Cardiovascular System Science: Investigate Heart
IntroductionAs Valentines Day approaches, were increasingly confronted with artistic images of the heart. Real hearts hardly resemble to two-lobed shapes adorning cards and candy boxes this time of year. And the actual shape of the human heart is important for its function of supplying blood to the entire body. You have likely noticed that your heart beats more quickly when you exercise. But have you ever taken the time to observe how long it takes to return to its normal rate after youre done exercising? In this science activity youll get to do some exercises to explore your own heart-rate recovery time.
BackgroundYour heart is continuously beating to keep blood circulating throughout your body. Its rate changes depending on your activity level it is lower while you are asleep and at rest and higher while you exerciseto supply your muscles with enough freshly oxygenated blood to keep the functioning at a high level. Because your heart is also a muscle, exercise, in turn, helps keep it healthy. The American Heart Association recommends that a person does exercise that is vigorous enough to raise their heart rate to their target heart-rate zone50 percent to 85 percent of their maximum heart rate, which is 220 beats per minute minus their age for adultsfor at least 30 minutes on most days, or about 150 minutes a week in total. So for a 20-year-old, the maximum heart rate would be 200 bpm, with a target heart-rate zone of 100 to 170 bpm.
What Is The Heart Rate Recovery Test
Studies show that the results of a heart rate recovery test give you some indication of how healthy your heart is. Studies reveal that heart rate recovery is also a predictor of cardiac events. This simple test looks at how quickly your heart rate slows down after a bout of exercise.
How does it work? Your heart rate is controlled by the two components of your nervous system: the sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sympathetic portion speeds your heart up when you exercise or are under stress and the parasympathetic slows it down. The ability to quickly switch between the sympathetic and parasympathetic response is a marker of a healthy heart.
When you run in place or cycle vigorously, for example, your heart rate speeds up due to the activity of your sympathetic nervous system. When you stop, the parasympathetic system takes over and slows your heart down. If your nervous system is on the ball, it behaves like a healthy heart and your heart rate drops fast. The ability to do this shows your heart can quickly recover from the stress of exercise.
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What The Experts Do Monitor Heart Rate For Motivation
For Johns Hopkins cardiologist Michael Blaha, M.D., M.P.H., most workoutstake place on an elliptical trainer in his home. His machine has electrodeson which he can place his hands to automatically see his heart rate. Itgives me a sense of how hard Im working, he says.
Blaha also uses his targeted heart rate to guide the course that heprogrammed into the machine, so that he works up to where he wants to be interms of exertion. Knowing your target heart rate and trying to achieve itcan be very motivating, he says.
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Is Your Recovery Heart Rate Good
So how do you know if your recovery heart rate is normal? As a general rule, a lower recovery heart rate following vigorous exercise is better. In fitness settings trainers like to see your heart rate fall under 100 beats per minute in the first 3 minutes after exercise.
In graded exercise tests, clinicians like to see a heart rate reduction of at least 12 beats per minute in the first minute following exercise if the patient is standing and a reduction of 22 beats per minute if the patient is sitting.
There are also charts for recovery heart rates that are used to evaluate your fitness level. In the YMCA Submaximal Fitness Test, an exerciser steps up and down on a 12-inch box at a rate of 24 steps per minute. The test lasts for 3 minutes. Recovery heart rate is measured for one full minute immediately following the test.
With the YMCA step test, you can compare your recovery heart rate to the values listed in the Recovery Heart Rate Chart.
Researchers Find Heart Rate Worth A Thousand Words
Sept. 19, 2000 For those worried about their heart, heres some good news: A persons risk for having a life-threatening bout with heart disease can be determined easily and accurately using two simple, noninvasive tests. Youve probably heard of one exercise stress testing, also known as treadmill testing. The other you probably arent familiar with: heart rate recovery. Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic report their results with these two tests in the Sept. 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Heart rate recovery is a measurement of how much the heart rate falls during the first minute after peak exercise. It is routinely measured during millions of exercise tests every year. Doctors usually order these tests when they suspect that a patient may have a heart in trouble.
Patients are put on a treadmill and exercise to the point that they cant go on. It is then that the heart rate recovery is taken. Afterward, its added to the picture created by how long the person can exercise and what the heart rate was doing during the exercise test. This big picture can give doctors a pretty accurate idea of how well the heart is working.
