# Heart rate range



## yello (15 Nov 2021)

Piqued by @bobinski 's 'Cholesterol and Statins' thread, and not wanting to derail it, I'm posting a new thread as the talk there about heart rate was enlightening for me, and I think I may have learnt something.

I read on the Cedars-Sinai (as US hospital) website that...



> When the heart does not operate as it is supposed to and develops *an abnormally slow heart rate* that *is less than 60 beats per minute*, the condition is known as bradycardia.



...and the Mayo Clinic reports....



> The hearts of adults at rest usually beat between 60 and 100 times a minute



That surprised me, as my resting heart rate has always (or damn near always) been less than 60. I'm sure I've healthily had it in the late 40s even. Certainly, I've never been concerned with it being in the 50s, and neither has my doctor. Based on what I read, I thought my heart rate dropping into the 30s (when asleep) was dangerous. Seems maybe not so in practice.

It seems there are many here reporting exactly the same thing.

FWIW, I could easily ping my heart rate up towards theoretical max (I never wanted to find out the true max!) And at my peak fitness, it would drop just as quickly. I thought my normal heart rate range (if I can word it like that) was pretty wide; it might be 55 at rest (say) but climb easily to 80 when togging up to go cycling, then rise again to 110ish as I turned the pedals. As I recall, my usual ride average would be around 135 - 140 and peaking maybe 170... 180 if I really went at a climb. None of that seemed out of the ordinary for me.


----------



## Mo1959 (15 Nov 2021)

My Apple Watch has alerted me the last few nights that it dropped below 40. Nothing to worry about if it’s just because of having decent cardio vascular health because of exercise I don’t think.


----------



## cougie uk (15 Nov 2021)

Cyclists aren't normal.


----------



## Venod (15 Nov 2021)

I wouldn't worry too much about low heart rate if you have a history of activity.
My sleeping HR is in the 40's, 50/60s normal daily rate, yesterday running it was in the 150s I have seen it slightly higher on occasions.
I caused a panic in the hospital while having a camera up my bum, it dropped to the low 30's.


----------



## Alex321 (15 Nov 2021)

Anybody with good fitness and in good health should expect a lower than average resting heart rate - mine is in the low 50's. Elite athletes will often have a rate in the 40s.

Max heart rate is something that doesn't appear to be affected by anything apart from genes and age. Being fitter doesn't increase your max, though it will increase the difference between resting and max.


----------



## IanSmithCSE (15 Nov 2021)

Good morning,

I am not a doctor but I am quite well read on a lot of stuff about bodies. :-)

The statement _The hearts of adults at rest usually beat between 60 and 100 times a minute _is statistically correct and totally misleading, it does not mean that these are healthy values, it includes a few people who are just odd and those who are dangerously unhealthy.

There seems to be something of a consensus of around 60-75bpm is normal and healthy for acceptably active people, 20 minutes of exercise 4 times a week types, in so far as it is possible to make a general statement at all. 40-60bpm is quite normal among more physically active people.

Heart rates are so individual that being outside of a range is not in itself anything to worry about, but once you start getting into the mid 70s and above for resting heart rate it is probably worth understanding why.

Is it actually a year not a week since you last did any exercise at all, has a pint twice a week become 6 every day, or is 80bpm just normal for you despite running 5 miles every other day?

And there are always exceptions, so you might find a 2 stone overweight person in the pub who never exercises and his iWatch is reporting 45bpm. :=)

However low heart rates as a result of extreme exercise are not all good news, for example https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3538475/

Bye

Ian


----------



## yello (15 Nov 2021)

IanSmithCSE said:


> Heart rates are so individual that being outside of a range is not in itself anything to worry about,



That's my takeaway from this discussion. 

I've always considered myself to be closer to 'normal' than to 'athlete' , on the basis that there is no shortage of people who regularly exercise and take part in athletic/sporting events. 

Odd then that whilst I buy in 100% to the uniqueness of each of our bodies that I should fall for the 'normal' label. It can indeed be misleading.


