Tag Archives: pulse

December 7, 2021 · 11:39 pm

Elevated heart rate linked to increased risk of dementia

Having an elevated resting heart rate in old age may be an independent risk factor of dementia, according to a study at Karolinska Institutet published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. Since resting heart rate is easy to measure and can be lowered through exercise or medical treatment, the researchers believe that it may help to identify people with higher dementia risk for early intervention.

The number of people living with dementia is expected to increase to 139 million globally by 2050, from 55 million in 2020, according to the organisation Alzheimer’s Disease International. Currently, there is no cure for dementia, but growing evidence suggests that maintaining a healthy lifestyle and cardiovascular health could help delay the onset of dementia and ease symptoms.

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What Your Resting Heart Rate Says About You

If you want to know more about your cardiovascular health, here is one big question for you: Do you know what your resting heart rate is?

Your resting heart rate can tell you a lot about your cardiovascular health — and while some of what it says may seem scary at first, don’t worry! There are ways to improve your cardiovascular health. At Tri-City Medical Center, we see patients with high resting heart rates lower theirs to healthier levels all the time.

Here’s a little background on just what your heart might be trying to tell you.

What Do My Heart Rate Numbers Mean?

Your resting heart rate is the number of times your heart beats each minute when you’re not active. The normal range is between 50 and 100 beats per minute. If your resting heart rate is above 100, it’s called tachycardia; below 60, and it’s called bradycardia. Increasingly, experts pin an ideal resting heart rate at between 50 to 70 beats per minute.

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Tagged as heart health, normal resting heart rate, pulse

September 11, 2016 · 3:23 pm

What is a Healthy Resting Heart Rate?

One of the most important measurements we can know about ourselves is our resting heart rate. Yet most people don’t know it. They can give you their cholesterol count (usually the total, not the breakdown of HDL and LDL see post – How to Improve your cholesterol numbers), but unless the person has recently visited his doctor he will be stumped when it comes to his resting heart rate, or its relevance to his overall health..

WebMD reported, “For most people, a normal resting heart rate is between 60 and 90 beats a minute,” according to Edward F. Coyle, PhD. The professor of kinesiology and health education at the University of Texas at Austin and director of the university’s Human Performance Laboratory, says. “Athletic training can lower that rate by 10 to 20 beats per minute.

“Regular aerobic exercise makes your heart stronger and more efficient, meaning that your heart pumps more blood each time it contracts, needing fewer beats per minute to do its job.”

Edward R. Laskowski, M.D., Mayo Clinic physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist puts the normal resting heart rate between 60 and 100 beats per minute. “Generally, a lower heart rate at rest implies more efficient heart function and better cardiovascular fitness. For example, a well-trained athlete might have a normal resting heart rate closer to 40 beats a minute.”

The upper end of the range is relevant. Gordon F. Tomaselli, MD, professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, told WebMD, “A number of studies have shown that, even within the normal range, a high resting heart rate is associated with an increased risk for ischemic heart disease, stroke, and sudden cardiac death.”

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Tagged as Exercise, oximeter, pulse, resting heart rate

January 23, 2013 · 5:23 am

A Doctor Visit in Flu Season

Having written about flu season for the past few months, when I started getting head cold symptoms last week and got nervous. In addition, an arctic freeze struck Chicago which has kept me off my bike. I found that working out in the health club, I was feeling really wiped out from a light workout. I actually napped afterwards. That and the head cold symptoms were enough for me. I booked a doctor visit. Mr. Conservative wasn’t taking any chances. I had gotten my flu shot early, but didn’t want to take any chances. As I recommended to readers, I had gotten my flu shot early, but didn’t want to take any chances. You can read further on How to Fight the Flu elsewhere in the blog.

Here’s how bad the weather has been, “Chicago’s coldest blast of air in 2 years is easing—but slowly. By midnight Tuesday, the area moved into a 55th consecutive hour of sub-20-degree thermometer readings and 46 hours with wind chills below zero. Tuesday’s 11-degree high and 1-below morning low put the day into the record books as the city’s coldest of the past two years,” according to the blog of Tom Skilling, the awesome local meteorologist.

The walk to the doctor’s office over a mile was a bracing start to the day. Continue reading →

Smart Health Walking Fit Watch – Cool Gadget

Once again, I got a great deal on a cool product from Costco. This time it was via email. Costco is sending out a flyer every day with Christmas deals on it. This was on one of them last week.

Actually, one of the folks in my aerobics class inspired it. He has a heart rate monitor and I thought it was a nice idea to see how much of a load any workout put on my heart. Then the offer from Costco came, and I bit.

The watch comes in either white or black

Although I am somewhat computer savvy, I don’t love messing with them. So, I had misgivings about buying a little watch. It advertises that besides telling time there is a step count, calorie burn, distance and, of course, the heart rate monitor. I did not look forward to punching in a lot of this button and that button the feed it my vital statistics. But, the listing said ‘NO SET-UP.’ Costco advertised it as $39.95, on special for $25. So I ordered it.

I have now owned it for two days and I like it a lot. The heart rate works very well. The watch has two contacts, the back of your wrist and a finger pad on the watch face. It takes only seconds to get a reading and so far they have been excellent. I had been using the iPhone monitor which requires taking your pulse for 15 seconds and multiplying by four. Slow and cumbersome, but no problem for biking. I couldn’t use it in an aerobics class.

The step count works well, too. Because it is in your watch it is based on arm swings. I like this because when I ride my bike, I can’t have a pedometer on me that measures steps because my legs are pedaling away. My arms aren’t swinging at all.

It says all day calorie burn, but since I use Lose It! I don’t need that nor use it, so I can’t comment on how it works. I know that the User Manual offers what they call ‘Advanced Set-Up’ which inputs your height, weight, age, etc. It was a little complicated, but not too bad.

I don’t need to paint with that fine a brush. I like that it gives me an estimate of how many steps I took during the day, keeps accurate time and allows me to monitor my heart rate at a moment’s notice. For 25 bucks that’s a win.

If you are considering starting a walking program, or would just like to get a reading on how far you walk on a given day, you might be able to use this. I feel strongly about the benefits of walking. Check out the walking tags at right for more details.

As an old fogie, I like analog watch faces, so I am not thrilled that this gives a digital readout of the time. But, that’s personal and may have no relevance to you.

As always your comments are invited.

Addendum:Posted December fifth. I have just come back from my aerobics class and used the heart rate monitor successfully several times. Fascinating to see how my heart rate varied through the class.

Tony