Heart rates as per gender and age

Usually, it is seen that the heart rate of a female will be 2 to 7 BPMs faster than a male. Heart rates can also vary as per age, especially when the person is a child. For instance, a newborn's heart rate will be 100-160 BPM, a child between 1 to 3 years of age may have a BPM of 80-130, and a preteen’s heart rate will be between 60-105 BPMs. Of course, factors like stress, obesity, and smoking can cause erratic changes in a person’s heart rate.

In order to get an optimally correct idea of a person’s health, two types of heart rates are taken into cognizance. These are, resting heart rate, and maximum heart rate. Resting heart rate is calculated best in the morning after you wake up and have not consumed any caffeine-laced substances. A simple way to calculate resting heart rate is by placing two fingers on your wrist or on the side of the neck and measuring the pulse beats per minute. Doing this activity seven to ten days in a row will give you the closest correct average of your resting BPM. Alternately, you can also use strap-on trackers or heart rate monitors that act as good resting heart rate zone calculator.

Maximum heart rate (MHR) means the maximum number of times your heart beats in one minute. A simple formula to calculate what your average MHR is 220-your age. Contemporary methods like Tanaka method calculate it as 208-0.7 x your age. However, this formula does not consider the level of physical activity you indulge in, or your overall fitness levels. A more accurate way to measure MHR is to undergo a stress test under a doctor’s supervision.