Heart rate tracking is becoming an increasingly important part of fitness technology. This is not surprising given that your resting heart rate can tell a lot about your health and overall fitness. Unsurprisingly, a lower heart rate (HR) is associated with substantial health benefits, including a reduced risk of heart disease. The good news is that with store shelves overflowing with heart count tracking devices, it’s now easier than ever to monitor and improve your heart count. Until we can promise to give you the healthy heart of an Olympic athlete, here are some tips on how you can use the latest technology to pump your heart.
What is the resting heart rate?
First, let’s be clear on what we mean by heart rate. Pulse refers to the rate at which your heart beats per minute when you are entirely at rest, and by that. We mean when you have been lying still for ten minutes or so.
In general, the lower your heart rate, the healthier you are. The average adult will have a heart rate of 60 to 100 beats per minute, while athletes are more likely to have a lower heart rate, somewhere between 40 and 60 beats per minute. Spanish cyclist, five-time Tour de France winner, Miguel Indurain has a heart of only 28 beats per minute. As with everything related to our body, many factors affect heart count. Genetics may play a role, but lifestyle tends to be at the fore, along with our familiar friends and enemies – stress, diet, and fitness levels that affect how our heart works during rest.
This is what we all know very well. If you don’t smoke, drink alcohol, eat healthy foods, and exercise regularly, you will likely have a reasonable heart rate. Overweight people tend to have a higher heart rate. When you carry more load than you should, your heart is forced to work at a faster pace to supply blood and nutrients to your entire body. Therefore, staying slim is just as important.
Why is it essential to restore your heart rate?
Aside from merely measuring your heart health as well as your overall well-being, there are many benefits to knowing your heart rate. Most modern fitness devices and sports watches use heart count readings in tandem with your maximum heart rate to guide you through your main training zones based on your heart count. Some devices do this automatically, but most require you to enter this data manually, so knowing this vital indicator will add accuracy to other statistics such as calorie burn.
Regular measurement and comparison of heart rate to reference values can also help identify stressful body conditions, especially for those who exercise regularly. Professional sports coaches measure the heart rate of their athletes on a daily basis and use this data to determine whether their ward stars should train today or not. A significantly elevated heart count(more than seven beats per minute from the average rate) may be the first sign of overwork or even an impending cold or other illness.
How to measure your heart rate?
You can measure your heart rate without using any technique. A watch, your fingers, and the ability to count to 100 will be enough, but if you have a heart rate monitor such as the Apple Watch, Garmin Forerunner 235, or Polar M600then, it will still be easier for you than doing all those tricky beat counting tricks. Not to mention, many newer devices will also record and adjust your heart rate training zones to be more accurate the next time you work out. You need to be completely relaxed to get a really accurate heart rate reading. Just sitting still isn’t enough.
A good time to measure is immediately after waking up, provided that you left the land of dreams in a natural way, and did not wake up in fright from the sound of the alarm clock. As soon as you wake up, stay in the wake for another five minutes and lie down quietly. When five minutes are up, measure your heart rate. On the other hand, you can achieve the same utterly relaxed state at any time during the day if you lie on your back and lie still for 10-15 minutes without being distracted by anything.
Once you have reached a state of complete and perfect inner peace and tranquillity, measure your pulse. Then you will get your actual heart rate. It should be noted that it is perfectly normal to see fluctuations of 3-4 beats per minute. The more often you measure your heart rate, the more useful and accurate your average will be. Plus, you can see your progress in the charts.
Remember
it’s essential only to compare your own performance, and not compare yourself to other people. Measure your pulse, and then you will get your actual heart rate. It should be noted that it is perfectly normal to see fluctuations of 3-4 beats per minute. The more often you measure your heart rate, the more useful and accurate your average will be. Plus, you can see your progress in the charts. And remember, it’s essential only to compare your own performance, and not compare yourself to other people. Measure your pulse, and then you will get your actual heart rate.
It should be noted that it is perfectly normal to see fluctuations of 3-4 beats per minute. The more often you measure your heart rate. The more useful and accurate your average will be. Plus, you can see your progress in the charts. And remember, it’s essential only to compare your own performance, and not compare yourself to other people.
The best heart rate tracking devices
Fitbit Charge 2 With heart rate technology built into Fitbit’s flagship activity tracker, you can get a live signal from your heart rate. He will monitor his resting heart rate and display the result in the app, displaying his course over the past 30 days. It’s also included in the Fitbit Alta HR, offering technology inside a slimmer, more stylish body.
