The Importance of a Lower Resting Heart Rate to Your Health
The amount of pressure applied to your artery walls when your heart contacts and between contractions -- better known as blood pressure -- plays an important role in your cardiovascular health. Your resting heart rate is another factor and critical indicator of your heart health. Having a lower resting heart rate is beneficial to your heart health.
There are a number of factors that can influence your heart rate, including body size, emotional state, activity level and environmental temperature. Your resting heart rate refers to how fast your heart contracts to pump blood to your organs and tissues. This is measured in beats per minute. Although the resting heart rate varies among individuals, the average adult has a rate that falls between 60 and 100 beats per minute.
A low resting heart rate means that your heart is efficient at transporting oxygenated blood throughout your body with each pump. The more efficient your heart is, the lower your heart rate. A growing body of evidence provides a strong link between an elevated resting heart rate and cardiovascular risk, according to a review in the May 2008 issue of the "Canadian Journal of Cardiology." It is considered a modifiable risk factor, since you can intervene to lower your resting heart rate.
Reducing Heart Rate
More people die of heart disease each year than any other condition and being sedentary is one of the primary risk factors. It should come as no surprise that aerobic exercise has a profound effect on your resting heart rate and overall cardiovascular health. Any exercise that requires a sustained elevated heart rate improves your resting heart rate. Well-trained athletes have a resting heart rate closer to 40 beats per minute.
Because your heart is a muscle, it becomes stronger as a result of exercise, particularly aerobic exercise. Exercise improves blood flow and lowers cholesterol, which when your resting heart rate is high, it contributes to heart disease. For substantial health benefits, aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity. You can increase these benefits by working your way up to 300 minutes of exercise per week.
- MayoClinic.com: What's a Normal Resting Heart Rate?
- Canadian Journal of Cardiology: Resting Heart Rate: a Modifiable Prognostic Indicator of Cardiovascular Risk and Outcomes?
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Exercise's Effects on the Heart
- U.S Department of Health and Human Services: Physical Activity Guidelines for Adults
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