A resting heart rate is your pulse in as little as five minutes after exercise, when you have been sitting quietly. As your fitness level increases, your resting heart rate is slower. If your heart rate is normally slow and recovers quickly after exercise, you are in better physical shape. See your doctor if your slow heart rate is new or causes dizziness or weakness.
About Heart Rate
Your heart rate, or pulse, can be felt in various locations throughout your body but is especially strong at the neck and wrist. Your heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute and is normally anywhere between 60 and 100 beats per minute. When you feel your heart rate or pulse, you are feeling blood pushing through your arteries as your heart contracts. Your heart rate is usually faster when you exercise because more blood needs to pump through your body to nourish muscles.
Effects of Exercise
Your heart rate is faster during exercise but slows down after exercise. Regular exercise strengthens your heart so it doesn't have to work as hard to pump blood through your body and results in a slower heart rate. Athletes sometimes have a heart rate between 40 and 60 beats per minute because of physical fitness. According to the National Emergency Medicine Association, a slow heart rate is generally good and is one of the benefits of regular exercise and being physically fit.
Recovery Heart Rate
Since your heart rate speeds up during exercise, you can determine if physical activity is benefiting you by calculating your recovery heart rate. Your recovery heart rate is how quickly you return to your resting heart rate after exercise. Take your pulse right after you work out and again one minute later, after resting. Subtract the second pulse number from the first to determine your recovery heart rate. The quicker your heart slows down, the greater the number will be, which means you are in better shape.
Precautions
If you have a slow heart rate that is unrelated to frequent exercise, see your doctor. You may be diagnosed with bradycardia, which is a heart rate below 60 beats per minute and can be a dangerous condition as it usually signals a disturbance or abnormality within your heart. Bradycardia is a type of heart arrhythmia and requires medical treatment. Symptoms associated with bradycardia include dizziness, weakness, lack of energy, fainting spells or symptoms related to another medical illness causing the problem.
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