----------



## JtB (15 Nov 2021)

I was diagnosed with Bradycardia (Sick Sinus Syndrome). For many years I have been aware of a resting heart rate and blood pressure which (although within the range of "normal") are on the low side. I have also been aware of feeling light headed when standing up too quickly and the odd palpitation when lying down at night time. None of this concerned me though because I'm a very keen cyclist and I figured that if I was going to have a heart attack then it was going to be during a hill climb and I never experienced any problems with those. However, towards the end of 2013 I passed out as I was falling asleep at night and again as I was waking up the following morning. This prompted a whole load of tests, including a 24 hour ECG monitor which revealed everything to be normal. I didn't have any re-occurrences of this problem until September 2014 when I passed out about 12 times in one night (each time as I was falling asleep) prompting my wife to take me to A&E. But because my vital signs had recovered so quickly they sent me home again with instructions to contact my GP. The following day however I passed out again while falling asleep and so my wife took me back to A&E and dug her heels in until they admitted me to the "Acute Assessment Unit" for over night monitoring. As soon as the lights went out I passed out again while falling asleep and the ECG monitor showed my normal heart activity stopping for about 40 seconds with gaps of over 5 seconds between consecutive beats. The doctors immediately transferred me to the cardiac unit and the following day (after forcing myself to remain awake all night) I received a pacemaker implant.

PS. The average heart rate on my Wattbike sessions is about the same as “220 - my age” (i.e 159 bpm). I’ve not bothered using a HR monitor on actual bike rides for a while but I know it easily exceeds this by quite a lot on the hills.


----------



## Dogtrousers (15 Nov 2021)

I'm quite boring. My Min is 50-odd (sitting down and relaxing), and my max (or at least the highest I ever see) is 170-odd. 
50-odd is roughly equal to 60.
170-odd is somewhat over the naïve 220-age formula but if I search around I can cherry pick a more sophisticated formula that will give me the right answer that I want.


----------



## Norry1 (15 Nov 2021)

Lots of "General" advice is not really applicable to those who train pretty regularly and it is best to try and use Doctors etc who understand "athletes" physiology.

My resting HR is 42bpm and my max is 156 (Age 60). Asleep, my HR drops to around 38 bpm at times.


----------



## Bonefish Blues (15 Nov 2021)

Get some beta-blockers down ye. Proper slows things down - ask me how I know


----------



## yello (15 Nov 2021)

@JtB I 'liked' your story but not because I liked to read it. It must have been very frightening for you at the time. I recognise it as a personal story and a valuable one to boot, so thank you for sharing it. I've added it to my knowledge base, as it were.

One of the things I'm seeing my doc about (in 45 minutes time as it happens! tomorrow) is the results of a bradycardia/dyspnea test that was done many weeks ago now. They've not contacted me since so I'm assuming there's nothing untoward. My recent events have been someone overtaken by cardiologist visits and concerns so it's only now that I get to catch up with my GP.

Edit: got me days muddled, I'm getting old


----------



## Hacienda71 (15 Nov 2021)

I don't think low 30's while asleep is dangerous, your heart pumps at the rate you need unless something has gone wrong which is when the doc will start looking at pace makers. @yello you mentioned beta-blockers in the other thread. You want to be careful taking them if you have bradycardia.


----------



## yello (15 Nov 2021)

Bonefish Blues said:


> Get some beta-blockers down ye. Proper slows things down - ask me how I know



Did that. Slowed things down way too much for me, made me feel quite unwell. Going from a resting pulse of 50 to 40 seemed a tad dramatic! Chemically induced bradycardia (i.e beta-blocker side effect) is a documented thing and I reckon there's a good chance I suffered from it.

Edit: sometimes I reckon drugs are prescribed, with the best of intentions (and I truly mean that) on a 'let us see what happens next' kind of basis. We're not quite guinea pigs but it can be trial-and-error, albeit an educated one. Feels a bit weird being on the receiving end of that though


----------



## yello (15 Nov 2021)

Hacienda71 said:


> I don't think low 30's while asleep is dangerous, your heart pumps at the rate you need unless something has gone wrong which is when the doc will start looking at pace makers. @yello you mentioned beta-blockers in the other thread. You want to be careful taking them if you have bradycardia.


