Its causes and how to reduce it

Most of us navigate our days with little awareness of our heart and the basic work it does to keep us alive.

The number of beats per minute while relaxing at home—aka your resting heart rate—may not seem significant, but even a heart rate difference of 20 beats per minute (bpm) can shave years off your life.

This article explains some of the causes and symptoms of an elevated resting heart rate and gives you ideas on how to lower it.

What is a normal resting heart rate?

The average resting heart rate — also known as the pulse rate — for adults is somewhere between 60 to 90 beats per minute. According to the American Heart Association, an elevated heart rate is okay if it does not exceed 100 beats per minute.⁽¹⁾

Some athletes experience a lower resting heart rate of about 40 beats per minute. This lower pulse rate can be attributed to the effect of aerobic exercise on increasing the strength and efficiency of the heart, which makes it need to reduce the pulse to circulate blood throughout the body.

What is tachycardia?

Tachycardia is the medical term for when the heart rate is over 100 beats per minute and affects the resting heart rate because it causes an irregular heartbeat (also known as an arrhythmia).

Your heart beats as a result of electrical impulses that send signals to the chambers to contract. An arrhythmia causes the ventricles of your heart to either eject out of sync or to beat before the heart can completely fill with blood.

These irregularities can cause the organs and tissues to not get enough blood and can lead to symptoms such as:

• vertigo
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• Shortness of breath
• Heart palpitations

We live in a very stressful world where up to 450,000 people die each year from heart-related diseases. This begs the question, could tachycardia be caused by anxiety?⁽²⁾

While anxiety is one of the main causes of an elevated heart rate, other factors can also contribute to an elevated resting heart rate.

What causes a high pulse rate?

• smoking
• high temperatures
• Too much caffeine
• High or low blood pressure
• drying
• stress/anxiety
• Physical activity

Can anxiety increase your heart rate?

When we feel anxious, our bodies release the stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, which make our hearts beat faster.

If you often wonder, “Why is your resting heart rate so high?” It can be a by-product of living with constant stress and anxiety, which can eventually lead to more serious cases of tachycardia.⁽³⁾

Can dehydration cause an elevated heart rate?

Another surprising and easily fixable cause of a high pulse rate is Do not drink enough water.⁽⁴⁾ It is clinically proven that dehydration leads to higher than normal heart rates due to reduced blood volume and electrolyte imbalance. Decreased blood volume causes your heart to beat faster to circulate blood throughout your body, while electrolyte imbalances affect the function of all your muscles, including your heart.^{(5And the6)}

How to calculate your resting heart rate

There are two places on your body where you can easily check your pulse.

One is located on your wrist, just below your thumb. The other is on either side of your neck, about an inch below the middle of your jaw.

To calculate your resting heart rate, count the number of beats in a 15-second period and multiply it by four (number of beats in 15 seconds x 4 = resting heart rate), or you can just enter the numbers into the calculator below.

To get the most accurate reading, try counting your heart rate as soon as you wake up while you’re still lying in bed and before you’ve had any caffeine.

How to lower your heart rate

If you are looking for ways to lower your heart rate, you are in the right place. In this section, you can find several comprehensive lifestyle changes that can increase the strength and efficiency of your heart, which can lead to a lower heart rate.

Do aerobic exercise

Running is one of the best forms of exercise to get the heart pumping Improve cardiovascular health. Your heart is a muscle, and like any other muscle in your body, it will take time to get stronger. After you start a new fitness regimen, give your body time to adjust. If you need help getting started on your running journey, download the free version The adidas app is running Track your workouts and connect with the adidas Running community for support.

Try meditation

Since stress is one of the main causes of tachycardia, finding new ways to regulate stress-causing emotions can help. seizes practices such as yoga and meditation It can help you learn new ways to manage stress and lower your cortisol levels for good.

Stay hydrated

Men are advised to drink 3 liters (0.08 gallons) of water per day, while women should drink 2.2 liters (0.6 gallons).⁽⁷⁾ This amount of fluid is more than enough to keep the body hydrated and reduce the increased heart rate associated with hydration.

Get better sleep

Poor sleep — difficulty falling asleep, waking up all night, and waking up too early in the morning — can cause chest pain and abnormal heart rhythms.⁽⁸⁾ If your heart rate is high while you sleep, it probably means that you never enter a deep sleep because your heart rate generally drops by 20-30% during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. While getting more sleep can be beneficial, establishing a proper nighttime routine that results in uninterrupted sleep is likely to be more impactful.

Eat a heart-healthy diet

The food you eat can affect your heart rate because it changes your blood pressure. The food is low in sodium Foods that are good for your heart It can improve your heart health and, over time, begin to lower your resting heart rate.

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Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of what causes a high heart rate and what you can do to lower your resting heart rate. Things like doing more aerobic exercise, reducing stress, and drinking more water are simple lifestyle changes you can make to start lowering your heart rate and prevent more serious tachycardia symptoms.