Have You Ever Checked Your Heart Rate?
What should be your heart rate? How does it help? How to improve your heart rate? You may read further to understand more.
Heart Rate.
The other day, I was climbing one of the small hills in Madurai (located in the state of TamilNadu, India) along with my friends. While a few of us could climb with easier efforts, a few struggled a bit, with their breathing strained. Only with adequate breaks, by catching up with their breath, they could climb. Of course, the hill had good and well-structured stairs to climb.
As a few got curious, we had a good discussion about heart rate - the functioning of the heart, what's the accepted resting heart rate range, how it works in conjunction with the lungs, and so on.
So, let's learn the very basics of heart rate.
What is heart rate? Heart Rate is a medical term referring to the number of times our heart beats per minute. Heart rate generally rises during any physical activity such as running, brisk walking, HIIT workout, etc., There is another term called Resting Heart Rate which is the measure of the heart rate when we are idle.
Why does our "heart" beat? What does it do? Very basically, it does two things. One supplies the oxygenated/oxygen-rich blood to the entire body, and the other is to send the oxygen-poor blood to the lungs, which oxygenates the blood. And this cycle continues.
What's the accepted resting heart rate range? 60 to 100 as per American Hearts Association. If the number is high, the heart does more work. If it is low, the heart's efficiency is better, to supply oxygen-rich blood to the entire body.
Connection with Lung Capacity? Usually, lungs do not work efficiently in people who are not involved in any physical activities, or in other words, people who don't do deep breathing, through either hard physical activities or breathing routines suggested by Yoga (such as Pranayama Practices). As you may know, most people do shallow breathing at usual times. How much oxygen we can intake from the atmosphere is determined by our lung's inhaling capacity.
This means, that the more we can suck atmospheric air into our lungs, the more oxygen it can supply to bloodstreams (oxygen-poor ) that arrive from the heart. The lessor we suck air into our lungs, the lesser oxygen. So, essentially our lung capacity also plays a role in ensuring our entire body gets oxygen-rich bloodstream for better functioning. When we do any workout, our working muscles demand more oxygen, which means the better lungs and heart work together, the better oxygen-rich blood supply to the body and the working muscles.
How do we improve our resting heart rate? Improving resting heart rate means, the lesser number of times it beats, the better. One way is to get started on physical activities (walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, gym) or yogic activities (mainly Asanas and Pranayama). The more consistently we work on them, gives more opportunities for our lungs and heart to work better.
Say you are someone with a resting heart rate of 80 with a sedentary/lethargic lifestyle (no exercise routines). When you start doing regular exercise routines, your resting heart rate would start to reduce in numbers (please note the actual heart rate would be much higher during the workouts though). How much over what timeline would vary on the individuals? The point is improved heart rate going down the path from 80 to 70 to 60 to 50, and so on. Extreme athletes have a heart rate of up to or around 40 beats per minute!
Over the last 14+ years of running and an active lifestyle, my resting heart rate has been in the range of 40-55 range. That makes me function & live efficiently, and more importantly, makes me feel young.
Summary:
So, what should you do? Knowing something enables us to think better. We go to higher planes of living and thinking when we gain more understanding about a subject.
Have you ever checked your resting heart rate? Please find ways to check your heart rate and see where you are. Depending upon where you are, you may get into doing regular exercise routines to improve the same.
Happy and efficient living to you!
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Disclaimer: This article is not medical advice. The intention is to share this for informational purposes only. This article should never be a substitute for a professional medical practitioner's treatment, analysis, or prescriptions. Never ignore professional medical advice in seeking treatment.
About the Creator
Ganesh Kuduva
LinkedIn Top Voice | Founder - Runner Forever | Health & Wellness Coach | Author of BE A RUNNER FOREVER (Available on Amazon) | Corporate H&W Speaker | Follow me for posts on Health and Life Skills (www.runner-forever.com)
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