In medical terminology, your pulse rate is a component of your "vital signs." Vital signs are measurements of your body's basic functions including your temperature, blood pressure and respiration, or rate of breathing . Your pulse rate is also known as your heart rate. When you check your pulse, you are also measuring your heart rhythm and strength of your pulse.
Significance
As your heart beats, it pushes blood through your arteries to your limbs. As the blood ebbs and flows through the arteries, they expand and contract. When you take your pulse, you can feel a beat. This represents the expansion and contraction of your artery in conjunction with the expansion and contraction of your heart muscle. By timing your pulse, you can count your heart beats per minute.
Considerations
Your pulse rate can be affected by many things including your age, weight, physical activity, stress, illness, injury and medications you are taking. Athletes usually have a lower heart rate or pulse than sedentary individuals because of their improved cardiovascular fitness. A normal pulse rate for a male or female athlete may be 40 beats per minute. Many studies have been conducted to try to determine if there is a significant difference in pulse rates based on gender. Findings have revealed that mean pulse rates did not differ significantly between men and women.
Resting Pulse Rate
The normal pulse rate in adults runs between 60 and 100 beats per minute. These figures do not take into consideration the difference in gender. According to an article published by the University of Chicago Medical Center, females 12 years and older generally have a faster heart rate than males. This finding was followed up to age 74 years. Additionally, the pulse rate of white women was slightly higher than in black women. Pulse rate was also slightly higher in fall and winter for both men and women.
Pulse Rate Variability
Compared to men, women are at a somewhat lower risk of heart disease. Experts believe this is due to the difference in the way a woman's autonomic nervous system affects her heart. A study titled "Gender-Related Differences in Nonlinear Indices of Heart Rate Variability" revealed that females had a lower incidence of pulse rate differences than men. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) of 11,093 black and white men and women revealed a pulse rate variability of 60 to 100 beats per minute in males, and 64 to 100 beats per minute in females.
References
- University of Chicago Medical Center: Vital Signs
- Cleveland Clinic: Pulse and Target Heart Rate
- "Eurpoean Heart Journal": Heart Rate Variability and Heart Rate in Healthy Volunteeers: Is the Female Autonomic Nervous System Cardioprotective?
- Gender-Related Differences in Nonlinear Indicies of Heart Rate Variablity
- PubMed: Gender- and Age-Related Differences in Heart Rate Dynamics: Are Women More Complex Than Men?
- Epidemiology of Resting Pulse Rates in Persons Ages 25-74: Data From NHANES 1971-74
