How important is your heart rate in understanding your health risks? We ask leading cardiologists

How important is your heart rate in understanding your health risks? We ask leading cardiologists

Increasingly, our gadgets help us map our fitness performance, movements, and even health vital signs. If you're one of those people who can't live without a fitness watch, you'll know how it keeps playing your heart rate on your home screen, sometimes even reminding you to breathe when your heart rate rises. Don't forget the gym conversations about resting heart rate and safe heart rate ranges. So what do these numbers tell us? We spoke with cardiologists from across India to find out the numbers…

First, let's understand the normal range for your heart rate. As an adult, the normal range for a resting heart rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute. This applies to anyone over the age of 17 - babies and children have a faster heart rate because of their smaller bodies and heart size. This "normal" range of heart rate does not change throughout adulthood. Slower than 60 is bradycardia (slow heart); faster than 100 is tachycardia (fast heart).

“But some experts believe that the ideal resting heart rate is closer to 50 to 70. Whatever is considered normal, it’s important to realize that a healthy heart rate will vary from situation to situation,” said Dr N. Ganesan, Senior Consultant – Madhu Lai Meenakshi Mission Hospital & Research Centre Interventional Cardiology.

According to Dr Jaideep Menon, Consultant Adult Cardiology at Amrita Hospital in Kochi, "Heart rate is a good reflection of a person's general health and well-trained athletes have a very low resting heart rate. Likewise, people who are in poor health tend to have more High resting heart rate. In addition, heart rate reflects a person's mental health, with increased heart rate in people who are stressed, nervous, anxious."

 

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 For simplicity, the heart triggers contractions by electrical activity generated by a small battery called the sinoatrial node (SAN). The electrical current generated in the SAN travels through specialized conduction systems in the heart to all parts of the heart and initiates mechanical contractions, which occur almost simultaneously in the two bottom chambers (the ventricles) and the two top chambers (the atria). "Low heart rate may be due to SAN not firing at normal rates, abnormal current conduction, or may be secondary to other non-cardiac conditions (hypothyroidism, high potassium in the blood, drugs that lower heart rate, hypothermia, etc.). A low heart rate is not necessarily pathological, but it should be considered abnormal when associated with symptoms such as dizziness, fatigue, loss of consciousness (syncope), or when heart rate does not increase with physical activity levels," explained Dr Menon.

Warning signs of slow and high heart rate

Heart rate is one of the early indicators of an underlying disease condition, and varies with a variety of medical conditions, from anaemia, thyroid disease, metabolic disorders, liver disease, inflammation, and infectious conditions.

A slow heart rate can be a sign of illness, such as:

• Heart attack or another heart disease (eg "sick sinus syndrome")

• Certain infections (including Lyme disease or typhoid)

• High levels of potassium in the blood (hyperkalemia)

• hypothyroidism

Conditions associated with a fast heart rate include:

• Most infections or almost any cause of fever

 Heart problems, such as cardiomyopathy (decreased pumping ability of the heart), atrial fibrillation, or ventricular tachycardia

• Certain medications (eg EpiPen)

• Low levels of potassium in the blood (hypokalaemia)

• Overactive thyroid or too much thyroid medication

•anaemia

• Asthma or other breathing difficulties

Exercise and heart rate

Heart rate increases with exercise as a physiological response to meet the body's oxygen needs. “During moderate to heavy exercise in a normal healthy individual, heart rates as high as 120-150 beats per minute may be seen. People who exercise regularly may see a lower resting heart rate. Professional athletes may see a low heart rate at rest Heart rate can be between 50-60 beats per minute in heart patients on certain medications such as beta-blockers,” Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Centre Cardiac Rhythm and Cardiac Equipment Service Consultant cardiologist and electrophysiologist lead Dr Venkat D Nagarajan shared about the research institute.