How to Figure Out Your Heart Rate

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By ampersand
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Figure Out Your Heart Rate

We've all heard that healthy people have healthy heart rates. This article will tell you how to find your heart rate, and then give you the information you need to figure out whether your heart rate is healthy.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Watch or clock
Counting skills

Step 1

FIND YOUR PULSE. Take your index and middle finger and place them on your wrist just down from your thumb joint--see above picture. You should feel a faint bumping under your fingers.
Step 2

COUNT THE BEATS. To get the most accurate determination of heart rate, count how many times you feel your pulse in a sixty second time period. If you're impatient, you can get an approximation by counting how many beats you feel in thirty seconds, then multiplying that number by two. This also works by counting for ten seconds and multiplying by six, or counting for six seconds and multiplying by ten. The fewer seconds you count for, the less accurate your result will be.
Step 3

The average resting heart rate for a newborn is 120 beats per minute.

The average for an older child is 90-110.

An adult can range from 50-100. The average number of beats per minute for an adult male is 70; an adult female averages 75 beats per minute.

Your heart rate will depend on age and your level of fitness. A lower number is considered to be healthier.