You can count your heart rate in under a minute using just two fingers and a clock. The most reliable spot is your wrist, where the radial artery runs close to the surface on the thumb side. A normal resting heart rate for adults falls between 60 and 100 beats per minute (bpm).
Finding Your Pulse at the Wrist
Turn one hand so your palm faces up. Place the tips of your index and middle fingers from your other hand on the inside of your wrist, in the soft groove between the wrist bone and the tendon on your thumb side. Press lightly until you feel a steady tapping. That’s your radial artery, and it’s the easiest pulse point for most people to find.
Don’t use your thumb to feel for a pulse. Your thumb has its own pulse, and you’ll end up counting that instead of what you’re trying to measure. Use just your index and middle fingertips, and press gently. Too much pressure can actually compress the artery and make the pulse harder to detect.
Using the Neck Pulse
If you can’t find the pulse at your wrist, try the side of your neck. Place your index and middle fingers in the soft area just beside your windpipe, below your jawline. The carotid artery carries a strong pulse that’s usually easy to feel, especially right after exercise.
Be careful with this one if you’re over 65. Pressing too hard on the carotid artery can make you lightheaded or dizzy, and in rare cases cause a fall. Use light pressure, and only check one side of your neck at a time.
How to Count the Beats
Once you feel a steady pulse, watch a clock or timer and count each beat you feel. The gold standard is counting for a full 60 seconds, which gives you your heart rate in beats per minute with no math required. Nursing textbooks recommend this full-minute count for the best accuracy.
If you’re short on time, count for 15 seconds and multiply by 4, or count for 30 seconds and multiply by 2. A 10-second count multiplied by 6 also works but introduces more room for error. Every beat you miss or add during a short window gets magnified by the multiplier. If your count is off by one beat in a 15-second window, your final number is off by four. For a quick check during exercise, the 15-second method is practical enough. For tracking changes over time, the full 60 seconds is worth the wait.
Normal Resting Heart Rate by Age
Resting heart rate varies significantly by age. Here’s what’s typical when you’re awake and sitting still:
- 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
- Preschool age (3 to 5 years): 80 to 120 bpm
- School age (5 to 12 years): 75 to 118 bpm
- Adolescents (13 to 17 years): 60 to 100 bpm
- Adults (18 and older): 60 to 100 bpm
These numbers drop during sleep and climb with any physical activity, caffeine, stress, or illness. Well-trained athletes often have resting rates in the 40s or 50s because their hearts pump more blood per beat.
When to Check Your Heart Rate
For the most accurate resting heart rate, check it first thing in the morning before you get out of bed, or after sitting quietly for at least five minutes. Avoid measuring right after exercise, caffeine, or a stressful event unless you’re specifically trying to capture your active or recovery heart rate.
Tracking your resting heart rate over weeks can reveal useful patterns. A gradual decrease often reflects improving fitness. A sudden or sustained increase, especially one you notice without any obvious cause like illness or poor sleep, can signal that something is worth paying attention to. A resting rate consistently below 60 bpm is called bradycardia, and a rate consistently above 100 bpm at rest is called tachycardia. Either can be perfectly normal depending on your fitness level and circumstances, but either can also point to a heart rhythm issue worth investigating.
Calculating Your Target Heart Rate for Exercise
To know whether you’re working out at the right intensity, you need two numbers: your maximum heart rate and your target zone. The classic formula for maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age, but a more accurate version based on a large meta-analysis is 208 minus 0.7 times your age. For a 40-year-old, that’s 208 minus 28, giving a maximum of 180 bpm.
The American Heart Association defines two exercise intensity zones based on that maximum:
- Moderate intensity: 50% to 70% of your max
- Vigorous intensity: 70% to 85% of your max
For that same 40-year-old with a max of 180, moderate exercise means keeping your heart rate between 90 and 126 bpm, while vigorous exercise falls between 126 and 153 bpm. To check during a workout, pause briefly, find your wrist or neck pulse, count for 15 seconds, and multiply by 4.
Heart Rate Recovery After Exercise
How quickly your heart rate drops after you stop exercising is a strong indicator of cardiovascular fitness. This is called heart rate recovery, and it’s measured by comparing your peak heart rate during exercise to your heart rate one minute after you stop.
A drop of 18 beats or more in that first minute is generally considered good recovery. If your heart rate barely budges after a minute of rest, it may suggest your cardiovascular system is working harder than it should to keep up. Tracking this number over months of consistent exercise is one of the most practical ways to see your fitness improving, often before you notice any difference in how workouts feel.