A normal resting heart rate for adults is 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm). That range applies whether you’re 18 or 80, though your actual number on any given day depends on fitness level, body temperature, medications, and even how well you slept. Children and infants have significantly faster heart rates, and trained athletes often run well below 60 bpm without any health concern.
Normal Resting Heart Rate by Age
Heart rate slows steadily from birth through adolescence, then levels off. Newborns in their first four weeks have a resting heart rate of 100 to 205 bpm, which is normal for their small, fast-pumping hearts. Infants up to one year old range from 100 to 180 bpm. Toddlers (ages one to three) fall between 98 and 140 bpm, and preschool-age children settle into 80 to 120 bpm.
By school age (five to twelve), the range narrows to 75 to 118 bpm. Once a child hits adolescence, around age 13, the adult range of 60 to 100 bpm kicks in and stays there for life. These numbers reflect a resting state while awake. Your heart rate will be lower during sleep and higher during any kind of physical activity.
What Your Heart Rate Looks Like During Sleep
During sleep, your heart rate typically drops 20% to 30% below your daytime resting rate. For most healthy adults, that puts the sleeping range at roughly 50 to 75 bpm. The lowest rates happen during deep, non-REM sleep, when blood pressure also dips and the heart essentially gets a period of rest. During REM sleep (the dreaming stage), heart rate rises again and becomes more variable, sometimes approaching waking levels for brief stretches.
Why Athletes Have Slower Heart Rates
Endurance training physically remodels the heart’s natural pacemaker, a cluster of cells called the sinus node. Up to 80% of endurance athletes develop resting heart rates below 60 bpm, and about one-third experience pauses of two seconds or more between beats, both of which are considered normal adaptations rather than signs of disease.
A study of 465 endurance athletes found that 38% had a sustained minimum heart rate at or below 40 bpm on a 24-hour heart monitor, and 2% dipped to 30 bpm or lower. Male athletes tend to have lower resting rates than female athletes, and genetics play a measurable role alongside training volume. Researchers found that a genetic score for heart rate remained a significant predictor of low resting rates even after accounting for age, sex, and fitness level. In other words, some people are simply wired for a slower pulse, and intense training amplifies that tendency.
When a Heart Rate Is Too Fast or Too Slow
A resting heart rate below 60 bpm is technically called bradycardia. For athletes and fit individuals, this is almost always harmless. It becomes a concern when it causes dizziness, fatigue, fainting, or shortness of breath, which usually means the heart isn’t pumping enough blood to meet the body’s needs.
On the fast end, a resting rate consistently above 100 bpm is called tachycardia. Serious symptoms are uncommon if the rate stays below 150 bpm in someone with a healthy heart, though people with existing heart conditions may feel symptoms at lower rates. A sustained resting rate well above 100 bpm that you can’t explain by exercise, anxiety, or caffeine is worth investigating.
Resting heart rate also has long-term implications. Large prospective studies consistently show a linear relationship between higher resting heart rate and increased risk of cardiovascular death, stroke, and heart failure. The relationship holds even after adjusting for other risk factors. A lower resting rate, within the normal range, generally reflects a more efficient cardiovascular system.
What Affects Your Heart Rate Day to Day
Several everyday factors can temporarily push your heart rate up or down. High ambient temperature and elevated body temperature both raise heart rate, because your cardiovascular system works harder to cool you down. Dehydration has a similar effect: with less blood volume, the heart compensates by beating faster. Caffeine, stress, and poor sleep can all nudge your resting rate higher on a given day. Medications like beta-blockers lower it, while decongestants and some asthma drugs raise it.
If you’re tracking your resting heart rate over time, consistency matters more than any single reading. Measure at the same time each day, ideally in the morning before getting out of bed, to get a reliable trend line.
Heart Rate During Exercise
Your maximum heart rate is roughly 220 minus your age. A 40-year-old, for example, has an estimated max of about 180 bpm. The American Heart Association recommends aiming for 50% to 70% of your max during moderate-intensity exercise (like brisk walking) and 70% to 85% during vigorous activity (like running or cycling hard). For that same 40-year-old, moderate effort means roughly 90 to 126 bpm, and vigorous effort means about 126 to 153 bpm.
These are guidelines, not rigid cutoffs. People on heart rate-lowering medications, for instance, will hit their target zones at different numbers. The perceived effort matters too: if you can talk but not sing, you’re likely in the moderate zone.
How to Check Your Heart Rate
The simplest method uses two fingers (index and middle, not your thumb) pressed lightly against an artery. The two best spots are the inside of your wrist, just below the base of the thumb, and the side of your neck beside the windpipe. Once you find the pulse, count beats for a full 60 seconds. A common shortcut is counting for 15 seconds and multiplying by four, though the full minute gives a more accurate result, especially if your rhythm feels irregular.
Wrist-worn fitness trackers offer continuous monitoring but come with tradeoffs in accuracy. A study published in JAMA Cardiology tested multiple consumer devices against a medical-grade electrocardiogram and found variable results. Some devices overestimated heart rate during moderate exercise by nearly 9 bpm, while others underestimated it by 6 to 7 bpm during vigorous activity. For casual fitness tracking, these margins are usually acceptable. For medical decisions, a manual check or a chest-strap monitor is more reliable.