To find your heart rate in beats per minute (BPM), place two fingers on the inside of your wrist near the base of your thumb, count the beats you feel for 30 seconds, and multiply by two. A normal resting heart rate for adults falls between 60 and 100 BPM. The whole process takes under a minute, and you don’t need any equipment.
How to Check Your Pulse at the Wrist
The wrist is the easiest and most reliable spot to measure your own heart rate. You’re feeling for the radial artery, which runs along the thumb side of your inner wrist. Place the tips of your index and middle fingers in the groove just below your wrist crease, on the same side as your thumb. Don’t use your thumb to check your pulse, because the thumb has its own pulse that can interfere with your count.
Once your fingers are positioned, press lightly until you feel a steady tapping. If you press too hard, you’ll actually block blood flow and lose the pulse. If you can’t find it, try flexing your wrist slightly or adjusting your finger position until the beat feels strongest. It can take a few seconds of gentle searching, especially if you’ve never done it before.
How to Check Your Pulse at the Neck
If you have trouble finding your wrist pulse, the carotid artery on the side of your neck gives a stronger signal. Place your index and middle fingers in the soft groove next to your windpipe, just below your jawline. Press gently until you feel the beat.
A few important precautions with the neck method: never press on both sides of your neck at the same time, as this can make you dizzy or cause you to faint. Don’t push too hard, since excessive pressure can restrict blood flow to your brain. And if you’ve ever been told you have plaque buildup in your neck arteries, skip this method entirely and use the wrist instead.
Counting the Beats
Once you feel a steady pulse, look at a clock or timer and count the number of beats over 30 seconds. Multiply that number by two to get your BPM. For example, if you count 35 beats in 30 seconds, your heart rate is 70 BPM.
You can also count for a full 60 seconds without multiplying, which gives a slightly more accurate result, especially if your heartbeat feels irregular. A shorter 15-second count (multiplied by four) works in a pinch but amplifies any miscounting. If you’re off by one beat in 15 seconds, that’s a 4 BPM error in your final number.
Getting an Accurate Resting Reading
Your heart rate changes constantly based on what you’re doing, so timing matters. For a true resting heart rate, measure in the morning before getting out of bed, or after sitting quietly for at least five minutes. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, smoking, food, and heavy physical activity for several hours beforehand, as all of these raise your heart rate above its baseline.
Sitting or lying down gives the most consistent results. Stress, dehydration, and even a full bladder can temporarily bump your reading higher. If you want to track trends over time, measure at the same time of day and in the same position each time.
What Your Number Means
A resting heart rate between 60 and 100 BPM is considered normal for adults. Highly trained athletes often rest in the 40 to 60 range because their hearts pump more blood per beat, so the heart doesn’t need to beat as frequently.
Below 60 BPM is called bradycardia. This is perfectly normal in fit people and during sleep, but it can signal a problem if it comes with dizziness, fatigue, or fainting. Above 100 BPM at rest is called tachycardia, which can result from anxiety, dehydration, fever, caffeine, or underlying heart conditions. A single high or low reading isn’t necessarily cause for concern, but a pattern of readings consistently outside the normal range is worth discussing with a doctor.
How Accurate Are Smartwatches and Fitness Trackers?
Wrist-worn devices like the Apple Watch, Fitbit, and Garmin use light sensors to detect blood flow through your skin. At rest, they perform reasonably well, typically landing within about 5 beats per minute of a clinical reading for people with a normal heart rhythm. That’s close enough for everyday tracking.
During exercise, accuracy drops significantly. A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that wearable devices underestimated heart rate by an average of 7 BPM during normal rhythms when combining rest and exercise data. At peak exercise intensity, individual readings were off by nearly 14 BPM on average. For people with irregular heart rhythms like atrial fibrillation, the errors were far larger, with some devices off by 30 BPM or more during intense activity.
Chest strap monitors, which detect electrical signals rather than light changes, tend to be more accurate during vigorous exercise. If precise heart rate data matters for your training, a chest strap is the better investment. For casual daily monitoring, a wrist-worn device gives you a useful ballpark.
Factors That Affect Your Heart Rate
- Physical activity: Your heart rate rises during exercise and can stay elevated for several minutes afterward.
- Emotions and stress: Anxiety, excitement, and anger all trigger a faster heartbeat.
- Temperature: Heat and humidity make your heart work harder to cool your body, adding 5 to 10 BPM in some cases.
- Medications: Some drugs for blood pressure, thyroid conditions, and mood disorders can raise or lower resting heart rate.
- Body position: Standing typically produces a slightly higher reading than sitting or lying down.
- Fitness level: Regular cardiovascular exercise gradually lowers your resting heart rate over weeks and months as your heart becomes more efficient.
Because so many variables influence heart rate, a single measurement is just a snapshot. Tracking your resting heart rate over days or weeks reveals more meaningful patterns than any individual reading.