Fitness test
Sit quietly for five minutes, find your pulse at your wrist or neck, and count the beats for 30 seconds, then double it. Enter the count with your age and sex to see where your resting heart rate sits among healthy adults in a large US national survey, and whether it's inside the usual adult range of 60 to 100 beats a minute. A lower rate is common if you're fit, but a number on its own isn't a diagnosis: what matters more is how you feel, and whether your pulse is regular. If a fast, slow or irregular pulse comes with dizziness, faintness, chest pain or breathlessness, the page tells you when to see a GP and when to call 999.
Choose your sex and enter your age, then the beats you counted and for how many seconds, or a reading from a device. Tick any box that applies: feeling unwell or an irregular pulse puts that advice first.
68beats a minute
Between the 25th and 50th percentile for women aged 40 to 59 in the US national survey: in the middle half.
Within the usual adult range of 60 to 100.
| Percentile | Beats a minute |
|---|---|
| 1st | 51 |
| 2.5th | 53 |
| 5th | 56 |
| 10th | 59 |
| 25thyour rate reached this | 64 |
| 50th | 71 |
| 75th | 79 |
| 90th | 86 |
| 95th | 92 |
| 97.5th | 97 |
| 99th | 101 |
Half of healthy women aged 40 to 59 in the survey had a resting rate between 64 and 79 (median 71).
Your resting heart rate moves a few beats from day to day on its own. Measure the same way on two or three days and look at the average and the trend, not one number. It's also the resting rate our heart rate zones calculator asks for.
A resting heart rate isn't a diagnosis. Fitter people tend to have lower rates, and higher rates go with higher risks across large groups, but that's an association, and your number says little about your own health on its own. See your GP if it's consistently fast, slow or irregular, especially with dizziness or faintness.
If checking your pulse is making you anxious, take a break from it: the British Heart Foundation notes that trackers can increase health anxiety.
You need a watch or phone with a seconds timer and somewhere quiet to sit. These are the British Heart Foundation's (BHF's) instructions. The US survey behind the norms took people's pulse sitting, after about 4 minutes' rest, counting for 30 seconds and doubling it, so the two agree closely. Avoiding a big meal, alcohol or a hot bath first, and averaging two or three days, are our additions (editorial).
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) give 60 to 100 beats a minute for adults at rest, and the BHF adds that some people sit outside that range. Below 60 is common if you're very fit, asleep or taking a beta blocker.
A US government survey report calls it the traditional clinical consensus definition and notes a proposal to change it to 50 to 90. In its healthy sample, 15.2% of men and 6.9% of women were under 60.
Source 4
The scorer compares you with healthy Americans of your age and sex whose pulse a doctor took once, sitting: 14,200 adults, with the 16 to 19 group used for ages 18 and 19. Adult values barely change with age, and women's rates run about 3 beats higher than men's.
In 92,457 people wearing a fitness tracker, the average resting rate was 65.5, worked out mostly during sleep, so a watch's figure usually reads lower than a seated pulse count.
Source 6
Across 191 studies, regular exercise lowered resting heart rate by about 3 beats a minute on average.
Source 16
Higher rates go with higher death rates across large groups, but that's an association. See a GP if your rate is consistently fast, slow or irregular, especially with dizziness or faintness.
The US national survey's resting pulse in beats a minute at the 1st, 2.5th, 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, 95th, 97.5th and 99th percentiles, printed from the scorer's own table. The scorer places your rate between the published percentiles either side of it for your age and sex; a rate equal to a percentile counts as reaching it.
Each row gives the age group, the number of men and their average, then the percentiles in order. The report didn't calculate the 1st or 99th percentile for men aged 80 and over.
Source 4
Each row gives the age group, the number of women and their average, then the percentiles in order. The report didn't calculate the 1st percentile for women aged 80 and over.
Source 4
The US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) examined 49,114 people from 1999 to 2008, in a sample designed to represent the US population living at home. The report kept 35,302 people with no condition or medicine likely to affect the pulse, 14,200 of them adults. It left out 9,083 people taking medicines that change the heart rate, such as beta blockers, 1,331 pregnant women, 523 people with an irregular pulse, 462 with abnormal thyroid results and 740 with signs of a current infection. A doctor took each person's pulse once, sitting, after about 4 minutes' rest, by counting for 30 seconds and doubling it.
The authors list the limits: one measurement each, counted by hand, giving only even numbers, with no data on temperature, caffeine or medicines bought without a prescription. They say it's unclear how readings from automated devices would compare.
Source 4
Adult values barely change with age: from 20 upwards, the median is 67 to 69 for men and 70 to 74 for women (our reading of the table). Women's rates run about 3 beats higher, which the BHF puts down to women's hearts tending to be slightly smaller and pumping less blood with each beat. In the healthy sample, 15.2% of men and 6.9% of women were under 60, and 1.3% and 1.9% were over 100.
