Resting pulse is the rate that your heart beats when you are at rest. The American Heart Association recommends taking your pulse in the morning after a good night's sleep and before you get out of bed. Your resting heart rate generally increases as you age. Factors that affect your heart rate include your activity and fitness level, temperature of the air in your environment, emotions, the size and position of your body and medications.
Infants
The normal resting heart rate for newborn male infants falls between 100 and 160 beats per minute. A doctor may use a pediatric stethoscope to listen to an infant's pulse or palpitate by feeling the pulse on the inside of an infant's upper arm. Infants and newborns that have a pulse below 100 beats per minute may need immediate medical attention. A baby with a pulse rate below the normal range may require artificial ventilation and medical supervision until his condition improves. Infants and newborns with a low pulse may not cry at birth, have slow or irregular breathing or arms and legs that are tinted blue from lack of circulation.
Children
Male children between ages 1 and 10 should have a resting pulse rate between 70 and 120 beats per minute. Resting pulse generally declines as children age. The resting heart rate for a 1-year-old male may drop from 115 to 110 beats per minute when he turns 2 and from 103 to 100 between ages 6 and 8. Children with faster or slower resting pulse rates may have heart arrhythmia. Arrhythmia includes tachycardia for faster than normal pulse rates, and bradychardia for pulse rates below normal. A physician should immediately examine children that may have heart arrhythmia.
Adults
The normal resting pulse rate for male children over 10 years old, adult and senior males is between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Lower resting pulse rates generally indicate a more efficient heart and better cardiovascular fitness. Men may have a heart arrhythmia if your resting pulse falls outside the normal range. They may feel like their heart is racing, short of breath, dizzy, lightheaded and experience chest pain or discomfort with a heart arrhythmia. Men should go to the emergency room if they experience any of these signs and symptoms at times when they would not normally expect them.
Athletes
Well-trained male athletes may have a pulse rate between 40 and 60 beats per minute. Athletes with resting pulse rates outside the normal range may have a condition known as athlete's heart. According to the Merck Manuals Online Medical Library, the most common condition in athletes with a pulse rate below 40 beats per minute is sinus bradycardia. A male with athlete's heart may also experience bursts or couplets of tachycardia.
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