resting heart rate

[carl669]

so, a year and 97 pounds ago, my heart rate while just sitting at my desk at work was typically in the low 90s. a few weeks back, i went in for my yearly physical and the nurse said HR of 72.  that kind of caught my attention because i've never really paid attention to how my heart rate has changed.  i've taken it randomly over the last week and it's typically in the low-mid 60s.  i'm not worried or anything as it makes perfect sense that would happen.  it just never occurred to me to measure how it changed over the last year.  just wondering if others have experienced this kind of change.

[slysam]

Resting heart rate is actually supposed to be laying still (but don't take it right after your alarm goes off). Your doctors office rate isn't your resting heart rate--most likely it is a little elevated depending how you feel about going to the doctor, but your dr office rate is likely a useful comparison over time. Your resting rate is likely in the 60's maybe lower. It is worth checking periodically because it does decrease (to a certain point) with improved aerobic fitness and will be lower if you are generally not stressed out. Both of those are good things to track. Your sitting at a desk working rate is also probably useful to track, but it would be really unfair to compare that to an actual resting rate. Try to compare your heart rate in the same situations over time if you want to see whether it is improving or not.

[carl669]

i guess i should have put something more like "average heart rate during the day" or something.  the heart rate in the 90s i mentioned was also from me just sitting at my desk.  i guess i've never really taken a true resting heart rate.  i'll have to put it on my list of things to check.

[betpchem]

Good for you! I've noticed my "normal" heart rate has improved also as I've gotten into better shape. 

[Malpeg]

Because I chose to stop taking my blood pressure medicine I check my pressure and pulse each morning. After I wake up, weight, start the coffee, etc. I sit for five minutes and check my BP and pulse. Over the last 6 months my resting pulse has gone from the mid eighties to the mid sixties. BP is down around 115/75 as well.

[Heybales]

Another fun check of fitness, besides the morning true resting HR.

Is if you have a HRM, wear it all day and see what the avgHR ends up being. I selected a normal non-exercise day, it was 56.

Now, ignore any calorie burn estimates, totally wrong use of formula in this case.

I was shocked that I could walk around, walk to an errand actually, come back around 120 from the stairs, plop down at desk, and within 30-60 seconds HR was back to 50 bpm.

Equally interesting was the gradual increase to HR during the night (using Garmin, so could review the recorded HR every 3-4 seconds later), spiking before morning.

Since I didn't know if the battery would make it (easily could have with no GPS turned on), I did it in 3 days 8 hrs each.

Interesting how sedentary a desk job can be.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/198637160

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/198855039

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/199132113

[gerrymcd]

Congratulations on your new healthier weight/lifestyle.  

I never thought much about the consequences of excess weight until I read that ever pound of fat requires my heart to pump blood through an additional 7 miles of blood vessels.  Suddenly the connection between  obesity and heart disease/high blood pressure became very clear and impossible to ignore.

[Colinm39]

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@gerrymcd wrote:

Congratulations on your new healthier weight/lifestyle.  

I never thought much about the consequences of excess weight until I read that ever pound of fat requires my heart to pump blood through an additional 7 miles of blood vessels.  Suddenly the connection between  obesity and heart disease/high blood pressure became very clear and impossible to ignore.

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@gerrymcdAlso the affect on knees. There are many reports on the web, but consensus is that one extra lb/kg of extra weight puts 4-5 lb/kg pressure on the knees.

[Algenon]

Heart rate is partly due to genetics (it also affects metobolism)  My heart rate at resting is about 56 and it has not changed even with a weight loss of 41 pounds.  However, I have heard other people having a decrease due to exercise and weight loss. 

Blood pressure is different.  You can have a low pluse rate and high blood pressure.  I would check my blood pressure frequently.  

 http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HighBloodPressure/AboutHighBloodPressure/Blood-Pressure-vs-...

[PinchHitre1]

I walk about 5 miles per day at a brisk pace of approximately 4.5 miles per hour. For quite a while my RHR was about 50, plus or minus 2. Since the last couple of updates, my RHR is up to 58 for no apparent reason. I'm still doing the same things. Has anyone noticed a change in their readings? I'm wondering is something in the recent updates has gotten messed up.