Resting Heart Rate Risks and Smartwatch Monitoring

The Silent Measurement: Your Morning Heart Rate

If your smartphone or watch tracks your resting heart rate, it's seen a place in your bedroom. What it shows matters to your health. Recent studies show a resting heart rate above 70 bpm increases the risk of early death by 16%. While a healthy range is typically 60 to 100 bpm, it's better for overall health to maintain it on the lower end of that spectrum. This is due to your heart being able to pump more blood with less effort when it beats less frequently.

The Sleeping Indicator: What Resting Heart Rate Is

Your resting heart rate is the number of heartbeats per minute (bpm) when you're sleeping or otherwise completely at rest. It's one of the many vital signs that doctors use to assess your health. Unlike your blood pressure or cholesterol, which require a trip to the clinic, your resting heart rate is measured automatically by many smartwatches and fitness trackers. This makes it an accessible and continuous indicator of your health. It is measured from one beat to the next, pulse point to pulse point. The rising or declining numbers reveal valuable information on your health status. For those who have not checked their resting heart rate, now is a great moment to begin monitoring it. Many fitness trackers and smartwatches can monitor your heart rate during sleep and while you are conscious — making it simple to keep track of your heart rate throughout the day. It is one of the most trainable numbers in our body.

The Early Warning System: Inflamation, Overstrain, and Dehydration

Your morning heart rate is not just a number. Anything that raises your body’s stress levels can affect it. In particular, inflammation and overstrain may cause your heart to beat faster. It's essentially an early warning system that signals when something in your body needs attention. The Copenhagen Heart Study, one of the largest cardiovascular cohort studies ever run, found that a consistently elevated resting heart rate is linked to an increased risk of early death — this underscores the importance of monitoring and understanding its fluctuations.

4 factors impacting heart rate

The Misery of Underrecovered Training

If you're pushing yourself too hard during exercise, your body will need longer to recuperate. If your resting heart rate is climbing week on week, it's a distress signal. Your body is telling you to stop. This could take three weeks to reset. Morning sodium and water before coffee, caffeine off at noon, and swapping one hard session for a zone two walk. A zone two walk is a low to moderate-intensity workout that should elicit a slight rise in your heart rate then fall to a rate that is 85 to 90% of your maximum heart rate. That could be walking for a slow pace.

What's Dehydration Got to do with It?

Mild dehydration is a silent, often overlooked factor. Even 1% fluid loss bumps your resting heart rate by 5 to 10 beats. It's more likely than you might think. Most people wake up in this zone. By the time you feel thirsty, this is already happening.

Caffeine's Counterproductive Effect

If you are drinking coffee throughout the day, you could be keeping it elevated. That final cup of coffee in the late afternoon or evening can cause elevated resting heart rate. Some studies have shown caffeine can increase heart rate by as much as 30% and make your heart work up to 10% harder. If you drink a cup of coffee every day, consider swapping to a cup of water to see how your morning heart rate changes.

The Nervous System’s Role

Your nervous system plays a crucial role. It can elevate well into your sleep window, and your morning number pays for it. If you are nervous, your body produces more adrenaline which exerts pressure on your heart to push more blood. It's possible that the stress that comes with the adrenaline rush is elevating the heart rate. If experiencing nervousness and are physically active at the same time, the elevated heart rate could stay higher for a longer period of time.

Impact of Age

Your resting heart rate decreases with age. Children tend to have a faster heart rate, as well as highly trained athletes. Training for your sport can produce a heart rate in the 30s, which is low compared to a resting rate that is in the 60s. Resting heart rate tends to increase as we age. This is a natural sign of our body's ability to adapt and restore itself.

Check Your Heart Rate Tonight

Before you go to bed, grab your phone. Take a look at your watch. Start tracking your resting heart rate. Watching for trends and changes in the morning heart rate can give you a heads up when it comes to your health. It's one of the simplest things you can do to stay healthy. If you don't currently have a fitness tracker, keep an eye out for strong deals. If you already have one, you're halfway there.