Garmin Vivosmart 3 The successor to the Garmin Vivosmart HR +. The Vivosmart 3 uses the same optical heart rate monitor as high-end Garmin sports watches such as the Forerunner 935 and Fenix 5. It tracks heart rate continuously throughout the day and night and also uses this data to provide measurements of heart rate variability to produce stress assessments.
Use devices to lower your heart rate.
Even if your heart rate is 100 beats per minute. There is good news for you, the same devices you use to track your heart rate can help you lower it. How? Let’s quickly get back to basic science. When you exercise, your heart needs to work harder, and during exercise. You significantly strengthen this engine so that when you rest again. It doesn’t need to work as hard to pump the same amount of blood through your body. In other words, over time, regular exercise will gradually slow your heart count by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system and lowering your heart count . Before we talk about training, we’ll pretend you quit smoking.
If you’re a smoker, you put aside your chips and took a plate of healthy and nutritious vegetables and limited your alcohol to a glass of red instead of a whole bottle. Well done. Now about the tidbit. There are three forms of workout that have shown positive heart rate dynamics – interval training, strength training. Regular cardio workouts such as running or cycling – and many useful tracking devices to help you achieve your goals through your activities.
Three simple ways to reduce a rapid heart rate without medication
A sharply increased heart rate can be a sign of severe heart failure. This can lead to severe consequences for human health. Experts suggest a few simple tricks to calm your heart and bring your heart count back to normal without medication.
Breath control
A person must fully concentrate on his own breathing, make it even and deep. To do this, you need to close your eyes and follow every breath, try to feel the whole body, and not be distracted by anything else. This will allow you to calm down and even out the rhythm of the heart.
Talking to the body
First, you need to take a horizontal position. Mentally tell your body what exactly is required of it now. Ask to calm down. This helps bring the pulse back to normal.
Coldwater
Washing your face with cold water triggers the “diver’s reflex.” This leads to a significant decrease in the activity of all systems. At the same time, helps to calm the high heart count.
Experts remind that a periodic sudden increase in the heart is an alarming sign, says MedicForum. It can be associated with hypertension, atherosclerosis, and increased thyroid function. One of the most severe conditions is atrial fibrillation when an irregular heartbeat can lead to a stroke.
For these reasons, changes in the heart rhythm cannot be ignored. As soon as possible, it would help if you saw a specialist, and the medicines needed to normalize the pulse should appear in the home medicine cabinet.
How to lower your heart rate to a safe level? Nine easy ways
According to some doctors, heart (pulse) is more important to health than even blood pressure. In any case, it is imperative to monitor your heart count and not allow it to exceed 100 beats per minute. The safest for adults is considered a pulse of 60-80 beats per minute at rest, from 80 to 100 – the so-called “red zone,” but if the vibration is stable above 100, urgent measures must be taken. Here’s what you can do to get your heart to count back to normal.
Go in for sports
The easiest and most effective way to achieve a lower heart is through regular exercise.
Drink more
When the body is dehydrated, the heart must work harder to stabilize blood flow. Drink water throughout the day, and limit drinks that contain caffeine and sugar.
Limit your coffee intake
Caffeine is a stimulant that, in itself, increases the workload on the heart. Caffeine also removes fluid from the body. which forces the heart to work harder?
Limit alcohol consumption
Almost all alcoholic beverages dehydrate the body. In addition, alcohol itself is a toxin, and when we consume it, the heart has to work harder to remove it from the body.
Check your weight
One of the factors that affect the increase in heart count is excess weight. The larger our body, the more the heart has to work to supply blood to all organs. If your BMI is over 28, you may need to consider losing weight.
Check potassium levels
Another reason for an off-scale pulse is a possible lack of potassium. This trace element is necessary for the normal functioning of the heart, and its deficiency leads to a rapid heartbeat. As a consequence, an increase in heart rate. Get tested, check the level of potassium in the blood. If it turns out that it is not enough, eat more foods containing this element (bananas, tomatoes, avocados, potatoes, greens), and also consult your doctor for supplements.
Eat more fish
Omega-3 fatty acids, which are especially abundant in fish oil, are very beneficial for heart health. Studies have shown that regular consumption of foods rich in these fatty acids can help lower your heart count.
Deal with stress
The most dangerous to our heart health is chronic or prolonged stress. Research confirms a direct link between constant pressure and an increase in heart – even if a person is feeling well. It is worth learning simple relaxation techniques – deep breathing, visualization, meditation – to reduce the effects of chronic stress.
Try to improve your sleep.
To improve heart health, we need to get adequate sleep. During the deep sleep phase, the pulse drops, and blood pressure decreases. But if we regularly sleep less than six hours a day, the risk of heart attack doubles. Therefore, the most important thing we can do for our heart health is to improve our sleep.
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