For most adults, a healthy resting heart rate falls between 60 and 100 beats per minute. That range applies whether you’re 18 or 80, though where you land within it depends on your fitness level, medications, and overall health. A lower resting rate generally signals a more efficient heart.
Normal Resting Heart Rate by Age
Children’s hearts beat significantly faster than adults’. A newborn’s resting heart rate can range from 100 to 205 bpm, which sounds alarming by adult standards but is completely normal for a heart that small. As children grow, the range gradually narrows:
- Newborn (birth to 4 weeks): 100 to 205 bpm
- Infant (1 month 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+): 60 to 100 bpm
By the teenage years, heart rate settles into the same 60 to 100 bpm range that applies for the rest of adulthood. These numbers assume you’re awake, calm, and haven’t just exercised or had coffee.
What a Lower Resting Rate Means
Highly trained endurance athletes often have resting heart rates around 40 bpm. That’s well below the “normal” floor of 60, but it reflects a heart that pumps more blood with each beat, so it doesn’t need to beat as often. If you exercise regularly, a resting rate in the 50s is common and generally a good sign.
Clinically, a heart rate below 60 bpm is called bradycardia. It only becomes a concern when it causes symptoms like dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath, or fainting. Plenty of healthy people sit below 60 without any issues. The number alone doesn’t tell the whole story.
When Your Heart Rate Is Too High
A resting heart rate consistently above 100 bpm is called tachycardia. Temporary spikes from stress, caffeine, dehydration, or illness are normal and usually resolve on their own. A persistently elevated rate at rest, especially above 100 bpm with no obvious trigger, can signal thyroid problems, anemia, heart rhythm disorders, or chronic stress responses worth investigating.
Even within the “normal” range, research has consistently linked higher resting heart rates with greater cardiovascular risk over time. If your resting rate sits in the 80s or 90s without obvious cause, improving your cardiovascular fitness through regular aerobic exercise is one of the most reliable ways to bring it down.
Your Heart Rate During Exercise
During a workout, you want your heart rate elevated, but how high depends on your goals. The American Heart Association breaks exercise intensity into two zones based on your maximum heart rate:
- Moderate intensity: 50% to 70% of your max heart rate
- Vigorous intensity: 70% to 85% of your max heart rate
To find your estimated maximum heart rate, subtract your age from 220. A 40-year-old would have an estimated max of 180 bpm. Moderate exercise for that person would mean keeping their heart rate between 90 and 126 bpm, while vigorous exercise would land between 126 and 153 bpm. A newer formula from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (211 minus 0.64 times your age) tends to be more accurate, especially for older adults. For the same 40-year-old, that gives a max of about 185 bpm.
Neither formula is perfect. They’re population averages, and individual max heart rates can vary by 10 to 20 beats in either direction. If a heart rate zone feels way too easy or impossibly hard, trust your body over the math.
Your Heart Rate During Sleep
Your heart rate drops while you sleep, typically running 20% to 30% lower than your daytime resting rate. For most healthy adults, that translates to roughly 50 to 75 bpm overnight. If your daytime resting rate is 70, expect to see numbers in the mid-50s to low 60s on a sleep tracker.
Brief dips into the 40s during deep sleep can be normal, particularly if you’re physically active. Sustained rates below 40, or rates that spike above your normal resting range during sleep, are worth mentioning to a doctor. Large overnight swings can sometimes point to sleep apnea or other conditions that disrupt normal sleep patterns.
Heart Rate During Pregnancy
Pregnancy raises your resting heart rate progressively across all three trimesters. The increase typically peaks in the third trimester at 10 to 20 bpm above your pre-pregnancy baseline, roughly a 20% to 25% jump. If your pre-pregnancy resting rate was 70 bpm, seeing 85 to 90 bpm by late pregnancy is expected. This happens because your blood volume increases substantially, and your heart works harder to supply the placenta.
What Else Affects Your Heart Rate
Several factors can shift your resting heart rate independent of fitness or health conditions. Caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol all raise it temporarily. Dehydration forces your heart to beat faster to maintain blood pressure. Stress and anxiety activate your fight-or-flight response, which can keep your rate elevated for hours. Even a hot room will push your heart rate up as your body works to cool itself.
Certain medications lower heart rate as a primary or side effect. Beta-blockers, some calcium channel blockers, and the heart rhythm drug amiodarone are among the most common culprits, with reported rates of slowed heart rhythm ranging from under 1% to 25% of users depending on the drug and dose. Some antidepressants in the SSRI class can also subtly lower heart rate. On the other end, bronchodilators used for asthma and some stimulant medications can push it higher. If you’ve started a new medication and notice your heart rate has shifted noticeably, that’s useful information for your prescriber.
How to Check Your Heart Rate
Place the tips of your index and middle fingers on the inside of your wrist, just below the base of your thumb. Press lightly until you feel a pulse. Count the beats for 15 seconds using a clock or watch, then multiply by four to get your beats per minute. For the most accurate resting measurement, check first thing in the morning before you get out of bed, or after sitting quietly for at least five minutes.
Wearable devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers provide continuous readings, which is useful for spotting trends over time. They’re generally reliable for resting and moderate-intensity readings but can lose accuracy during high-intensity exercise or if the band is loose. If a reading seems off, cross-check with a manual count.