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Heart Health
August 29, 2020
- By Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing
Your heart rate changes from minute to minute. It depends on whether you are standing up or lying down, moving around or sitting still, stressed or relaxed. Your resting heart rate, though, tends to be stable from day to day. The usual range for resting heart rate is anywhere between 60 and 90 beats per minute. Above 90 is considered high.
Many factors influence your resting heart rate. Genes play a role. Aging tends to speed it up. Regular exercise tends to slow your heart rate down. (In his prime, champion cyclist Miguel Indurain had a resting heart rate of just 28 beats per minute.) Stress, medications, and medical conditions also influence your resting heart rate.
Results of observational research studies support a link between health and heart rate. Researchers from Norway previously reported the results of a large study looking at changes in resting heart rate over 10 years. They recruited more than 29,000 people without any history or heart disease, high blood pressure, or any other type of cardiovascular disorder, and measured their resting heart rates when they started the study and again 10 years later. This study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Compared to people whose resting heart rates were under 70 beats per minute at the study’s start and its end, those whose resting heart rate rose from under 70 to more than 85 were 90% more likely to have died during the course of the study. The increase in risk was slightly less for those with resting heart rates of 70 to 85 at the study’s start and who had a greater than 85 at the study’s end.
Although 90% sounds like a huge and scary increase, let me put it in perspective. Among the group whose heart rates stayed under 70 throughout the study, there were 8.2 deaths per 10,000 people per year. Among those whose heart rates rose above 85, there were 17.2 deaths per 10,000 people per year.
The results also suggested that lowering your resting heart rate over time may be beneficial, but the researchers could not say that for certain.
How to lower your resting heart rate
You don’t need a doctor’s visit to keep track of your resting heart rate. The best time to measure it is before you get out of bed in the morning. You can measure your heart rate at your wrist or neck by placing one or two fingers over a pulse point, counting the number of beats in 15 seconds, and multiplying by four.
By doing these 4 things you can start to lower your resting heart rate and also help maintain a healthy heart:
- Exercise more. When you take a brisk walk, swim, or bicycle, your heart beats faster during the activity and for a short time afterward. But exercising every day gradually slows the resting heart rate.
- Reduce stress. Performing the relaxation response, meditation, tai chi, and other stress-busting techniques lowers the resting heart rate over time.
- Avoid tobacco products. Smokers have higher resting heart rates. Quitting brings it back down.
- Lose weight if necessary. The larger the body, the more the heart must work to supply it with blood. Losing weight can help slow an elevated resting heart rate.
About the Author
Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing
Howard LeWine, M.D., is a practicing internist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Chief Medical Editor at Harvard Health Publishing, and editor in chief of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. See Full Bio
View all posts by Howard E. LeWine, MD
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- If your resting heart rate is near or above 100 beats per minute, you might want to consider ways to get it down.
- Some of the best ways to lower your heart rate include exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet, and quitting smoking.
- If your high resting heart rate is the result of stress or anxiety, consider trying yoga, meditation, or simply going for a walk outside.
- This article was reviewed by John Osborne, MD, PhD, and the Director of Cardiology for Dallas-based State of the Heart Cardiology.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
For most adults, a normal resting heart rate is between 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm). But if you're toward the top end of this range, or above it, you'll want to lower it.
It is possible to have a heart rate that's too low, but generally, the lower your resting heart rate, the healthier you are. In fact, well-trained athletes and highly-active adults are often in the 40 to 50 bpm range.
If your resting heart rate is too high, here are some of the best strategies to lower it over time, as well as tips to calm it down in the moment.
How to lower your heart rate over time
Kristin Dean, MD, a board-certified physician at Doctor On Demand, says when your heart beats fewer times each minute, it is more efficient and doesn't have to work as hard to pump blood through the body.
"Studies have shown that a lower overall workload for your heart is a good thing for heart health long-term," Dean says. "Higher heart rates may be associated with an increased risk of heart attacks or strokes, as seen in the Copenhagen Male Study."
Additionally, a higher resting heart rate has been associated with increased risk of diabetes and heart disease leading to death, says Maheer Gandhavadi, MD, Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology with Dignity Health Mercy Medical Group.
You can lower your resting heart rate by making a few lifestyle changes. Dean says some of the best ways include:
- Regular exercise. "Increasing your physical activity will improve your overall heart health and likely result in a lower heart rate over time," says Dean. Frequently walking, jogging, swimming, or biking are easy ways to gradually decrease resting heart rate.
- Healthy Diet. Research has found that omega-3 fatty acids are associated with a reduced resting heart rate — try eating more fish, walnuts, and avocados.
- Stop smoking. Resting heart rate was found to be higher among young adults who smoke, according to research published in the Hellenic Journal of Cardiology.
How to lower your heart rate in the moment
Anxiety and stress can also cause an increased heart rate, both over time and in the moment. According to Harvard Medical School, generalized anxiety disorder may lead to higher rates of heart attacks and cardiac injuries.
There are a few common strategies that can help manage anxiety over time and lower your heart rate to a normal resting number in the moment. Dean and Gandhavadi suggest:
- Meditation and deep breathing exercises
- Yoga
- Going for a walk
- Taking a bath
- Staying hydrated
If anxiety and stress is a regular part of your life, you should also minimize your use of caffeine and potentially meet with a therapist to find the strategies that work for you to manage stress.
If you have a consistently elevated resting heart rate, a doctor's visit is necessary. Together, you can create a personalized plan for improving your cardiac health.
Related stories about heart health:
- How to lower blood pressure with a heart-healthy diet and exercise
- What foods lower blood pressure and make up the DASH diet
- What causes high blood pressure and how to know if you have hypertension
- How to lower cholesterol with the right diet and exercise regimens
- 7 of the most dangerous things that put you at risk of a heart attack
- How to check your heart rate on an Apple Watch in 3 different ways
Mary Sauer is a freelance writer for Insider.
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