It's the only national set of resting pulse percentiles by age and sex we could open, with its method and population stated. We found no UK equivalent (editorial), so the scorer also shows the NHS's and BHF's 60 to 100 beside it.
Source 4
The scorer uses the 16 to 19 row for ages 18 and 19. Under 18 it gives no percentile, because children's rates are higher and fall with age, and shows instead the survey's median resting pulse for the child's age, in beats a minute:
The survey counted the heartbeat of children aged 4 and under with a stethoscope rather than at the wrist, so their figures don't compare with a pulse count at home. A review of 143,346 children found that published children's ranges often disagree with ranges built from the evidence. If you're worried about a child's heart rate, see a GP or call NHS 111.
As the scorer works them out:
Source 4
In a group measured again on a second day, a single seated count agreed only moderately with the other day's (an intraclass correlation of 0.69, where 1 is perfect agreement). In 92,457 tracker wearers, each person's daily resting rate varied with a standard deviation of about 3 beats. A 15-second count turns each miscounted beat into 4 beats a minute (our arithmetic), and in a study of 103 nurses, 30 seconds was the most accurate and efficient counting time. Measure the same way on two or three days and use the average (editorial).
The NHS says "A normal resting heart rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm)", and the BHF adds that "some people may have a heart rate outside this range". The US survey report calls the range a traditional clinical consensus definition, and notes a proposal to change it to 50 to 90. If you're fit and well with no symptoms, the BHF says to try not to worry about a rate below 60.
Regular exercise lowers resting heart rate a little, and in Danish men it was lower in those who were fitter. But in 92,457 tracker wearers, sex, age, body mass index and sleep together explained no more than 10% of the differences between people, and individuals' usual rates differed by as much as 70 beats a minute. The American Heart Association (AHA) says a low amount of physical activity doesn't usually change the resting heart rate much. It's a rough guide for groups and a poor one for comparing two people (our reading).
Across 46 studies of 1.2 million people, each 10 beats a minute higher went with a 9% higher risk of death from any cause, and a rate above 80, against the lowest group, with a 45% higher risk, though the studies varied a lot. A second review of 87 studies found similar links with heart failure and cancer. These are associations: they don't show that heart rate causes them.
In 2,798 Danish men followed for 16 years, resting rate still went with death after allowing for measured fitness and leisure activity: men above 90 had about three times the risk of men at 50 or below. It's one cohort, of men only.
Source 20
In a genetic study, a resting rate 5 beats a minute higher because of genes went with 20% higher mortality, and genes linked with heart rate overlapped with genes linked with death.
Source 23
No trial has tested whether lowering your resting heart rate makes you live longer. The exercise that lowers it has benefits of its own, so train for those, not for the number.
In athletes, short bursts of heavy training raised resting heart rate moderately, but the authors say the changes may "fall within the day-to-day variability", which limits its use for spotting overtraining.
Source 24
Our VO2 max calculator can estimate VO2 max, the most oxygen your body can use, from your maximum and resting heart rates. That method came from 46 well-trained men, where it was about 3 out with a measured maximum, so treat it as a rough estimate.
Source 25
Fitness, sleep, and beta blockers or other medicines that slow the heart all lower it, and ageing can bring a naturally low rate. It's common for anyone's rate to drop below 60 while they sleep.
In 18 beginners who jogged or walked three times a week for a year, resting heart rate fell by 9 beats a minute: about half of the fall came in the first 3 months, and all of it by 6 months. In 507 previously inactive adults, 20 weeks of cycling lowered it by 2.7 to 4.6 beats, and in older adults, endurance training lowered it by about 6 beats on average, more with programmes longer than 30 weeks.
Exercise, alcohol and smoking raise it for a while, as do an infection, a fever, anaemia, an overactive thyroid, anxiety and stress, hot weather and dehydration. So can caffeine and some medicines, such as decongestants, some asthma inhalers, levothyroxine and medicines for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Resting heart rate rises by about 10 to 20 beats a minute from early pregnancy to delivery, in small studies a review brought together.
Source 27
Your rate may go up a little when you first stand up. If it jumps a lot and you feel dizzy, that can be a sign of postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS); a GP may check your heart rate and blood pressure before and after you stand.
In tracker data, the average resting rate was about 2 beats higher in winter than in summer, and it rose and fell over the menstrual cycle in women of childbearing age.
Source 6
Across 44 studies, wrist devices matched an electrocardiogram (ECG) or a chest strap closely on average: 0.01 beats a minute low at rest and 0.40 low during sleep.
Source 8
In 53 adults sitting for 4 minutes, consumer wearables' readings were on average 7.2 beats a minute out (the mean absolute error), with no significant effect of skin tone.
