You can get your pulse rate in under a minute using nothing but two fingers and a clock. Place your index and middle fingers on the inside of your wrist, just below the base of your thumb, and count the beats you feel. A normal resting pulse for adults falls between 60 and 100 beats per minute (bpm).
Finding Your Pulse at the Wrist
The wrist is the easiest and safest place to check your own pulse. The artery you’re feeling for runs along the thumb side of your inner wrist, just above the wrist joint. Use your index and middle fingers, never your thumb. Your thumb has its own pulse, which can mix you up and give you a wrong count.
Press gently against the bone underneath. You want just enough pressure to feel each beat clearly. Pressing too hard actually compresses the artery and blocks blood flow, making the pulse harder to detect or causing it to disappear entirely. If you can’t find it right away, shift your fingers slightly toward the thumb side and lighten your pressure.
Counting and Calculating Your Rate
Once you feel a steady beat, watch a clock or timer. The American Heart Association recommends counting the beats for 30 seconds and multiplying by 2. That gives you your beats per minute. If your pulse feels irregular or you want a more precise number, count for a full 60 seconds instead.
For a quick check during exercise, you can count for 10 seconds and multiply by 6, though this method magnifies any counting errors. If you miscount by just one beat in 10 seconds, your result is off by 6 bpm.
Using the Neck as an Alternative
Your carotid artery, which runs along the side of your neck, produces a strong pulse that’s easy to find. Place your index and middle fingers on your neck, roughly midway between your earlobe and chin, just to the side of your windpipe.
A few precautions matter here. Never press on both sides of the neck at the same time, as this can make you dizzy, lightheaded, or cause you to faint. Use light pressure only. And if you’ve been told you have plaque buildup in your neck arteries, skip this location entirely and use your wrist instead.
Other Pulse Points on the Body
Your body has several other spots where arteries run close enough to the surface to feel a pulse. The inside of your elbow (brachial artery) is commonly used during blood pressure readings. You can also feel a pulse on your temple just in front of your ear, on the top of your foot in the groove between your first and second toes, or behind the inner ankle bone. These locations are useful when the wrist or neck pulse is hard to find, though some of them, like behind the knee, take more practice to locate.
Normal Resting Pulse by Age
What counts as “normal” depends heavily on age. Children naturally have faster heart rates than adults. Here are typical resting ranges:
- Newborns (birth to 4 weeks): 100 to 205 bpm
- Infants (4 weeks to 1 year): 100 to 180 bpm
- Toddlers (1 to 3 years): 98 to 140 bpm
- Preschoolers (3 to 5 years): 80 to 120 bpm
- School-age children (5 to 12 years): 75 to 118 bpm
- Adolescents (13 to 17 years): 60 to 100 bpm
- Adults (18 and older): 60 to 100 bpm
These ranges apply when you’re awake and at rest. Your pulse will naturally be lower during sleep and higher during physical activity.
When a Resting Pulse Falls Outside Normal Range
A resting heart rate consistently above 100 bpm in adults is considered tachycardia. Below 60 bpm is bradycardia. Neither is automatically a problem. Endurance athletes regularly have resting heart rates well below 60 bpm because their hearts are physically larger and stronger from training. Each beat pumps more blood, so fewer beats are needed. This adaptation comes from months or years of cardiovascular exercise, which increases the heart’s filling capacity and contractile strength.
On the other hand, a resting pulse above 100 bpm can be caused by caffeine, stress, dehydration, fever, or certain medications. If your resting pulse consistently sits outside the normal range and you’re not a trained athlete, it’s worth having it evaluated.
How Accurate Are Smartwatches and Fitness Trackers
Most wearables use light sensors that shine into your skin and detect blood flow changes to estimate heart rate. At rest, these devices perform well, with most showing less than 5% error compared to medical-grade readings. That means if your true heart rate is 70 bpm, a wrist-worn device might read anywhere from about 67 to 74.
Accuracy drops significantly during movement. A study testing optical sensors during outdoor activities found that wrist-worn devices had a median error of 18.4% during motion, the worst of all body locations tested. Chest and forehead sensors performed better, with errors around 7 to 8%. The takeaway: your smartwatch gives a reasonable estimate at rest, but treat the numbers during vigorous exercise as rough approximations. For the most reliable reading at any time, a manual pulse check still works.
Tips for an Accurate Manual Reading
Sit quietly for at least five minutes before taking your resting pulse. Caffeine, exercise, stress, and even a hot shower can temporarily elevate your heart rate. Measure at the same time of day if you’re tracking trends over time, since your pulse naturally fluctuates throughout the day. Morning readings taken shortly after waking tend to be the most consistent baseline.
Pay attention to rhythm as well as speed. A healthy pulse feels regular, with even spacing between beats. If you notice frequent skipped beats, extra beats, or an erratic pattern, that’s worth noting separately from the rate itself. Occasional irregular beats are common and usually harmless, but a persistently irregular rhythm is something to bring up with a healthcare provider.