Your heart rate might feel constant, but it’s really not. It changes depending upon what you are doing. Your heart rate will change when you stand up, sit down, lie down, or when you feel relaxed, or stressed. The heart rate can literally change within a second.
Your resting heart rate is a measure of health; it is one of the vital signs your doctor will check at every appointment. The resting heart rate is how fast your heart beats when you are simply sitting down, doing nothing to increase it. Sometimes the resting heart rate can be very high or rather low due to heart rhythm problems or other issues.
Is High Resting Heart Rate Normal?
For an adult, a normal resting heart rate is anything between 60 and 100 beats per minute. For some athletes, normal resting heart rate might be even lower than 60. That’s because a better trained body works more efficiently, and the heart rate reflects that.
However, the heart rate can go up when you are dealing with stress, suffering from illness, right after exercise, when you are taking certain medications, and sometimes, simply for no apparent reason. An occasional high resting heart rate is fine, but anything that is consistently over 100 beats per minute is something to worry about.
Risks Factors and Harms!
What is really frightening is that a high resting heart rate can affect those who seem to be perfectly healthy. Some risk factors can be eliminated, such as lack of exercise or smoking. However, many of the individuals who appear perfectly healthy might have a genetic component that means the electrical activity in the heart is not working properly, thus leading to the high resting heart rate. In that case, medication might be required in order to bring the rate down and keep the person’s heart as healthy as possible.
Studies have proven that earlier death might come to those who have a high resting heart rate. A serious study in Norway looked at 29,000 people who were in good health and evaluated their heart rate. Those who had a heart rate of 70 or below were healthier ten years later; in fact, those with a heart rate higher were 90% more likely to die during those years. The deaths rose with the higher resting heart rates; those who had anything over 85 were the most likely to perish earlier.
What Can Be Done?
According to Harvard Health Publications, lifestyle changes must be made to keep your heart rate in healthy range. Make sure to make the following changes:
When to Worry
Sometimes you can feel the change in your resting heart rate, but many people cannot. However, there are some symptoms that can tell you that your heart rate has gone to high. These include dizziness, shortness of breath, lightheadedness or fainting. You might also have a rapid, thread pulse. Chest pain might also be present. One of the most common signs is a strange feeling in your chest, as though your heart is flopping around instead of beating steadily. This is called heart palpitations, and they are quite common among those with a high resting heart rate.
If you experience any of these symptoms all at the same time, you might be on the cusp of a medical emergency. To be safe, call 911 and get help immediately.