Heart Rate & Movement

Your heart rate speeds up with movement. It's a simple concept, but many factors affect your heart rate. The faster you move, the faster your heart rate. The more often you move, the more efficient your heart becomes, and the slower your heart beats. The intensity of your movement also changes your heart rate and should be monitored for safety.

  1. Heart Rate

    • Your pulse is the number of times your heart beats in a minute. The heart pumps oxygen-rich blood throughout your body. When you move, or participate in physical activity, your muscles require more oxygen. In response, your pulse increases to circulate fresh oxygen throughout your body. Your heart rate is dependent on many factors, including genetics, diet and lifestyle. You cannot change your genetics, but you can alter your diet and lifestyle. Your heart is able to pump more efficiently with a healthy diet moderate in fat. An active lifestyle changes your heart rate, too. A heart that has been trained with exercise has a slower resting heart rate than an untrained heart.

    Exercise

    • Movement, to be sustained, requires large amounts of oxygen. The type of activity that increases your heart rate is known as cardiovascular exercise. Cardiovascular movements include activities such as walking, skipping, rope jumping, swimming, cycling and rowing. Your heart rate increases in response to such exercise, but at higher intensities you will fatigue quickly. Monitor your intensity level by using the talk test during exercise. If you are able to carry on a conversation, but not sing, you are working out at an adequate exercise intensity.

    Target Heart Rate

    • During movement, your heart rate must stay within a specific range for you to be able to sustain your activity. This range is determined by a calculation that takes a percentage of your maximum heart rate. Your MHR is equal to 220 minus your age. A safe and healthy movement heart rate is between 60 and 80 percent of your MHR. Improve your overall heart function by moving at a level within your target heart rate range for at least 20 minutes at a time. Wear a heart rate monitor to track your pulse, or check your pulse with two fingers on the side of your neck or the underside of your wrist nearest to your thumb. Count the beats you feel within 10 seconds and multiply the result by 6 to determine if you are within your target heart rate.

    Efficiency

    • The more you move, the more efficiently your heart pumps blood. A fit person's heart pumps out more blood with each beat, which means the heart has to beat less often. If you are fit, your heart rate returns to resting levels faster after movement than the heart rate of an untrained individual. Even at rest, your heart pumps more blood with fewer heartbeats. An efficient heart is less prone to cardiovascular problems such as heart disease and high blood pressure.