What is a healthy resting heart rate? Is yours healthy

heart beat for women
On paper it would seem that Lance Armstrong has one of the healthiest heart rates in the world. His heart only beats 32 times per minute. That is a really healthy heart.
But what about the rest of us? What is a good resting heart rate?
WARNING - Never use this blog or any blog to diagnose heart problems. This is just fun information. Always consult your doctor if you have a heart problem.
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What is a good, healthy resting heart rate
Your resting heart rate is how many times your heart beats per minute. The measurement should be taken when you are laying down and breathing normally and most health professionals say it is best to check it in the morning after a good nights sleep.
The heart rate is often used as a measure of a persons physically fitness and as such it is good to measure it now and again.
A resting heart rate for women is considered “normal” if it is between about 70-80 beats per minute. However, I would advise that those reading Real Women’s Fitness should have a much better resting heart rate than that! After all, we are hardcore athletes!
My resting heart rate is about 47-50 beats per minute.
Discuss fitness & heart rates on our forum!
What affects your resting heart rate?
The resting heart rate is affected by:
age
sex (men are lower usually)
physical fitness
some drugs/medication
genetics
anxiety
Some people simply have a higher/lower resting heart rate that cannot be attributed to any specific cause. Many scientific studies have shown that a resting heart rate really isn’t an effective way of measuring the health of a person although they say anything above about 84 beats per minute is erring on dangerous.
A better measurement of physical fitness
I would like to argue, however, that a much better method of checking your physical fitness is to measure your heart rate after exercise and see how long it takes to get back to resting rate. This is called the recovery rate and is much more important when looking at how fit you are.
Target heart rate
When exercising some people like to know how fast their heart should be beating to maximize their weight loss or fitness potential. I have never really been interested in all that though as it seems like an overly complicated exercise. I know when I’m making progress. Here is some more on target heart rates.
Lowering Blood Pressure
Blood pressure is also an idication of a healthy heart and something older people should pay attention to. A lot of people want to know how to lower their blood pressure and this clinically proven device is one such way. Doctors recommend the Resperate Duo blood pressure lowering device as one of the best methods on the market. Check it out here.
Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease
Finally I would like to suggest some further reading. There are many books about the heart but Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease is the most important. Dr. Esselstyn conducted the biggest research and came up with the most accurate results. If you want to learn about how the heart works and what you can do to lengthen your life by protecting the heart then this book is for you. I suggest anyone who is over 40 reads it.