Heart Rate by Age

Updated on: Jun 26, 2024
2 min Read

Published on Apr 19, 2021

What is a normal heart rate (Normal heart beat)?

Heart rate, also known as pulse, is the number of times your heart beats every minute.

A normal heart rate depends on several factors such as you age, body size, any heart conditions you suffer with, whether you are sitting or moving, medication you use, surroundings for example the air temperature around you etc. Emotions can also affect the heart rate. For example, if you are too excited or scared, your heart rate can change.

But most importantly, if you are fit, it lowers your heart rate, by making heart muscles work more efficiently.

What is resting heart rate?

Your resting heart rate is the pulse when you are sitting or lying calmly.

The normal resting heart rate for young adults and older-aged adults and others over the age of 10 years, is between 60-100 heart beats per minute.

Heart rates of athletes may fall below 60 beats a minute, even to as low as 40 beats every minute.

Know your average heart rate numbers

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), the average resting heart rate progressively slows down through childhood toward adolescence, as follows:

First month of life – 70-190
Between 1 and 11 months – 80-160
One- and two-year-olds – 80-130
Three- and four-year-olds – 80-120
Five- and six-year-olds – 75-115
Between seven and nine years – 70-110
From 10 years of age – 60-100
For children of the age of 10 years and above, and adults (including old-aged people) – 60-100 beats per minute
For athletes who are well-trained – 40-60 beats per minute.

According to AHA, the maximum heart rate during exercise equals about 220 minus your age.

Target training heart rates

When you train yourself for fitness with exercise, you would want to work your heart harder and push the heart beats fast. The recommendations for target heart rates according to your age are listed here.

Age	Target HR Zone 50-85%	Average Maximum Heart Rate, 100%
20 years	100-170 beats per minute	200 beats per minute
30 years	95-162 beats per minute	190 beats per minute
35 years	93-157 beats per minute	185 beats per minute
40 years	90-153 beats per minute	180 beats per minute
45 years	88-149 beats per minute	175 beats per minute
50 years	85-145 beats per minute	170 beats per minute
55 years	83-140 beats per minute	165 beats per minute
60 years	80-136 beats per minute	160 beats per minute
65 years	78-132 beats per minute	155 beats per minute
70 years	75-128 beats per minute	150 beats per minute

You may not generally need to remain aware of your heartbeat at rest. But if you feel that your heart is beating out of rhythm such as too slow or too fast, then you should get it checked by your doctor. It may not be serious but sometimes may occur due to an underlying disease that needs treatment. Read about abnormal heart rates (heart murmurs) here: What Are Abnormal Heart sounds (Heart Murmurs)?

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