page_title: Heart rate
section_title: Maximum heart rate
hierarchical_section_title: Heart rate / In different circumstances / Maximum heart rate
caption_attribution_description: English: A chart showing maximum heart rates, expressed in beats per minute, vs. ages in years, as determined by several formulas.
context_page_description: Heart rate is the speed of the heartbeat measured by the number of contractions of the heart per minute. The heart rate can vary according to the body's physical needs, including the need to absorb oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide, but is also modulated by a myriad of factors including but not limited to genetics, physical fitness, stress or psychological status, diet, drugs, hormonal status, environment, and disease/illness as well as the interaction between and among these factors. It is usually equal or close to the pulse measured at any peripheral point.
  The American Heart Association states the normal resting adult human heart rate is 60–100 bpm. Tachycardia is a fast heart rate, defined as above 100 bpm at rest. Bradycardia is a slow heart rate, defined as below 60 bpm at rest. During sleep a slow heartbeat with rates around 40–50 bpm is common and is considered normal. When the heart is not beating in a regular pattern, this is referred to as an arrhythmia. Abnormalities of heart rate sometimes indicate disease.
context_section_description: The maximum heart rate (HRₘₐₓ) is the highest heart rate an individual can achieve without severe problems through exercise stress, and generally decreases with age. Since HRₘₐₓ varies by individual, the most accurate way of measuring any single person's HRₘₐₓ is via a cardiac stress test. In this test, a person is subjected to controlled physiologic stress (generally by treadmill) while being monitored by an ECG. The intensity of exercise is periodically increased until certain changes in heart function are detected on the ECG monitor, at which point the subject is directed to stop. Typical duration of the test ranges ten to twenty minutes.
  Adults who are beginning a new exercise regimen are often advised to perform this test only in the presence of medical staff due to risks associated with high heart rates. For general purposes, a formula is often employed to estimate a person's maximum heart rate. However, these predictive formulas have been criticized as inaccurate because they generalized population-averages and usually focus on a person's age and do not even take normal resting pulse rate into consideration.  It is well-established that there is a "poor relationship between maximal heart rate and age" and large standard deviations relative to predicted heart rates. (see Limitations of Estimation Formulas).
  A number of formulas are used to estimate HRₘₐₓ
caption: The various formulae provide slightly different numbers for the maximum heart rates by age.
exif: {}