The healthier a persons heart is, the quicker it returns to its normal beat the less healthy the heart is, the longer it takes it to recover from something like an exercise stress test.
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Add Tags To Track Improvements In Hrr
Whenever you exercise, turn on workout mode and select the correct type of workout so you can understand if your HRR differs based on the type of workout.
To get a full picture, contextualize your HRR with tags. Add tags for things that could affect your workout performance. For example, add a tag when you take your medications , when you feel uncomfortable symptoms , or meals youve eaten .
Over time, you can use Cardiogram to track how your HRR improves and what factors affect it.
How To Measure Hrr
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Heart Rate Recovery Can Also Be A Pretty Good Measure Of Fitness And Performance
The average one-minute heart rate recovery to be: 23 beats per minute
Two-minute heart rate recovery to be: 58 beats per minute
Three-minute heart rate recovery to be: 82 beats per minute.
For those of us not considered elite athletes , a 2014 study that looked at physically active men and found:
The average one-minute heart rate recovery to be: 15 beats per minute
Three-minute heart rate recovery to be: 64 beats per minute.
In general, its a good idea to think the faster the heart rate recovery, the better the fitness.
And just like heart rate can be affected by many things, hour to hour, day to day so too can heart rate recovery. One measurement can be helpful, but its multiple measurements over time that give the best info.
Heart rate recovery is one of the many things Karen and I can take a look at when working with you to ensure youre on the right track to achieve your recovery and fitness goals.
Do you have an injury that has kept you from being as fit as youd like?
Are you someone who has dealt with medical issues and want to make sure youre doing everything you can to be as healthy as you can be?
Or are you just looking to improve your strength and conditioning?
How To Increase Hrv: 10 Things You Can Do
1. Exercise & Train Appropriately.Studies show that regular exercise is one of the best methods for improving your heart rate variability. However, for serious athletes it is also important to avoid overtraining. Strenuous activity reduces HRV in the short term, so it is essential not to consistently take on too much strain without giving your body adequate time to recover. Heres a more detailed explanation of intelligent HRV training.
2. Good Nutrition at the Right Times. Its no surprise that a smart and healthy diet will benefit your HRV, but something many of us may not realize is that the timing of your food intake can affect it as well. Your body functions better when it knows whats coming and regular eating patterns help maintain your circadian rhythm. Additionally, not eating close to bedtime will improve the quality of your sleep by allowing your body to focus on other restorative processes instead of digestion.
3. Hydrate. Your level of hydration determines the volume of your blood, and the more liquid you have in your system the easier it is for blood to circulate and deliver oxygen and nutrients to your body. Drinking close to an ounce of water per each pound that you weigh is a good daily goal. On average, when WHOOP members log that they are sufficiently hydrated their HRV increases by 3 milliseconds.
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A Quick And Easy Way To Measure Your General Fitness
A Quick and Easy Way to Measure Your General Fitness
Most people are familiar with heart rate the measure of how fast your heart is beating.
For a typical adult:
A normal heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats per minute.
Throughout the day, your heart rate is changing for all sorts of reasons:
After taking certain medications..
After drinking a cup of coffee.
What many people might not be familiar with is just how much information about health and fitness your heart rate can tell you.
One incredibly useful and easy way to measure your general fitness and heart health is:
Measuring Resting Heart Rate
Go out for some vigorous exercise. A bike ride, jog or using an elliptical machine at the gym will suffice. Get your heart rate up to about 60 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate, which you can estimate by subtracting your age from 220.
Once youve reached that level, stop and immediately take your pulse using your index and middle finger on the carotid artery in your neck or the radial artery on the inside of your wrist. Using a stopwatch, count the number of beats in 20 seconds, then multiply by three. Make note of that number.
Remain still, either seated or standing, and take your pulse again 60 seconds later. You dont need this number to determine heart rate recovery, but it is important to know for purposes of assessing markers of physical fitness.
At 2 minutes, take your pulse again. Subtract this number from your peak heart rate during exercise to find your recovery heart rate.
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What Is Heart Rate Recovery And Why Is It Important
Heart rate recovery measures how much your heart rate decreases immediately after exercise. Like heart rate variability, heart rate recovery offers a look at your heart health by how fast it responds to the autonomic nervous system.
MedPage Today explains HRR like this:
Measures of that activity reflect the balance between the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system and have been shown to be powerful predictors of mortality.
