Changes in heart rate are expected during aerobic exercise, but rates exceeding 200 beats per minute are too high for most hearts to support. Elevated heart rates can indicate the presence of an underlying cardiovascular condition such as congenital defects, electrolyte imbalance, damage to heart muscle tissue, or structural abnormalities.
Estimate Maximum Heart Rate
Subtracting your age from 220 will give you a rough calculation of your maximum recommended heart rate. For instance, a 30-year-old would be advised to keep her maximum heart rate below 190 beats per minute.
Measure Heart Rate
Your heart rate can quickly be calculated by counting the number of beats in 15 seconds and then multiplying by four. Because your heart will begin to slow down over the course of an entire minute, the most accurate measurement of pulse rate will be one taken immediately after pausing your exercise.
Oxygen Demand
Your heart is constantly monitoring and responding to changes in oxygen demand from tissues throughout the body. When you exercise, energy is being broken down, oxygen is consumed, carbon dioxide produced, and wastes are accumulated in muscles throughout the body. In order to support the increase in metabolic activity of these tissues, the heart must pump more blood per unit time. If you are affected by a condition that decreases the efficiency of your heart's pumping action, you might experience significantly elevated pulse rates during exercise as your heart tries to keep up with the high demands placed upon it.
Target Heart Rates
In order to estimate a healthy heart rate to strive for, calculate the range of beats per minute that would fall between 50 percent and 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. For example, a 20-year-old has a maximum heart rate of 200, so their target heart rate zone should be between 100 and 170 beats per minute.
Member Comments