Nov

29

Understanding Heart Rate

Posted by cameron

November 29, 2006 |

I have been a certified personal trainer in the past, so I thought it would be a good idea to write a series for older folks. Hopefully this will be interesting and informative. The theme will be aging and exercise. This post is the first and will focus on changes that occur in your heart rate that affect how you operate in the world and the impact of exercise. I will use a 20 year old and a 60 year old to explain the difference between the two.

Maximum Heart Rate

It does not stay the same. In the training world there is a formula used to get the estimated maximum heart rate that is age related. It is 220 – age. So my 20-year-old max HR is 200 bpm (beats per minute) and the sixty year old is 160 bpm. You can see that older people have a disadvantage just because they are older. This is true at all ages.

Resting Heart Rate

I have seen this anywhere from 50 bpm to 90 bpm and depending, not on age, but the condition you are in. This is significant because it’s the only one of these two heart rates you can impact by behavior.

 

Heart Rate Reserve

This is simply the difference between the maximum heart rate and resting heart rate. Its significance is that it is a measure of the capacity you have to work with. Let’s assume that the young person’s resting heart rate is 50 bpm and the sixty year old is at 80 bpm. Their heart rate reserve is 150 bpm (200-50) and 80 bpm (160-80) respectively. As you can see, the younger person in this scenario has almost twice the capacity of the older person. The affect of this is that an older person will feel out of breath at a much lower exertion level. Walking to them may feel the same as jogging to the younger person. Of course, if weight is a problem, the heart rate reserve will get used up in a hurry and ultimately age will make things even worse because the maximum heart rate is always moving down with age and the reserve is shrinking. In the end that person may get out of breath just walking slowly.

Impact of Exercise

Exercise affects the heart in important ways. Simply walking will lower, and keep lower, that minimum heart rate. This in turn provides a greater heart rate reserve and the ability to function better even with the onset of age. It is amazing how something as simple as walking every day for 30-45 minutes will have a positive impact on your well being and functionality just because you are controlling heart rate reserve.


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