Yep, our posts crossed! I've stopped taking the beta-blockers (2 days now) and feel better already for it.


----------



## fossyant (15 Nov 2021)

Everyone is different. Mine is generally around 50 asleep, but will top 185 if pushing it.


----------



## Ming the Merciless (15 Nov 2021)

fossyant said:


> Everyone is different. Mine is generally around 50 asleep, but will top 185 if pushing it.



185 when sleeping must be a nightmare


----------



## Ming the Merciless (15 Nov 2021)

My daytime (awake) resting HR is in the 40s. Being outside what’s considered population norm is nothing to worry about unless there’s a sudden change and / or you have some other condition related to it.


----------



## presta (15 Nov 2021)

yello said:


> I could easily ping my heart rate up towards theoretical max (I never wanted to find out the true max!) And at my peak fitness, it would drop just as quickly.


If it's not still dropping quickly it's worth mentioning to your doctor, it can be indicative of problems.
Heart rate - Wikipedia


Venod said:


> I caused a panic in the hospital while having a camera up my bum, it dropped to the low 30's.


The hospital set the alarm on the bedside monitors to 45, which was about my RHR. It's a PITA, every time my HR goes from 45 to 44 the alarm goes off, so you cancel it, then a few seconds later it goes from 44 - 45 - 44, and off goes the alarm again, and again, and again....


Alex321 said:


> Elite athletes will often have a rate in the 40s.


So do those who overtrain. My fitness didn't even compete with most on here, let alone elite athletes, but my RHR was 42 - 45 from chronic overtraining. Even after 10 years of de-training it's still about 50-55, and immediately drops back down again at even the slightest sniff of exercise.


----------



## yello (15 Nov 2021)

Ming the Merciless said:


> 185 when sleeping must be a nightmare


Sorry, got to ask, did you intend that pun!


----------



## yello (15 Nov 2021)

presta said:


> If it's not still dropping quickly it's worth mentioning to your doctor, it can be indicative of problems.



Not as quickly, no, but it does drop quickly enough.


----------



## Ming the Merciless (15 Nov 2021)

yello said:


> Sorry, got to ask, did you intend that pun!



I did


----------



## Sharky (15 Nov 2021)

Venod said:


> I caused a panic in the hospital while having a camera up my bum, it dropped to the low 30's.


I experienced similar. Sitting in an ambulance, following a spill on a cold Feb Sunday, the medics were a bit alarmed with my heart rate at 38 bpm. Until I told them my resting rate was mid 40's.


----------



## byegad (15 Nov 2021)

Back when I was 15 and time was measured by sand dropping from one half of an egg timer to the other, I could sit down and in 10 minutes my rate was sub 40. Now I'm 70 I still have a resting rate much less than 50, despite being far too heavy and chronically unfit.


----------



## yello (15 Nov 2021)

Ming the Merciless said:


> I did


Ah well then, kudos. Take a bow. Quite a clever, 2 pronged joke!


----------



## yello (15 Nov 2021)

Hmmm, where are all these 'normal' people then? The ones that have a resting BPM of 80 something?


----------



## figbat (15 Nov 2021)

Intrigued by this I have just consulted my Apple Watch. I have always been of the opinion that 60-something was a decent result. Apparently today my RHR has been 49 - that's sat at a desk in an office, doing various calls and operating a PC. I have to say that is a bit of a surprise to me. I am as fit now as I think I have ever been, but still consider myself to be moderately fit - I'm no athlete, the only exercise I do is cycling and that is not training, just going out and putting some miles in, 2-3 times a week, 1.5-2 hours a time. Apparently whilst sleeping last night my HR went down to 37 and maxed at 50 .

My blood pressure has always been historically high too - high enough to raise eyebrows at medical examinations (last one was 154/85) but not high enough to warrant medical intervention. However now it is more acceptable (last time out was 130/73 using my home monitor, that was bought as a consequence of the mild concern about my HR). High blood pressure runs through both sides of my family though and it has been like that for me for as long as I can remember, going back to late childhood. The same with cholesterol - I run rich and always have; diet makes little impact on it. There are inherited and environmental reasons which combine to make you you.


