High Pulse Rate And Heart Disease

According to a recent article published on MSNBC, Guys, These 7 Quick Checks Could Save Your Life, there was a very useful statistic regarding heart rate. According to researchers in Italy, having a resting heart rate (pulse) over 70 bpm (beats per minute) increases your risk of dying of heart disease by 78%. If you stop and think about that, this is a statistic that will get your attention.

A resting heart rate is the rate at which your heart beats while you are at a complete rest. The best time to check this is in the morning after a good night of sleep and before you get out of bed. Another time to check it would be after meditation or a relaxing massage. Any time where your body is at a resting state is where you will find your resting heart rate (resting pulse).

The heart generally beats around 60 to 80 times a minute. This is the heart rate or pulse that we all hear about. The terms are usually interchanged but basically they mean the same thing. Your resting heart rate is dependent upon your age, your activity level and how much stress you have residing in your body. You can strongly influence what your heart rate or pulse rate is by exercising regularly and getting bodywork done on yourself such as massage to help you release built up stress in your body.

Unfortunately, most of us do not even know what our pulse rate is. We go through our days hoping that everything is ok and if we feel sick or out of whack, we then schedule an appointment to see a doctor. By then, we could have already taken steps to lower our pulse rate but for some reason, in our culture, we do things backwards. Most people have a pulse rate that is very high and many have a pulse rate that is in the 90's or even 99 and above. When you get into the range of 99, you are entering dangerous territory with your life and your health.

For most of my life, my pulse was probably very high but I didn't realize it. Every time I went to the doctor, they would check it and even though it was high, it always was attributed to the fact that I have a big fear of doctors. My anxiety level goes through the roof the moment I walk into a doctor's office. However, even though my pulse showed that it was high, no one figured it out for most of my life. In the following blog posts, you'll quickly see how I learned about it and what I did to work on it.


1) Finger Pulse Meter, Know What's Going On

2) Why Is My Pulse High?

3) The Pulse Of Autonomic Arousal



The biggest thing you can do to help yourself is knowing where your pulse is at. That is why I bought the Finger Pulse Oximeter. Ok, I know that sounds like an advertisement and it is, but it is also what really helped me. This little pulse meter allowed me to begin checking my pulse at different times of the day or night and I was surprised at just how high my pulse was for most of my day. Even at a time of rest, it would remain around 99 bpm. Once I knew that my pulse was high, I could begin working on it. Until that point, I was not even aware or conscious that it was.

Since this time, my pulse now stays down around the higher 60's to lower 70's. It isn't exactly as low as I want it to be but going from 99 bpm pulse rate down to 70 is a big improvement. I am continuing to make changes in my life to help improve this and to better my overall health. Of course, until I started to measure my pulse, I had no way to know just how dangerously I was living. I urge anyone reading this to begin checking their pulse frequently and see where you are at. Once you do that, you too can take appropriate actions to help reduce your pulse rate and improve your health.



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