Your heartbeat tells you how long you will live! How many heartbeats per minute is the healthiest? The latest research...

Do you pay attention to your heart rate?

The oxygen and carbon dioxide we breathe, the nutrients we take in, the metabolic waste we excrete, and the biological signal molecules involved in various physiological and pathological functions are all carried and transported by blood, and the heart is the core power source of blood flow. Heart rate, that is, the frequency of heart beats per minute, reflects the basic state of heart work.

The number of times the heart beats per minute when awake and inactive is called the "resting heart rate". Medically, the normal value of an adult's resting heart rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute. Resting heart rate is one of the parameters of vital signs and a very important physiological indicator.

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A resting heart rate of more than 100 beats/minute is called "tachycardia", which can be caused by various physiological or pathological factors such as alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, the intake of certain drugs, emotional states such as tension and anxiety, fever, lack of sleep, anemia, obesity, hyperthyroidism, water and electrolyte disorders, heart disease attacks, etc.

A resting heart rate below 60 beats/minute is called "bradycardia", which can be caused by water and electrolyte disorders, some drugs, myocardial inflammatory diseases, heart aging, autoimmune diseases, hypothyroidism and other factors. Healthy people who exercise regularly may also experience bradycardia. The resting heart rate of athletes can be as low as 40 beats/minute.

Tachycardia can make people feel chest tightness, panic and discomfort, and long-term high-load operation of the heart also poses potential cardiovascular health risks. Bradycardia is a normal phenomenon for people who exercise regularly. It is a sign that the heart is stronger and more efficient after exercise. However, if bradycardia is caused by disease, it means that the heart is unable to maintain a normal frequency of beating, and the body will be undersupplied with blood. People will be prone to dizziness and fatigue, and in severe cases may even suffer from confusion, fainting, and even sudden death. Therefore, when tachycardia, or bradycardia and the uncomfortable symptoms of ischemia and hypoxia are present, medical attention should be sought promptly. When clinicians encounter patients with abnormal heart rates, they also need to carefully identify and find the causes and deal with them accordingly based on the specific circumstances.

So, can we rest easy if our heart rate is within the normal range? As one of the hardest-working organs in the human body, is there any difference between taking it easy and working hard for health?

Actually, yes.

The faster your resting heart rate, the lower your life expectancy

Recently, a study published in a Nature sub-journal included more than 10,000 healthy participants without initial cardiovascular disease in three countries, with a longitudinal span of several decades. After comparison, statistical analysis found that: regardless of gender, an increase in resting heart rate is statistically significantly associated with a decrease in life expectancy. Among them, the statistical results of 7,976 men in France showed that there is an inverse linear relationship between resting heart rate and life expectancy, that is, the faster the heart rate, the lower the life expectancy. The average life expectancy of the group with the lowest resting heart rate (≤60 beats/minute) is 9 years longer than that of the group with the highest resting heart rate (>90 beats/minute).

The diagram is from reference [2]

The American cohort study included 3299 male and 4001 female subjects. Among the more than 4,000 deceased subjects, resting heart rate was negatively correlated with life expectancy in both men and women. However, in each of the same resting heart rate groups, women lived longer than men (5 years on average).

The diagram is from reference [2]

The link between resting heart rate and life expectancy is not new.

As early as 1997, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) published a review that concluded that resting heart rate is inversely correlated with life expectancy in mammals based on previous studies. However, due to the lack of retrospective analysis of a large population, the authors were unable to draw a conclusion on the relationship between a slower heart rate and human life expectancy.

Over the years, more studies have confirmed the relationship between resting heart rate and life expectancy.

Throughout the animal kingdom, there is a general connection between heart rate and life expectancy in various species. For example, mice generally have a heart rate of 400-600 beats per minute and a lifespan of several years; whales generally have a resting heart rate of 30-40 beats per minute and can live for decades. In animal experiments, using drugs to reduce the resting heart rate of mice by 14% throughout their lives extended their median lifespan by 6%, which was significantly different from the placebo group, meaning that resting heart rate itself can be an independent factor affecting life expectancy.

In population-based surveys, individuals with higher resting heart rates tend to have higher blood pressure and body mass index, lower physical activity levels, and poorer lung function. These characteristics are all associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. Increased resting heart rate is also associated with increased inflammatory factors, increased adverse cardiovascular events, and poor prognosis of cardiovascular disease. These associations may explain the specific mechanism by which resting heart rate affects life expectancy.

In addition, domestic public health scholars have also conducted a prospective cohort study on 17,886 elderly people over 80 years old in China, and also found that the risk of all-cause mortality increases with the increase of resting heart rate.

These methods

Can Healthy Lower Heart Rate

So, since keeping a lower resting heart rate has such an obvious longevity effect, is there any way for us to lower our heart rate in a healthy way? In fact, there are still some old-fashioned methods, simple but effective:

1. Eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly, and maintain a proper weight;

2. Try to get enough and regular sleep

3. Try to keep the environment cool, comfortable and well ventilated;

4. Try not to smoke or drink;

5. If coffee, tea and other beverages cause palpitations and discomfort, you need to reduce the intake of caffeinated beverages appropriately;

Pay attention to your mental health and try to keep a peaceful mind.

In daily life, it is best to develop the habit of regularly measuring your heart rate or wearing a heart rate monitoring device. If you find that your heart rate is persistently high, or persistently low and accompanied by ischemic symptoms such as dizziness and fatigue, seek medical attention in time to find out the cause.

However, it is important to remind you that although lowering your heart rate is good for your health, this process needs to be gradual and you should not rush for quick results. Whether it is physical exercise or weight control, you need to persist for a long time and slowly to see the effect. If you are impatient and cause sports injuries, or become anxious because the effect is slow, the gain will outweigh the loss.

References

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[2]GayeB,ValentinE,XanthakisV,etal.AssociationbetweenchangeinheartrateoveryearsandlifespanintheParisProspective1,theWhitehall1,andFraminghamstudies[publis hedcorrectionappearsinSciRep.2024Sep6;14(1):20868.doi:10.1038/s41598-024-7200 0-2].SciRep.2024;14(1):20052.Published2024Aug29.doi:10.1038/s41598-024-70806-8

[3]LevineHJ.Restheartrateandlifeexpectancy.JAmCollCardiol.1997;30(4):1104-1106.doi:10.1016/s0735-1097(97)00246-5

[4]JensenMT.Restingheartrateandrelationtodiseaseandlongevity:past,presentandfuture.ScandJClinLab Invest.2019Feb-Apr;79(1-2):108-116.doi:10.1080/00365513.2019.1566567.Epub2019Feb14.PMID:30761923.

[5]NoujaimSF,LuccaE,MuñozV,etal.Frommousetowhale:auniversalscalingrelationforthePRIntervaloftheelectrocardiogramofmammals[publis hedcorrectionappearsinCirculation.2005Jan25:111(3):379].Circulation.2004;110(18):2802-2808.doi:10.1161/01.CIR.0000146785.15995.67

[6]GentS,KleinbongardP,DammannP,NeuhäuserM,HeuschG.Heartratereductionandlongevityinmice.BasicResCardiol.2015;110(2):2.doi:10.1007/s00395-014-0460-7

[7] Cheng X, Li ZH, Lyu YB, et al. Zhonghua Yu Fang Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2021;55(1):53-59. doi:10.3760/cma.j.cn112150-20200629-00944

Planning and production

Author: Doctor Feidao Duanyu

Reviewer: Huang Panbing, Director of Internal Medicine, People's Hospital of Suxitong Science and Technology Industrial Park, Nantong, Jiangsu