Your heartbeat is a measurement of how many times per minute your heart contracts and pumps blood to the rest of your body. When you are at rest, your heart will normally beat within a certain defined range. However, several factors may alter your heartbeat as you respond to changes in your body and environment.
Understanding Your Heartbeat
Your heartbeat begins with an electrical impulse from a grouping of cells called the sinoatrial node, located in the upper right chamber of your heart, or right atrium, according to the Cleveland Clinic. This impulse travels through the right and left atrium, causing them to contract and force blood into the lower chambers of the heart, called the ventricles. A second grouping of cells, called the atrioventricular node, coordinates the electrical signal between the atria and the ventricles. Because of the sinoatrial node's role in your heart function, a normal heartbeat is sometimes called a normal sinus rhythm.
Normal Heartbeat
When resting, adults and children over 10 have normal heartbeats that range between 60 and 100 beats per minute, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine's Medline Plus. Normal rates for newborn infants range between 100 and 160 beats per minute, while children between the ages of one and 10 have a normal range between 70 and 120 beats per minute. If you are a trained athlete, your normal heartbeat may range between 40 and 60 beats per minute.
Heartbeat Factors
When you exercise, your body will require more oxygen and blood flow, and as a result your normal heartbeat will rise, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Edward R. Laskowski, MD, of the Mayo Clinic lists several other factors that can alter your normal heartbeat, including your general fitness level, emotional state, body size, body position, medication usage and the air temperature of your immediate environment.
Checking Your Heartbeat
You can gauge your current heartbeat by taking your pulse in any area where an artery sits near the surface of your skin, Medline Plus reports. Examples of these locations include your wrists, neck and temples, as well as the backs of your knees, inner sides or tops of your feet and groin. You can measure the pulse at your neck by pressing your first two fingers into the hollow on either side of your Adam's apple, or measure the pulse at your wrist by pressing your first two fingers against the base of the opposite thumb. Count your pulse for 10 seconds, then multiply that number by six to get the number of beats per minute.
Considerations
Variations in your normal heartbeat may indicate the presence of serious health problems, Medline Plus notes. If your resting heartbeat is above 100 beats per minute, you may have a condition called tachycardia. If you are not physically active and your resting heartbeat falls below 60 beats per minute, you may have a condition called bradycardia. Additional potential alterations in your normal heartbeat include relatively minor variations called palpitations and more serious variations called arrhythmias. Check with your doctor to learn more about these conditions.
References
- Cleveland Clinic - Miller Family Heart and Vascular Institute: Your Heart and Blood Vessels - How Does the Heart Beat?
- Medline Plus - U.S. National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health: Pulse
- The Mayo Clinic: Fitness - Heart Rate: What's Normal?
- Medline Plus - U.S. National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health: Heart Palpitations
