A Helpful Guide: How to Lower Your Resting Heart Rate
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A high resting heart rate means that your heart is working harder than it should to pump blood throughout your body. In time, this could result in a variety of maladies and ailments that can negatively impact your health, such as blood clots, heart failure, fainting and, in the most extreme cases, death.
While some aspects of resting heart rate are genetic, there is a fair amount that can be done to control a resting heart rate and improve your general well-being.
If you are seeking information on how to lower your resting heart rate, look no further. Here are three proven tactics to help you reduce your resting heart rate.
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Measure Your Resting Heart Rate
Before we can talk about how to lower your resting heart rate, it is essential to understand what the normal range is and how to measure resting heart rates.
A normal resting heart rate range tends to be between 60 and 100 beats per minute. It is best to measure this upon waking when you are still in your bed.
There are various ways that you can measure your resting heart rate. Firstly, you can purchase one of Scosche's best-selling heart rate monitors, as this kind of equipment will provide you with an accurate reading.
You can also simply place two fingers on your neck, wrist or anywhere else you can feel your pulse and count the number of beats in a 60-second period. There are also apps that can help measure your resting heart rate but they tend to not be too reliable.
With that said, let’s take a look at some strategies for how to lower your resting heart rate.
How to Lower Your Resting Heart Rate
No matter your age or lifestyle, there are tactics that you can work into your regimen to help lower your resting heart rate, including:
1. Quit Smoking
If you want to lower your resting heart rate and improve your heart health overall, quitting smoking (and vaping) should be at the top of your list. The plain fact here is that quitting smoking helps your heart in a myriad of ways.
Fortunately, there are tons of stop smoking aids available on the market today.
2. Exercise
The next best thing you can do to lower your resting heart rate is to begin exercising consistently, particularly doing aerobic exercises like hiking, jogging, biking or swimming.
Also, if you have opted to purchase an armband heart rate monitor to measure your resting heart rate, this can come in extremely handy for exercise.
If you aren’t exactly clear on how you should use a heart rate monitor, the fact is that there are a multitude of uses for this type of device.
3. Eat a Heart-Healthy Diet
What you eat has a significant impact on your heart. If you are eating tons of high-sugar snacks and deep-fried foods, they are going to take a toll on your heart. However, if you are consuming lots of heart-healthy foods, your resting heart rate is far more likely to be in the normal range.
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For instance, if you are getting lots of omega-3s (which can be found in fish and various plant foods), you are likely going to achieve a lower resting heart rate. However, if fish isn’t really your thing, you can still lower your resting heart rate with tasty foods like leafy greens, fruits, whole grains and certain kinds of nuts.
Getting Your Heart Rate Down
No matter your age, lifestyle or the potential limitations you are living with, there is something here that can help you lower your resting heart rate.
Give these tips a try and begin working your way toward a healthier heart.