Counting your heartbeats takes about 30 seconds, two fingers, and a spot on your wrist or neck where an artery runs close to the skin. A normal resting heart rate for adults falls between 60 and 100 beats per minute, so that’s the range you’re checking against.
Where to Find Your Pulse
The two easiest places to feel your heartbeat are your wrist and your neck. At the wrist, you’re feeling the radial artery. Turn one hand palm-up and place the tips of your index and middle fingers on the inside of your opposite wrist, just below the base of your thumb. You should feel a gentle thump under your fingertips.
If the wrist isn’t working, try your neck. Place those same two fingertips in the soft groove just to one side of your windpipe. This is the carotid artery, and it tends to produce a stronger, more obvious pulse. Don’t press on both sides of your neck at the same time.
Use your index and middle fingers only. Your thumb has its own pulse, and using it can cause you to accidentally count your own thumb’s beats instead of the ones you’re measuring.
How to Count and Calculate
Once you feel a steady rhythm, watch a clock or timer and count the number of beats you feel in 30 seconds. Double that number to get your heart rate in beats per minute (bpm). So if you count 36 beats in 30 seconds, your resting heart rate is 72 bpm.
You can also count for a full 60 seconds for a more precise reading, which is especially useful if your heartbeat feels uneven. The longer you count, the less a miscount throws off your result. For a quick check, counting for 15 seconds and multiplying by four works, but the margin for error is larger since being off by just one beat changes your result by four.
Getting an Accurate Reading
Your heart rate shifts constantly based on what you’ve been doing, eating, and feeling. To get a true resting measurement, sit quietly for at least five minutes before checking. Harvard Health recommends avoiding measurement within one to two hours after exercise or a stressful event, since your heart rate can stay elevated well after the activity ends. Wait at least an hour after drinking coffee or other caffeinated drinks, which can raise your rate and cause palpitations.
Don’t check your pulse after standing or sitting in one position for a long time, as both can skew results. For the most reliable number, take three separate readings and average them. First thing in the morning, before getting out of bed, tends to give the most consistent baseline.
What Your Number Means
For adults and adolescents 13 and older, a normal resting heart rate is 60 to 100 bpm. Athletes and people who exercise regularly often have resting rates in the 40s or 50s, because a stronger heart pumps more blood per beat and doesn’t need to beat as often.
Children have naturally faster hearts. Typical resting ranges by age:
- Newborns (birth to 4 weeks): 100 to 205 bpm
- Infants (4 weeks to 1 year): 100 to 180 bpm
- Toddlers (1 to 3 years): 98 to 140 bpm
- Preschoolers (3 to 5 years): 80 to 120 bpm
- School age (5 to 12 years): 75 to 118 bpm
These ranges apply when awake and at rest. Heart rates drop during sleep and rise with activity.
What to Notice Beyond the Number
While counting, pay attention to the rhythm itself, not just the speed. A healthy pulse feels like a steady, evenly spaced tap. If you notice fluttering, a pounding sensation, or beats that seem to skip or pause, that’s worth noting. A premature heartbeat often feels like a skipped beat followed by a harder thump as the heart catches up. Occasional skipped beats are common and usually harmless, but a pattern of irregular rhythm, or a resting rate consistently above 100 or below 60 (in non-athletes), is worth bringing up with a doctor.
When Your Pulse Is Hard to Find
Some people have a naturally faint pulse at the wrist, especially if they’re dehydrated, cold, or have low blood pressure. A few tricks can help. Roll up sleeves and remove watches or bracelets so you’re touching bare skin. Gently extend your wrist backward (bending it slightly toward the back of your hand) to bring the artery closer to the surface. If you started near the center of the wrist, slide your fingers closer to the thumb side and move them slowly toward your elbow until you feel a beat.
If one wrist isn’t cooperating, try the other. People sometimes find the pulse is stronger on one side. The neck is also a reliable backup, since the carotid artery is larger and typically easier to feel.
Smartwatches vs. Manual Counting
Wrist-based optical sensors on smartwatches work well at rest, generally landing within a few beats of a manual count. During exercise, however, the accuracy drops significantly. Reports from runners using popular fitness watches show discrepancies of 15 to 30 bpm compared to chest strap monitors during high-intensity activity, with readings sometimes lagging, spiking, or locking onto a cadence instead of actual heart rate. One consistent finding: a snug (not tight) fit on the watch improves accuracy considerably.
For everyday resting checks, a smartwatch gives you a reasonable estimate and the convenience of tracking trends over time. For precise readings during workouts, a chest strap is more reliable. And for a quick, no-tech check at any moment, your two fingers and 30 seconds remain the simplest tool available.