----------



## yello (15 Nov 2021)

figbat said:


> My blood pressure has always been historically high too - high enough to raise eyebrows at medical examinations (last one was 154/85) but _not high enough to warrant medical intervention_.



Now that is interesting to me, and could well explain something. 

When I arrived in France, my first docs appt had me being prescribed BP meds (with a similar number to your own) but it was never mentioned to me in the UK as a problem, not once. Tell a lie; a gym trying to sell memberships at my workplace, they said it was high... so I put that comment firmly in context, given my GP had not said anything, to my recollection anyway, certainly not to the point of getting the prescription pad out.

Maybe we have, on top of 'athlete' and 'non athlete' norms, national recommendations as to what is/isn't 'normal'? 

Can someone just tell me please whether I'm ill or not!


----------



## yello (15 Nov 2021)

figbat said:


> The same with cholesterol - I run rich and always have; _diet makes little impact on it_. There are inherited and environmental reasons which combine to make you you.


That's something I hear/read a lot too. And I'd say it's also my experience. I've chopped and changed (and sauted and steamed) my diet countless times over the years (now, largely being plant based... outside of my wife's enjoyment for baking that is!) but my cholesterol has maintained the same borderline fluctuations for donkey's ages.


----------



## dave r (15 Nov 2021)

cougie uk said:


> Cyclists aren't normal.



Thats true.


----------



## Alex321 (15 Nov 2021)

yello said:


> Hmmm, where are all these 'normal' people then? The ones that have a resting BPM of 80 something?


Not cycling, so probably not on here


----------



## dave r (15 Nov 2021)

Sharky said:


> I experienced similar. Sitting in an ambulance, following a spill on a cold Feb Sunday, the medics were a bit alarmed with my heart rate at 38 bpm. Until I told them my resting rate was mid 40's.



I had a similar experience, sat in the back of an ambulance having been treated for a bad reaction to a wasp sting, they were quite happy with my vital signs till I pointed out that my normal resting heart rate was around 50 bpm and the 90 bpm that was showing wasn't right.


----------



## Dogtrousers (15 Nov 2021)

Steve Abraham had to see a doctor during his HAMR attempt. The medics were alarmed by his insanely slow RHR. I don't remember what it was. 1 beat per week or something ...


----------



## yello (15 Nov 2021)

dave r said:


> I had a similar experience, sat in the back of an ambulance having been treated for a bad reaction to a wasp sting, they were quite happy with my vital signs till I pointed out that my normal resting heart rate was around 50 bpm and the 90 bpm that was showing wasn't right.



I like that, kinda t'other way around. 

In response to an earlier comment, I'd be surprised if all cyclists (i.e. people who ride a bike) had a heart rate below 60. I'm sure some are 'normal'


----------



## Ming the Merciless (15 Nov 2021)

A poll earlier this year

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/resting-heart-rate-poll.135966/


----------



## Ajax Bay (15 Nov 2021)

Will throw hat into HR range ring.
I was an early adopter of HR (chest band) monitors and bought the top of the range Polar for iirc £200 in maybe 1984 - one of those ones that stored data: cutting edge. Still have it and put a new battery in it recently: still works.
Aged maybe mid-30s (and HRRest stayed low till 50s):
Supine before rising in the morning: lowest HRM and finger on wrist measured = *28bpm*.
Two final sprint after 40 or 50 minute running races: 206 and *207bpm* (measured on HRM (obv)).
Never got it over 196 on the 'run increasingly swiftly up a hill and sprint' test.
Ran an 8 and then later a 15 one race meeting and recorded 201 and 199 at the crux of the sprint coming off the top bend.
So if I was doing a set of intervals at 85%, that'd be 28+(0.85*(206-28))= 180bpm (typically 8 x 2 mins with 1 min easy).


----------



## slowmotion (15 Nov 2021)

I'm going to let the team down, I'm afraid. My resting heart rate tends to be mid 60s when awake. When asleep, no idea. As long as it stays above zero, I'm happy.


----------