Source 9
In 102 people at rest in hospital with atrial fibrillation or other rhythm problems, two smartwatches read low, by about 8 and 28 beats a minute on average. With an irregular pulse, count by hand for a full minute.
Source 10
In 92,457 tracker wearers, the device worked out resting heart rate mostly during sleep, when heart rates drop, so it usually reads lower than a seated pulse count: their average was 65.5, against seated adult averages of 70 to 76 in the US survey (our comparison).
In 50 cardiology clinic patients, a phone camera app's readings agreed closely with an ECG (an intraclass correlation of 0.90). Across 66,788 app users measuring at any time of day, the average was 79.1.
Source 11
Chest straps read the heart's electrical signal, and the BHF calls them "generally the most accurate type" of heart rate monitor.
Source 12
If you see a worrying change on your device, check your pulse by hand. Don't pay too much attention to any one-off reading: the overall trend matters most. Trackers can't replace medical tests and aren't designed to diagnose.
A lower resting heart rate isn't a goal in itself, but endurance training lowered it most in trials, as fitness improved. Walk, jog, cycle or row, building towards the NHS's 150 minutes of moderate activity a week. Slow breathing is here as a way to settle for five minutes before you measure, not as a way to lower your resting rate.
The easy cardio and walking sessions build endurance from a low start; the Norwegian 4x4 and cardio intervals are harder sessions for once you're used to regular exercise. In trials, yoga lowered resting heart rate by about 5 beats a minute, and the breathing routine is a calm way to settle before you measure.
A steady 30 to 45 minute cardio session at talk-but-not-sing pace: walk, cycle, row or cross-train, counting toward weekly activity guidelines.
40 minBeginner3 movesCardio machine, A wallA 25-minute walk with short faster bouts: notice your heart and breathing speed up, then settle. A gentle way to get used to the feelings of effort.
25 minBeginner5 movesCardio machine, A wallA 40-minute walk alternating 3 minutes fast and 3 minutes easy, five times over: the interval walking tested in Japanese trials, built up from three rounds.
40 minBeginner3 movesCardio machine, A wallThe Norwegian 4x4, a well-studied interval session for raising VO2 max: four 4-minute hard efforts with 3 easy minutes between, on a bike, rower or treadmill.
40 minIntermediate3 movesCardio machine, A wallA 25-minute interval session on a bike or rower: one-minute hard efforts with two minutes easy, building from 4 to 8 rounds.
25 minIntermediate1 movesCardio machineA 25-minute gentle yoga class for complete beginners and over-50s: slow breathing, a warm-up, supported standing poses, floor poses and a closing rest.
25 minBeginner14 movesNo equipmentA 20-minute beginner yoga sequence: mountain, chair, warrior II, triangle, tree, down dog, cobra and child's pose.
20 minBeginner11 movesA stepA 6-minute breathing routine: slow breathing, crocodile breathing, alternate nostril breathing, box breathing and 4-7-8 breathing.
6 minBeginner5 movesNo equipmentEach plan builds regular aerobic exercise over weeks. In the trials that lowered resting heart rate, a typical programme ran 3 sessions a week for about 12 weeks.
A free 8-week walking plan for beginners: build to 150 minutes of brisk walking a week, with intervals, hills and two short strength sessions.
6 training days40 minBeginner3 days a weekA 9-week beginner plan with the same walk-to-run shape as Couch to 5K: three run-walk sessions a week, from 1-minute jogs to 30 minutes of running.
3 training days35 minBeginner7 days a weekA full week that mixes intensities: three strength days, two cardio days, a mobility day and an easy day, never seven hard days.
3 training days45 minBeginnerTaking your pulse is safe for everyone. These are the people the norms or the number don't fit.
Children's rates are higher and fall with age, so the adult percentiles don't apply. The scorer shows the survey's children's median instead. If you're worried about a child's heart rate, see a GP or call NHS 111.
Slowing your heartbeat is what these medicines do, and the survey left out people taking them, so the percentiles don't fit. Follow any target your care team has given you; our heart rate zones calculator has a box for these medicines.
Resting heart rate rises by about 10 to 20 beats a minute in pregnancy, and the survey left out pregnant women. Mention palpitations or a very fast rate to your midwife or GP.
Counting is unreliable and watches read low, and the survey left out irregular pulses. Count for a full 60 seconds and see your GP; our atrial fibrillation guide covers exercise.
A pacemaker stops your rate dropping below a set value, so the number reflects its setting as much as your fitness, as our pacemaker guide explains. Follow your pacing clinic's advice.
With dizziness, this can be a sign of postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS). See your GP, and see our PoTS guide.
