How can you measure a heartbeat?

Measuring your heart rate is a simple technique to assess your health since it gives a real-time snapshot of the function of your heart muscle. A typical resting heart rate (the number of heartbeats per minute while at rest) for most persons is between 60 and 100 beats per minute. A normal heart rate might differ from one individual to the next. An extremely high or low resting heart rate, on the other hand, might be a symptom of problems.

Doctors determine heart rate—the number of cardiac contractions (or heartbeats) in one minute—by checking a person's pulse or listening to the heart using a stethoscope. Your heart rate may be measured anywhere on your body where an artery is close to the surface and a pulse can be felt, such as your wrist or neck. The typical adult human heartbeats at roughly 70 beats per minute (for men) and 75 beats per minute (for females) while resting, while this pace is sometimes lower among athletes. A toddler's heart beats around 100 to 130 times per minute, whereas an older child's heart beats approximately 90 to 110 times per minute and an adolescent's heart beats between 80 to 100 times per minute. If you add it all up, 75 beats per minute translates to 4,500 beats an hour, 108,000 beats per day, or about 39.4 million beats in a year!