A normal resting heart rate for adults falls between 60 and 100 beats per minute (bpm). That range covers most healthy people sitting quietly, but your actual number depends on your age, fitness level, medications, and what you were doing five minutes ago. Highly trained athletes can have resting rates closer to 40 bpm and be perfectly healthy.
Resting Heart Rate for Adults
The 60 to 100 bpm window is the standard reference range used in clinical settings. Most healthy adults land somewhere in the middle. Where you fall within that range can shift throughout the day based on caffeine intake, stress, hydration, alcohol, smoking, and whether you’re sitting or standing. Beta blockers and certain other medications can push your rate lower, while stimulant medications for ADHD and some antidepressants can push it higher.
Fitness is one of the biggest factors. Regular aerobic exercise strengthens the heart muscle so it pumps more blood per beat, which means it doesn’t need to beat as often at rest. Someone who runs or cycles consistently might see a resting rate in the 50s or even 40s. That’s not a problem. It’s a sign of cardiovascular efficiency.
Heart Rate Ranges for Children
Children’s hearts beat faster than adults’, and the younger the child, the faster the rate. These ranges reflect what’s normal when a child is awake:
- Newborn to 3 months: 85 to 205 bpm
- 3 months to 2 years: 100 to 190 bpm
- 2 to 10 years: 60 to 140 bpm
- Over 10 years: 60 to 100 bpm (same as adults)
During sleep, children’s rates drop noticeably. A sleeping newborn might run 80 to 160 bpm, while a sleeping child over 10 typically falls between 50 and 90 bpm. If you’re monitoring your child’s heart rate with a wearable or oximeter, keep the awake vs. sleeping distinction in mind before worrying about a number that looks low.
What Your Heart Rate Should Be During Sleep
Your heart rate naturally drops while you sleep, typically running about 20% to 30% lower than your daytime resting rate. For most adults, that means somewhere between 50 and 75 bpm. A sleeping heart rate below 40 or above 100 in an adult falls outside the normal range and is worth bringing up with a doctor.
Several things can keep your sleeping heart rate higher than expected. Stress and anxiety increase stress hormones in your bloodstream, raising both blood pressure and heart rate overnight. Sleep apnea, where breathing is interrupted repeatedly, keeps your body in a state of low-level distress that elevates your heart rate during sleep and sometimes into the next day. Even everyday habits matter: too much caffeine before bed, excessive screen time, or being dehydrated can all bump your nighttime rate up. Pregnancy raises it significantly too, since blood volume and cardiac output increase by roughly 50% by the third trimester.
Heart Rate During Exercise
When you exercise, your target heart rate depends on how hard you’re working. The general guidelines break it into two zones based on your estimated maximum heart rate:
- Moderate intensity: 50% to 70% of your maximum heart rate
- Vigorous intensity: 70% to 85% of your maximum heart rate
To estimate your maximum heart rate, the simplest formula is 220 minus your age. So a 40-year-old would have an estimated max of 180 bpm, with a moderate exercise zone of 90 to 126 bpm and a vigorous zone of 126 to 153 bpm. A more accurate formula, developed from a meta-analysis of over 18,000 people, is 208 minus 0.7 times your age. For that same 40-year-old, that gives a max of 180 bpm (the two formulas happen to agree at that age, but they diverge more at younger and older ages).
Both formulas carry a margin of error of about 7 to 12 bpm. Your true maximum could be somewhat higher or lower than the estimate. If a heart rate zone feels absurdly easy or impossibly hard, trust how your body feels. The “talk test” is a practical backup: during moderate exercise, you should be able to hold a conversation but not sing. During vigorous exercise, you can only get out a few words before needing a breath.
When Heart Rate Is Too Fast or Too Slow
A resting heart rate consistently above 100 bpm is called tachycardia. A rate consistently below 60 bpm is called bradycardia. Neither is automatically dangerous. Bradycardia in a fit athlete is normal, and tachycardia can be a temporary response to caffeine, dehydration, fever, or anxiety.
The context matters more than the number alone. A resting rate above 100 that comes with dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pain, or fainting spells is more concerning. Serious symptoms from a fast heart rate are uncommon when the rate stays below 150 bpm in someone with an otherwise healthy heart. On the slow end, a heart rate in the 40s or 50s paired with fatigue, lightheadedness, or confusion can signal a conduction problem where electrical signals in the heart aren’t firing properly.
Certain medical conditions can cause persistent heart rate abnormalities. Atrial fibrillation, thyroid disease, and other heart conduction disorders can all push the rate outside the normal range regardless of activity or fitness level. If your resting heart rate has shifted noticeably over weeks or months without a clear explanation like starting a new medication or changing your exercise habits, that’s worth investigating.
How to Check Your Heart Rate
Sit down and rest quietly for a few minutes before measuring. You can check your pulse at two easy-to-find spots:
Wrist (radial pulse): Turn your palm face up. Place the tips of your index and middle fingers on the thumb side of your wrist, in the groove between the wrist bone and the tendon. Press lightly. Pushing too hard can actually block blood flow and make the pulse harder to feel.
Neck (carotid pulse): Place two fingertips in the soft groove next to your windpipe, on one side of your neck. Press gently. Never press on both sides of your neck at the same time, as this can make you dizzy or faint.
Count the beats for a full 60 seconds for the most accurate reading. A quicker method is to count for 15 seconds and multiply by four, though this introduces more room for error. Smartwatches and fitness trackers use optical sensors to measure heart rate continuously, which is convenient for spotting trends over time, but a manual check is a reliable way to verify what your device is telling you.