Heart rate affects your health

The speed of your resting heart rate may be able to predict your risk of dying.

 

If you already have heart disease, the speed of your heartbeat at rest can predict your risk of dying, not only from heart disease, but from all other causes too, cardiologist Dr Eva Lonn told delegates at the recent Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010. "The higher the heart rate, the higher the risk of death from cardiovascular and all causes," Dr Lonn says. Compared with heart-disease patients with the lowest heart rate (58 beats per minute or less), those who had heart rates greater than 78 beats had a 77 per cent increased risk of dying of cardiovascular disease, and a 65 per cent increased risk of death in general.

A normal heart rate for healthy adults is between 60 and 100 beats per minute. The good news? You can lower your heart rate with regular exercise.