Source 31
All of these raise your rate for reasons that aren't your resting rate. Measure on another day.
The BHF notes that trackers can increase health anxiety, and our guide to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) says checking your pulse over and over for reassurance may be part of OCD. Take a break from checking, see our anxiety guide, and talk to your GP.
Source 14
Call 999, and don't drive yourself to A&E, if:
If you've had palpitations with chest pain, shortness of breath or feeling faint but they've now stopped, ask your GP surgery for an urgent appointment, call 111 or use 111 online. The BHF says to talk to your GP or call 111 if palpitations are frequent or last a long time, or come with chest pain or dizziness.
Make an appointment if:
If you're usually fit and healthy and have no symptoms, the BHF says to try not to worry if your heart rate drops below 60. The same number with dizziness, faintness, fainting or unusual tiredness needs a GP. The AHA advises calling the emergency services if your heart rate is suddenly very high or very low for you, especially with symptoms.
It can be normal if you're fit, asleep or on a beta blocker, and in the US survey's healthy adults, 15.2% of men and 6.9% of women were under 60. A slow pulse matters when it comes with dizziness, faintness or unusual tiredness.
It's a convention: the US survey report calls it a traditional clinical consensus definition, and a range of 50 to 90 has been proposed. The BHF adds that some people's rate sits outside 60 to 100.
Training lowers it a little, by about 3 to 6 beats a minute, but in tracker data, sex, age, body mass index and sleep together explained no more than 10% of the differences between people, whose usual rates differed by up to 70 beats.
It's usually worked out mostly while you sleep, when rates drop, so it reads lower, and a single reading can be about 7 beats out.
Every beat you miss or add becomes 4 beats a minute (our arithmetic). In a study of nurses, 30 seconds was the most accurate and efficient count, and 15 seconds shouldn't be used for rates over 100.
Source 7
An infection, a fever, anaemia, an overactive thyroid, anxiety, dehydration, alcohol and caffeine all raise it. Higher rates go with higher risk across large groups, which isn't a diagnosis for one person.
The link with survival is an association, partly from shared genes, and no trial has tested it. Exercise has proven benefits of its own.
Changes after heavy training are small and may fall within the day-to-day variation.
Source 24
For adults, the NHS and the British Heart Foundation give 60 to 100 beats a minute, and some healthy people sit outside it. In a US national survey of healthy adults, the middle half of men aged 20 to 39 were between 61 and 76, and of women between 66 and 82. Enter your count to see where yours sits for your age and sex.
Sit or lie down for five minutes, without caffeine or a cigarette beforehand. Find your pulse at your wrist or neck, count it for 30 seconds and double it, or count for a full minute if it feels irregular. Do it at the same time each day, and average two or three days.
There isn't one good number. In healthy adults the typical rate barely changes with age, with a median of 69 in men aged 20 to 39 and 67 at 60 to 79, and 74 and 70 in women. Lower rates are common in fit people, but lower isn't automatically better.
It can be. Many fit people, and people taking beta blockers, have rates in the 50s, and it's common for anyone's rate to drop below 60 while they sleep. See a GP if a slow pulse comes with dizziness, faintness, fainting or unusual tiredness.
Above 100 at rest is faster than usual. Rest for five more minutes and count again, because anxiety, caffeine, a fever, dehydration and some medicines can raise it. If it's still over 100, or keeps being fast for no clear reason, see your GP; call 999 if it comes with chest pain, breathlessness or fainting.
Yes, slightly: about 3 beats a minute higher on average in the US national survey. The British Heart Foundation explains that women's hearts tend to be a little smaller and pump less blood with each beat.
On average, wrist devices match a chest strap or ECG at rest, but a single reading can be several beats out. Many watches work out resting heart rate mostly while you sleep, so it's usually lower than a seated pulse count. If a reading worries you, check your pulse by hand.
Yes, a little and slowly. Across 191 studies, regular exercise lowered it by about 3 beats a minute compared with no exercise, with endurance training and yoga lowering it most. In one year-long study of beginners, the fall was complete by 6 months.
Across large groups, people with higher resting heart rates have higher death rates, about 9% higher for every 10 beats in a review of 46 studies. That's an association, not proof: no trial has shown that lowering your heart rate adds years, though the exercise that lowers it is good for you anyway.
See a GP if your heart rate is consistently fast, slow or irregular, especially if you feel faint or dizzy. Call 999 if a fast or irregular heartbeat comes with chest pain, breathlessness, fainting, a severe headache, or weakness on one side of your face or body.
Fitness tests compared with published norms for adults (and for children on the beep test and the vertical jump test), not a diagnosis, and clinical review of these pages is pending. Check with a GP before a hard test if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and have someone with you for the balance, walking and floor tests if you've fallen or feel unsteady. Health disclaimer.
