Resting Heart Rate Question...
keithw1975
Posts: 20 Member
I am 6' tall, weight 240lbs, and rarely exercise. My resting pulse rate is between 48-56 beats per minute. Now when I am up walking around it's usually in the 60s. In the past I have done stress tests, had EKGs done, and even ultrasounds of my heart, all of which came back normal.
When I was a teenager, and skinny, my resting heart rate was always around 72 bpm.
So my question is, does this indicate anything? Could it have something to do with why I got fat?
When I was a teenager, and skinny, my resting heart rate was always around 72 bpm.
So my question is, does this indicate anything? Could it have something to do with why I got fat?
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Replies
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Just a sign of getting older is all0
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Children have faster heart rates, and rate slows as we become adults, but normal is above 60 bpm. However, one of the goals of cardiovascular exercise is to lower your resting heart rate. A lower resting heart rate is an indicator of good heart health. But it can also indicate a problem, especially if it's joined by palpitations or any abnormal sensation.
If you're concerned, you should get it checked out. You'll probably be given a Holter monitor to wear for a 24-48 hour period which will continuously record your heart beat. Then your doc will look at that to see if anything looks abnormal. He might also give you an EKG exam, so he can see your heart, examine the thickness of the walls and valves and make sure all the valves are functioning properly.
It's good to know for sure, but it's probably just that you have a healthy heart. My own resting heart rate is in the upper 40s, and I had it checked, and it's just very healthy, so that's one less thing to worry about.
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Last year I wore a 30 day monitor because my doctor was being overly cautious about me having lots of headaches and dizziness, from a sinus infection. All looked good.
So if I do a lot of cardio will it drop even more????0 -
It seems like the fitter you are, the lower the heart rate. I just asked my friends the other day what their resting rate was (mine is 58). They all had pretty similar rates, although they mentioned that when they were heavier their rates were higher. One friend had an alarmingly high rate, although she is very fit. Maybe you're a special snowflake?0
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When I had issues w/ eating disorder stuff, my heart rate was about 50. I wasn't healthy at all and body was slowing things down I believe.0
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Sorry to bump an old thread, but my resting heart rate seems abnormally low as well.
This isn't true resting heart rate, but mine measured over 30s is 52 sitting at my desk now, which for a 35 year old guy puts me in the middle of "athlete" range on a lot of charts. I have been exercising (P90X) ~1hr/day for the last 7 weeks, but other than that I have a pretty sedentary desk job. Athlete I am not. When I started cutting back on calories after a "eat nothing that isn't deep fried" Super Bowl party, I dropped pretty quickly in ~45 days from 185 down to about 170lbs, though I wasn't really tracking it. I haven't moved much in the last few weeks though, despite measuring and logging foods and eating at -500 calories.
Is it common with prolonged (multi-month) deficits for your body to compensate by lowering metabolism and that might be causing a lower resting heart rate?0 -
Sorry to bump an old thread, but my resting heart rate seems abnormally low as well.
This isn't true resting heart rate, but mine measured over 30s is 52 sitting at my desk now, which for a 35 year old guy puts me in the middle of "athlete" range on a lot of charts. I have been exercising (P90X) ~1hr/day for the last 7 weeks, but other than that I have a pretty sedentary desk job. Athlete I am not. When I started cutting back on calories after a "eat nothing that isn't deep fried" Super Bowl party, I dropped pretty quickly in ~45 days from 185 down to about 170lbs, though I wasn't really tracking it. I haven't moved much in the last few weeks though, despite measuring and logging foods and eating at -500 calories.
Is it common with prolonged (multi-month) deficits for your body to compensate by lowering metabolism and that might be causing a lower resting heart rate?
No. Resting HR has nothing to do with metabolism. Even the correlation with fitness level is fairly weak.
Unless their is an underlying pathology driving it, resting heart rate just "is" for the most part
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Sorry to bump an old thread, but my resting heart rate seems abnormally low as well.
This isn't true resting heart rate, but mine measured over 30s is 52 sitting at my desk now, which for a 35 year old guy puts me in the middle of "athlete" range on a lot of charts. I have been exercising (P90X) ~1hr/day for the last 7 weeks, but other than that I have a pretty sedentary desk job. Athlete I am not. When I started cutting back on calories after a "eat nothing that isn't deep fried" Super Bowl party, I dropped pretty quickly in ~45 days from 185 down to about 170lbs, though I wasn't really tracking it. I haven't moved much in the last few weeks though, despite measuring and logging foods and eating at -500 calories.
Is it common with prolonged (multi-month) deficits for your body to compensate by lowering metabolism and that might be causing a lower resting heart rate?
You're perfectly fine. I'm 35 too and my resting HR is 53. I do zero cardio. Very normal especially if you've been doing an hour of cardio every day.0 -
Better to be a little low than high. I walk 10-15 miles a day and my resting heart rate is right about 500
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Yes low resting HR is a good thing. Athletes can have very low resting HRs http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/expert-answers/heart-rate/faq-200579790
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