Checking your pulse rate takes about 60 seconds and requires nothing but your fingertips. The two easiest places to feel it are your wrist and your neck, and once you know the technique, you can track your resting heart rate at home anytime.
Where to Feel for Your Pulse
The inside of your wrist is the most common spot. Place the tips of your index and middle fingers on the inner wrist, just below the base of your thumb. You’re feeling for the radial artery, which runs along a shallow groove right above the wrist joint. Press gently until you feel a steady throb against the bone underneath.
Your neck is the backup option. Find your pulse by placing two fingers on the side of your neck, roughly halfway between your earlobe and your chin, just to the side of your windpipe. This is the carotid artery, and it tends to be easier to locate because the pulse is stronger there. It’s especially useful if you have trouble finding your wrist pulse or your hands are cold.
Why You Should Never Use Your Thumb
Always use your index and middle fingers. Your thumb has its own pulse, and if you press it against your wrist or neck, you may end up counting your thumb’s heartbeat instead of (or mixed with) your actual pulse. This is one of the most common mistakes people make, and it leads to inaccurate readings.
How to Count and Calculate
Once you’ve found a steady beat, look at a clock or timer and count the number of beats for a full 60 seconds. That number is your heart rate in beats per minute (bpm). If you’re short on time, you can count for 15 seconds and multiply by four. The full 60-second count is more accurate, though, especially if your rhythm feels uneven.
Press firmly enough to feel the pulse but not so hard that you compress the artery and lose the beat. If the sensation disappears, lighten up slightly and reposition your fingers.
Getting an Accurate Resting Reading
Your resting heart rate is the number that matters most for tracking your baseline health, and several things can throw it off. Caffeine, nicotine, and sugar all raise heart rate temporarily. So do stress, illness (even a common cold), and certain medications like stimulants and some antidepressants. Other medications, such as beta blockers, lower it.
For the most reliable reading, sit quietly for at least five minutes before checking. Avoid measuring right after coffee, a cigarette, exercise, or a stressful moment. First thing in the morning, before getting out of bed, is ideal if you want to track changes over time.
What a Normal Pulse Looks Like
For adults 18 and older, a normal resting heart rate falls between 60 and 100 bpm. Children run higher: toddlers typically range from 98 to 140 bpm, school-age kids from 75 to 118 bpm, and teenagers settle into the adult range of 60 to 100 bpm. Newborns can be as high as 205 bpm, which sounds alarming but is completely normal.
Highly fit athletes often sit well below 60 bpm. Very trained endurance athletes can have resting rates closer to 40 bpm. A lower resting rate generally means the heart pumps more blood per beat, so it doesn’t need to beat as often. If you’re active and otherwise healthy, a rate in the 50s is typically nothing to worry about.
A resting rate consistently above 100 bpm in an adult is considered fast (tachycardia). A rate below 60 bpm is technically slow (bradycardia), though population studies often use 50 bpm as a more practical cutoff since many healthy people sit in the 50s without any problems.
Paying Attention to Rhythm
While you’re counting, notice whether the beats feel evenly spaced. A healthy pulse has a regular, predictable rhythm, like a metronome. Occasional skipped beats happen to almost everyone and are usually harmless. They feel like a brief pause followed by a slightly stronger thump as the heart catches up.
An irregular rhythm is different. It might feel like a series of fast flutters, a pounding that starts and stops abruptly, or beats that seem randomly spaced with no predictable pattern. If you notice persistent irregularity, especially alongside dizziness, chest pain, shortness of breath, or feeling faint, that’s worth flagging to a doctor. These can be signs of an arrhythmia, which is a problem with the heart’s electrical signaling.
Manual Pulse vs. Smartwatches
Wrist-worn fitness trackers and smartwatches use optical sensors that shine light into your skin and measure blood flow. They’re convenient for continuous monitoring, but their accuracy depends on what you’re doing. Walking tends to make them read slightly high, while activities like typing can cause readings to dip below the true rate, likely because wrist movement disrupts the sensor’s contact with your skin.
A manual pulse check remains the simplest way to verify what your device is telling you. If your watch shows a number that surprises you, sit down, find your radial pulse, and count for 60 seconds. That hands-on measurement is still the gold standard for a spot check.
Numbers Worth Acting On
A resting heart rate below 35 to 40 bpm or above 100 bpm is worth getting evaluated, particularly if the reading is unusual for you. The number alone matters less than the combination of an abnormal rate plus symptoms: chest pain, palpitations, dizziness, fainting, or shortness of breath. If those show up together, that warrants prompt medical attention rather than a wait-and-see approach.
Tracking your resting pulse over weeks or months gives you a personal baseline that’s far more useful than any single reading. A gradual increase might reflect stress, poor sleep, or deconditioning. A gradual decrease after starting an exercise program is a sign your cardiovascular fitness is improving. Either way, knowing your number puts you in a better position to notice when something changes.