Abnormally low HRR was found as a predictor of individuals being twice as likely to die within six years in one of the most cited studies referenced over 1,000 times from Cole, Blackstone, Pashkow, Snader, and Lauer.
Find Your Target Heart Rate
Use the chart below to find the target heart rate for your age group.
Age Target Heart Rate* Zone During Exercise
- 20-29 years old: 120-160 beats/ minute
- 30-39 years old: 114-152 beats/ minute
- 40-49 years old: 108-144 beats/ minute
- 50-59 years old: 102-136 beats/ minute
- 60-69 years old: 96-128 beats/ minute
- 70-79 years old: 90-120 beats/ minute
- 80-89 years old: 84-112 beats/ minute
- 90-99 years old: 78-104 beats/ minute
- 100 years old or older: 72-96 beats/ minute
*Target heart rates are based on 60%-80% of estimated maximum heart rates .
Now, practice finding your pulse point and calculating your heart rate:
Place one or two fingertips on the opposite wrist, just below the base of your thumb. Count the number of heartbeats you feel in 10 seconds. Multiply that number by six to get your heart rate per minute.
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A Higher Resting Heart Rate Can Be Concerning
Several studies have confirmed that the higher your resting heart rate, the greater your risk of death. Most of this risk is due to heart disease, but other causes of death also contribute to the risk. One study showed that a RHR of more than 90 beats per minute was associated with higher heart disease death rates .
Post Workout: Heart Rate Data
When you have finished your workout, be it walking, running, cycling etc. you can review your data. You can use the Garmin Connect App. You get a graph of your heart rate over your workout session, an average, and maximum Heart Rate figure.
Get into the habit once you finish your workout, to stop and measure your heart rate immediately and two minutes after. Subtract the difference and that is known as your Recovery Heart Rate. Your Garmin Sports smartwatch can do this for you.
Remember not to move. You can breathe slower to help your heart rate slow down.
Some Garmin sports watches have a Recovery Time feature. This is not the same thing as Recovery Heart Rate. Recovery time is the number of hours before you will be back at 100% ability to train hard again after a hard workout. It is used to indicate when training hard is beneficial and when it is better to go easy.
For best results, Garmin advises going for several runs or workouts so your device can learn your overall level of fitness. It gives you a way to optimize your training program. This is used by serious athletes who are in training.
Recovery Heart Rate is for anyone interested in seeing how their exercise program is affecting their heart as an indication of improving health.
Resting Heart Rate is your Heart Rate when you have just woken up. A lowering of your resting heart rate is a sign of improved fitness. While the average adult has a resting heart rate of about 60-100 BPM, an athlete might have 40-60.
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Improve Your Heart Rate Recovery
July 5, 2016 by Vicki Doe
Your heart is an amazing organ and has the ability to stimulate beats on its own without the help of your autonomic nervous system. Your heart can also sense and adjust the amount of work it does based on the amount of blood that enters and exits its chambers.
The rate in which your heart rate lowers or returns to normal after exercise is known as your heart rate recovery . A faster HRR indicates that you have a healthier heart and likely, a lower risk of developing heart disease. A very slow HRR could be indicative of some type of cardiovascular problem.
A young, healthy heart rate will begin to decrease immediately, however, as we age, this recovery time could become a little longer. As long as your heart rate begins to decrease soon after exercise, regardless of the rate of full recovery, your heart is working properly. At the end of the day, your goal is to keep exercising and stay consistent. Over time, your heart will get healthier and your HRR will improve.
Patients with arthritis and heart disease can improve HRR
Individuals with chronic diseases of all kinds can still see marked improvements in their HRR the more fit they become. Even patients with arthritis and heart disease can improve their HRR. Individuals on heart medications such as beta-blockers will not be able to accurately monitor their HRR, however, exercise is still recommended for almost all individuals, regardless of medication.
What Factors Are Known To Affect Hrr
Cardiovascular fitness: as you feel yourself becoming more fit, you should notice your heart rate dropping faster after exercise.
Medical conditions: particularly conditions that affect your cardiovascular or nervous systems like diabetes, SVT, POTS, or hypothyroidism.
Medications: like beta-blockers or calcium-channel blockers inhibit sympathetic activity. This affects how quickly your heart rate increases during exercise and how quickly it decreases after exercise.
Caffeine and alcohol: both have been shown to affect your heart rate via changes in sympathetic and parasympathetic activity .
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