Your pulse rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute. For most adults at rest, a normal pulse falls between 60 and 100 beats per minute (bpm). That number shifts depending on your age, fitness level, medications, and what you’re doing at the moment you check it.
Pulse Rate vs. Heart Rate
Pulse rate and heart rate mean the same thing. Your heartbeat is the contraction of your heart muscle as it pumps blood to your lungs and the rest of your body. Each contraction sends a wave of pressure through your arteries, and that wave is what you feel when you press your fingers to your wrist or neck. Counting those pulses for one minute gives you your pulse rate.
Normal Resting Pulse by Age
A “resting” pulse means you’re sitting or lying down, awake, and haven’t been exercising. The normal range varies significantly with age, especially in children. Newborns have hearts that beat much faster because their hearts are smaller and need more contractions to circulate the same volume of blood.
- Newborn (birth to 4 weeks): 100 to 205 bpm
- Infant (4 weeks to 1 year): 100 to 180 bpm
- Toddler (1 to 3 years): 98 to 140 bpm
- Preschool (3 to 5 years): 80 to 120 bpm
- School age (5 to 12 years): 75 to 118 bpm
- Adolescent (13 to 17 years): 60 to 100 bpm
- Adult (18 and older): 60 to 100 bpm
Your pulse may dip lower while you sleep. That’s normal and not a reason for concern on its own.
What Affects Your Pulse Rate
Stress, caffeine, and excitement can all temporarily speed up your heart. So can dehydration, fever, and pain. On the other side, relaxation techniques, sleep, and certain medications can slow it down.
Some common drug classes have a notable effect. Beta-blockers, often prescribed for high blood pressure, work specifically by slowing the heart rate. Certain calcium channel blockers do the same. Stimulant medications for ADHD, bronchodilators used in asthma inhalers, and even some antidepressants can push your pulse higher. If you’ve noticed a change in your resting pulse after starting a new medication, that’s worth mentioning to your prescriber.
Why Athletes Have Lower Pulse Rates
Endurance athletes often have resting pulse rates in the 40s or 50s. This isn’t a problem. Regular cardiovascular training strengthens the heart muscle, allowing it to pump more blood with each contraction. A more efficient heart doesn’t need to beat as often to deliver the same amount of blood to the body. In someone who is otherwise healthy and has no symptoms like dizziness or fainting, a low pulse from fitness requires no treatment.
When a Pulse Rate Is Too High or Too Low
Clinically, a resting heart rate below 60 bpm is called bradycardia, and a rate above 100 bpm is called tachycardia. But these are thresholds, not automatic red flags. Plenty of healthy people sit just outside the 60 to 100 range without any issue.
The pulse rate itself matters less than how you feel. A pulse of 55 in someone who runs regularly is unremarkable. A pulse of 110 after two cups of coffee will likely settle on its own. What deserves urgent attention is an unusual pulse rate paired with chest pain, shortness of breath, or fainting. These combinations can signal a serious heart rhythm problem and warrant emergency care.
How to Check Your Pulse Manually
Sit down and rest quietly for a few minutes before you start. You can check at two spots: your wrist or your neck.
For your wrist, turn one hand palm up. Place the tips of your index and middle fingers on the inside of the opposite wrist, just below the thumb, in the groove between the bone and the tendon. Press lightly until you feel a steady tapping. Pressing too hard can actually block blood flow and make the pulse harder to detect.
For your neck, place those same two fingertips in the groove beside your windpipe on one side. Don’t press on both sides of your neck at the same time, as this can make you dizzy or cause you to faint.
Once you feel the beat, count for a full 60 seconds while watching a clock. A quicker method is to count for 15 seconds and multiply by four, though the full minute gives you a more accurate number and lets you notice any irregularity in the rhythm.
How Accurate Are Smartwatches?
Wrist-worn heart rate monitors are reasonably reliable at rest. A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that at rest, wearable devices were off by an average of about 5 beats per minute compared to a medical-grade ECG in people with normal heart rhythms. That’s close enough to be useful for everyday tracking.
Accuracy drops during exercise. At peak exertion, the average error grew to nearly 14 bpm in people with normal rhythms. For people with atrial fibrillation (a common irregular heartbeat), the numbers were much worse: off by about 29 bpm on average during exercise, with some devices deviating by 30 bpm or more. If you have an irregular heartbeat, wearable readings during exercise are not dependable. A manual check or a chest-strap monitor will be more reliable.
Using Your Pulse Rate During Exercise
Your pulse is one of the simplest ways to gauge workout intensity. To estimate your maximum heart rate, multiply your age by 0.7 and subtract the result from 208. For a 40-year-old, that works out to 208 minus 28, or 180 bpm.
From there, exercise intensity breaks down into two main zones. Moderate intensity, the kind you’d hit during a brisk walk or casual bike ride, falls between 50% and 70% of your maximum. For that same 40-year-old, that’s roughly 90 to 126 bpm. Vigorous intensity, like running or high-intensity interval training, corresponds to 70% to 85% of your maximum, or about 126 to 153 bpm.
These are estimates. The formula works well for population averages but can be off by 10 to 15 bpm for any individual. How you feel during exercise, whether you can hold a conversation or are gasping for air, remains a reliable complement to the numbers on your wrist.