Your heart’s job is to supply blood to the entire body to make sure each and every part of your body gets the nutrition it needs. Synchronized electrical activity in the heart keeps the heart beating regularly. The rate at which your heart beats per minute is called the heart rate. You can measure the heart rate manually by putting your fingers on your wrist below the thumb base or by using a wearable device which has a sensor to measure the heart rate like apple watch or fitbit. Many cardio machines in the gym also have sensors to measure your heart rate.
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Heart rate is one of the vital signs that give important information about your activity and health. There are several medical conditions and medicines that can impact the heart rate. As far as there are no restrictions from your doctor, increased physical activity which in turn increases the heart rate is extremely beneficial for your overall health.
Normal resting heart rate for most adults is 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm). Athletes and those who are very active may have lower resting heart rate as their heart is conditioned such that it requires less effort to meet the demand. Target heart rate depends upon your age. Your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. For moderate physical activity, the target heart rate is 50 to 70% of the maximum heart rate and for vigorous physical activity, the target heart rate is 70 to 85% of the maximum heart rate. For instance, a person who is 40 years old (max heart rate 180 bpm), the target heart rate range for moderate activity is 90 to 126 bpm and for vigorous activity it is 127 to 153 bpm.
If you have not been exercising for a while, start with light exercise and gradually increase the intensity to moderate or vigorous exercise over the weeks to months, to prevent injuries and let your body conditioned to the activity level. Keep a goal of 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week.
Go workout and achieve your target heart rate!
Reference: American Heart Association
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