Resting heart rate highs & lows - Brief Article

Running & FitNews, Feb, 2000

Runners are notorious for bragging about low resting heart rates. "Mine's 52." "Man, that's nothing, mine's 45." It's a macho, runner-thing. A study from Northwestern University indicates that there's even more to brag about if you have a low resting heart rate. Classically, a pulse taken on waking, and before moving around, is a "resting heart rate." Values range from 28 for elite athletes to as much as 100 for the very sedentary Known as a marker of fitness, a low heart rate when the body is at rest indicates that the heart is a strong, efficient blood-moving machine.

Researchers checked the vital signs of about 34,000 adults aged 18 to 74 and followed them for 22 years. Relative risks for death (from heart disease, cancer and all other risks increased with increases in resting heart rate). One of the benefits of having good cardiovascular fitness is a low resting heart rate and it is truly something to brag about. If you keep running, it may be something you can brag about for along, long time.

(The American Journal of Epidemiology, 1999, Vol. 149, No. 9, pp. 853-862)