less than normal).

I, too, have been told to eat more salt as I have low blood pressue - always have had as well as low blood sugar.

I have always had a heartrate below fifty and my doctor has always said that it was a good thing (as long as I didn't feel faint or anything.)

I did used to faint a lot, when I was younger. I learned to always steady myself when I got out of bed, etc. Now it is just habit.

Glad you went to the doctor.

Sue. 

Btw, just remembered he said that if you do have a very low heart rate and are concerned about your health, get a ECG scan (i think) done at your local pathology lab which can detect any blockages of arteries that might be causing it etc. :)

Keep in mind that a fit person who is training will have a lower heart rate than a less fit person who is doing the same thing, since fitter people can compensate through stroke volume.

I am a 37 year old male, 220 lbs, 5' 9" and have about 28% body fat. I have a fairly large frame. I have been working out for years and my resting heart rate is around 40-46. I am fit "cardio" speaking - had a doctor stop a stress test, because he couldn't get my heart rate up past 154 BPM - Think running up a ladder by the time we called it quits. He seemed to feel I was very athletic.

It usually goes something like 60 BPM Walking, 90 BPM Stairs, 110 BPM 5.0 Jog, 123 BPM 7.0 Run, 140 BPM HIIT. I never get into my max range near 185 or even get close for that matter. Has to be good, right? Once I checked my RHR I got nervous and thought something was wrong.

Interesting tidbit - I had an Echo and a small trace leak was found in one of my valves. Common from what I hear. This was about a year ago. I really started to focus on more cardio and was doing HIIT quite a bit. My last Echo not too long ago couldn't even pick up the trace leak anymore - it was gone!

Moral of the story is I don't believe weight, height, bodyfat or size has anything to do with heart rate (heart size is another story as I have what is considered an enlarged heart, but I have been told it is due to my size and years of lifting weights) - Doing regular cardio can and will strengthen your cardiovascualr system and protect against disease. I agree with one of the posts here that "the less beats the heart has to pump blood at rest or work, the longer it's going to last."

Just to throw in a little more information.

I'm 48, 6ft, 180lbs and my RHR is around 44. I have recently had an ECG and that came up clean.  I wouldn't class myself as athletic as there were a good few years when I did no specific fitness training, and was badly overweight (I've lost 84lbs over the last couple of years).

When working out I can quite happily run 5km in 28m30s over a slightly hlly programme on the treadmill. During this my HR will go up to 158 (88%), and I have seen it peak at 170 before, without discomfort or feeling stressed in anyway.

My doc is not concerned in the least with my HR, except for when it dipped below 40. MY BP and HR are checked by him monthly when I go to collect my script for oestradiol.