Your resting heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute when your body is completely at rest. Your resting heart rate varies, depending on your overall health and fitness level. Individuals who regularly take part in physical activities, such as exercise or sports, often have a slower resting heart rate, according to MayoClinic.com.
Normal Resting Heart Rate
A healthy heart rate typically indicates a healthy heart that is more efficient at pumping blood throughout your body. Active, healthy people having a heart rate of between 60 and 100 beats per minute, explains MayoClinic.com. An athlete's normal resting heart rate often is lower, about 40 beats per minute. A higher resting heart rate does not necessarily denote a heart condition or heart disease, but lowering your heart rate through exercise can increase the efficiency of your heart,
Exercise and Energy Use
When you exercise, you increase the amount of energy being used by cells in your muscles. To make up for this accelerated energy loss, your body must increase energy production, utilizing both more oxygen and nutrients in your blood. To get oxygen and nutrients to the cells fast enough to keep up with energy needs, the body must increase your heart rate significantly. This increases the speed at which your blood is pumped through the cardiovascular system to supply a cell's energy factory, known as mitochondria, with the products needed to continue making energy.
Cardiovascular Effects of Exercise
When you exercise regularly, you work the heart muscle. Like any other muscle in your body, the more you work the muscle, the stronger it gets. The stronger the heart muscle becomes through increased activity during exercise, the easier it is for the heart to pump blood through your cardiovascular system. This increase in efficiency allows the heart to not have to work as hard to perform the same amount of work, decreasing your heart rate. Not only does the heart not have to work as hard during exercise, but it also is more efficient at rest, resulting in a slower resting heart rate.
How to Check Your Pulse
Measuring your exercising heart rate and resting heart rate can help you track the heart benefits you're achieving from a regular exercise habit. Heart rate can be measured through a heart rate monitor, which can be found at most sporting goods stores, or manually. Rotate your left hand so your palm is facing upward. Take your pointer and middle finger of your right hand and place them on the thumb side of your wrist. Look at a clock and count the number of heart beats you feel for 10 seconds. Multiply that number by six to calculate your beats per minute. Keep track of your heart rate in a fitness journal to chart your progress.
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