Unknown to most, our resting heart rate is a good indication of the condition of our health. The normal resting heart rate on the average is between 60 to 100 beats per minute. Should we go beyond this while we are watching TV or simply reading the morning papers, we must pay attention and have it checked. A high resting heart rate may mean that our heart is working harder than it should. An overworked heart can bring about a lot of conditions including fatigue, dizziness, blood clots, heart failure – which may sometimes cause death. These can be avoided by identifying the cause of a raised heart rate and by eliminating these causes when possible.
There are identified unavoidable factors affecting our heart rate such as climate change, age, health conditions, be it hereditary or not. However, there are cases that may be attributed to factors that we can control or avoid.
Let us look at 5 Tips to Lower Your Resting Heart Rate:
1. Exercise
For some, exercising may seem aesthetic, although it is geared more towards better health and wellness. When we start our day with normal exercises, we condition our body and form a regimen that prepares our body for our activities throughout the day. When we wake from our sleep, we should make it a point to do some breathing exercises that will give our lungs and heart the oxygen the fresh morning air brings. We follow it up with simple exercises that may help us in conditioning our heart rate. Walking or jogging are good ways of elevating our heart rate – however, before and after doing so, we must also have exercises to prepare our lungs and heart and when done, tone down and bring our heart rate back to normal. When we are able to do this within a certain time of exercising, we can say that our heart, lungs, our body is healthy – we are healthy.
2. Kick the habit – Smoking
Tobacco smoking has been proven to cause the heart rate to increase and cause long term damage to one’s arteries, lungs, and the heart. It causes the buildup of clogs in our circulatory system that causes inadequate oxygen supply to the other organs of the body. This is why when we had one cigarette too many, we experience shortness of breath, dizziness, and for some, it may also cause illnesses that are connected with smoking tobacco. Kicking the habit is not only beneficial to one’s heart rate but for the overall health of any individual.
3. Temperature adjustment
Climate change has been a known cause of raising the heart rate, especially when exposed to heat coupled with exhaustion. Climate has no remote control or temperature console that we can adjust and tweak. It would help if we take the necessary precautions when going outside, travelling or simply going about our daily activities under the sun. Protection is important. Aside from the usual sunscreen that we apply on our skin, we should also be mindful that being under the sun for a certain period of time at a particular time of the day, will cause our heart rate to increase. Therefore, when going out, stay out of the sun. We should wear protective covering and shield ourselves from the harmful rays of the sun. Use a hat or an umbrella. Fan ourselves when we needed to cool down and stay in the shade when necessary.
4. Eat healthily
The food we eat contributes greatly to what happens to our bodies. One thing is certain. Anything taken in excess is harmful. Eating healthy does not mean to not eat good food or meat or sweets. Eating healthy means eating within what our body needs for sustenance and nourishment. For example, eating too much sugary food may result in having high blood sugar which may result in diabetes, and eventually, may contribute to a sick heart. Too much fried, fatty food may cause high cholesterol and may put our body and our heart at stake. A sick heart oftentimes has a hard time in maintaining a normal heart rate. In order to maintain within the normal heart rate, we must eat in moderation, and resist the calling of fatty and sugary food.
5. Avoiding stress
Living in this day and age exposes us to the different situations and circumstances that cause undue stress. When life takes its toll on us when we are so caught up in going about our daily activities, it is inevitable for us to face situations and have certain circumstances that will put more pressure on us. The pressure is what causes stress. We may be pressured to do better at work, or pressure to excel in school, or even pressure from our mere existence in the society. This pressure is what causes stress. When you are stressed, people may think it is just the mind working and not the heart. On the contrary, when we are stressed, our heart rate increases and affects not just the lungs, the heart but also the brain. Managing relationships, working systematically, attending to day to day activities within schedule do help in maintaining a very good resting heart rate. Practising grace under pressure helps not just the situation we may be facing but also, our body in general.
As soon as we are able to identify that our heart rate is elevated, we should definitely look into it. Have ourselves checked and take the necessary precaution in bringing it down to the normal resting heart rate. This is to ensure we are in tip-top shape, to be sure that should there be a problem, and we are in any way sick, we can have ourselves checked and properly treated. Our resting heart rate should always exude a calm and relaxed state of heart, particularly when we are just relaxing.
Let Tribeca Physical Therapy assist you with lowering your resting heart rate. Tribeca Physical Therapy is officially reopened for in-person physical therapy sessions and continues to offer Telehealth PT or Virtual PT. Call us at 2124068080 or message us and book your first session free.
