The term heart rate refers to the frequency at which your heart pumps. It's measured in beats per minute. Your heart beats faster when your body requires more oxygen and nutrients, and slower when you're relaxed or at rest. When you're sleeping, your heart rate is at its lowest point, except for 20 percent of the time when you're in the rapid eye movement stage of your sleep pattern.
Heart Rate
When you're awake, your heart must beat more often because you're active and moving around and thus your body requires more oxygen and nutrients. According to the American Heart Association, a healthy resting heart rate range when you're awake is 60 to 80 beats per minute. When you're sleeping, however, your heart rate decreases. Your resting heart rate is dependent upon age, fitness level, stress levels and genetics.
Calculation
While additional equipment is needed to monitor your heart rate while sleeping, you can get a somewhat accurate representation of your true resting heart rate by taking your heart rate immediately upon waking. Before you get out of bed, place your index and middle finger on your carotid artery, which is located at the neck just below the jaw bone. Count how many times your heart beats for 10 seconds and then multiply that value by 6 to determine your resting heart rate.
Rapid Eye Movement Stage
During the rapid eye movement stage of your sleep pattern, which accounts for about 20 percent of your night's sleep, your heart rate will fluctuate depending upon what's occurring in your dreams. More stressful dreams will result in an increase in heart rate. During this period, your heart rate is unpredictable and fluctuates often.
Sleeping Heart Rate as Screening Tool
In a 2007 report published by the Archives of Internal Medicine, Dr. Iddo Z. Ben-Dov and his researchers found that people who do not have their heart rate decrease when they're sleeping are at risk of dying in the upcoming seven years. Your heart rate not decreasing is typically a result of high blood pressure, which can cause serious cardiovascular problems.
Fitness Level
Those who participate in regular cardiovascular exercise typically have a lower resting heart rate when they're sleeping. When you consistently require your heart to work at higher levels like it does when you're exercising, it increases its strength and thus is able to pump more blood with each beat. As a result, it doesn't need to beat as often.
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