To check your pulse, place two fingertips on the inside of your wrist, just below the base of your thumb, and count the beats you feel over 15 seconds. Multiply that number by four to get your heart rate in beats per minute. It takes less than 30 seconds once you know where to press, and it can tell you a surprising amount about your heart health.
Finding Your Radial Pulse (Wrist)
The wrist is the easiest and most common place to check your own pulse. Turn one hand palm-up and look at the base of your thumb. The artery you’re looking for runs along the inner edge of the wrist, roughly in line with your thumb.
Place the pads of your index and middle fingers on that spot and press gently until you feel a rhythmic tapping. You don’t need much pressure. If you’re pressing hard enough to feel the bone beneath, lighten up. The artery sits close to the surface, and too much force can actually flatten it and make the pulse harder to detect. Shift your fingers slightly in any direction if you don’t feel anything right away. Everyone’s anatomy is a little different, and a small adjustment is usually all it takes.
One important detail: don’t use your thumb. Your thumb has its own pulse, and if you press it against your wrist, you may end up counting your thumb’s heartbeat instead of the one you’re trying to measure. Always use your index and middle fingers.
Finding Your Carotid Pulse (Neck)
The neck gives a stronger signal than the wrist, which makes it useful when you’re exercising or when a wrist pulse is hard to find. The carotid artery runs along each side of your windpipe, in the soft groove between the windpipe and the large muscle that angles down the side of your neck. Aim for the middle third of the neck, roughly at Adam’s apple level.
Use two or three fingertips and press gently into that groove. You should feel a strong, steady beat. There are two critical rules here. First, only check one side at a time. Pressing on both carotid arteries simultaneously can reduce blood flow to the brain and stimulate a nerve that slows your heart rate. Second, avoid pressing high up near the jaw. The upper third of the neck contains a pressure-sensitive area called the carotid sinus, and firm pressure there can cause a sudden drop in heart rate or blood pressure, particularly in older adults.
Counting and Calculating Your Heart Rate
Once you feel a steady beat, look at a clock or timer. Count the number of beats over 15 seconds, then multiply by four. If you count 18 beats in 15 seconds, your heart rate is 72 beats per minute (bpm). Harvard Health Publishing recommends this 15-second method as a quick, reliable approach.
If the rhythm feels uneven or you’re having trouble getting a consistent count, extend to a full 30 seconds and multiply by two. A 60-second count gives the most accurate number but is rarely necessary for a routine check. The key is starting your count on a beat and timing precisely.
What a Normal Heart Rate Looks Like
For adults 18 and older, a normal resting heart rate falls between 60 and 100 bpm. Athletes and people who exercise regularly often have resting rates in the 40s or 50s, which reflects a more efficient heart, not a problem. Children run faster: a newborn’s resting rate can range from 100 to 205 bpm, a toddler’s from 98 to 140, and a school-age child’s from 75 to 118. By adolescence, the range settles into the adult window of 60 to 100.
Your resting heart rate is most accurate when you’ve been sitting or lying still for at least five minutes. Caffeine, stress, dehydration, and recent physical activity all push the number up temporarily. For the most consistent reading, check it first thing in the morning before getting out of bed.
What to Pay Attention to Beyond the Number
Heart rate is only part of what your pulse tells you. While you’re counting, notice the rhythm and the strength of each beat. A healthy pulse feels steady and evenly spaced, like a metronome. Occasional skipped beats or extra beats are common and usually harmless, but a persistently irregular rhythm, where the spacing between beats is unpredictable, is worth noting.
The strength of the pulse matters too. A normal pulse feels firm and easy to detect without much pressure. A weak, barely-there pulse (sometimes called “thready”) can be associated with conditions like heart failure, dehydration, or heat exhaustion. A pulse that feels unusually forceful or pounding (called “bounding”) can show up after exercise or during stress, but at rest it may be linked to high blood pressure or fluid overload. Neither of these on its own is a diagnosis, but a persistent change from your usual pulse quality is useful information to share with a doctor.
Other Places You Can Check a Pulse
The wrist and neck are the go-to spots, but pulses can be felt at several other locations. The inside of the elbow (brachial artery) is commonly used for blood pressure readings and is the preferred site for checking an infant’s pulse, since a baby’s short, soft neck makes the carotid harder to locate safely. The top of the foot, just in front of the ankle bone, has a pulse point that doctors use to assess circulation in the legs. The groin crease contains the femoral artery, which gives a strong signal but is impractical for self-checking.
For everyday use, stick with the wrist or neck. The other sites are mainly useful in specific medical scenarios.
Signs That Warrant Attention
A resting heart rate consistently above 100 bpm (tachycardia) or below 60 bpm (bradycardia, in non-athletes) can indicate an underlying issue worth investigating. Population studies sometimes use 50 bpm as a more practical lower cutoff, since many healthy people naturally sit in the 50s without symptoms.
The symptoms that pair with an abnormal pulse are what elevate it from “interesting” to “important.” A heart that regularly feels like it’s racing, fluttering, or skipping beats deserves a medical evaluation, according to the Mayo Clinic. If those sensations come with chest pain, shortness of breath, or fainting, that’s an emergency and warrants calling 911 or going to an emergency room immediately.
Tracking your resting heart rate over days or weeks gives you a personal baseline. A gradual increase, say from your usual 68 to a consistent 85, can be an early signal of stress, illness, dehydration, or a change in fitness. That trend is often more informative than any single reading.