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Check your heart rate. No gadget needed.

Find your pulse, tap along with each beat, and your number appears.

Find your pulse first

Turn one hand palm up. Two fingers on the thumb side of the wrist, just below the crease, pressing lightly until you feel the beat.

Have a chest strap or a band?

A page can read a strap directly over Bluetooth, but not in this browser. It works in Chrome or Edge on Android, Windows, Mac and Linux. No browser on an iPhone or iPad can do it, and an Apple Watch does not broadcast a heart rate that any web page can read.

Your resting number, answered

At true rest: sitting quietly for a few minutes, not after coffee, stairs or stress. Adult resting rates shift only a few beats across the whole of adult life, so one table serves every age.

Beats per minuteWhat it means at rest
Below 40Unusually slow. Worth a check even without symptoms.
40 to 49Common in trained athletes. In someone who does not train, or with dizziness or fainting, see a doctor.
50 to 59Good. Regular exercisers often live here; 50, 52, 55 at rest are healthy numbers with no symptoms.
60 to 79Typical for most adults.
80 to 99Inside the official range, upper end. If this is a drift up from your usual, fitness, sleep, stress and illness are what move it.
100 and upHigh at rest. Occasional and explained is fine; persistent across quiet days deserves a doctor.

Where 60 to 100 comes from

It is a clinical convention, not a measured distribution. 60 and 100 are the points at which doctors start calling a rhythm slow or fast. They were never the 5th and 95th percentile of anybody.

What a large real-world count actually shows. 66,788 people took 3,144,332 readings in the Health eHeart Study. The average came out at 79 beats per minute, and the bottom 5 percent sat at 50 to 55, below the textbook floor of 60. Which is why a resting 52 with no symptoms is a good number, not a worrying one.

Women averaged 4 to 6 beats higher than men, and the average slid from 82 in the late teens to 74 in the seventies: a few beats across sixty years. Avram et al, npj Digital Medicine, 2019.

The half nobody quotes: those were phone-camera readings taken whenever people felt like taking one, not clinic measurements after five quiet minutes. The average sits higher than a true resting figure because of it. It describes real life well and standardized rest less well, so read the table for orientation and treat your own number across quiet mornings as the one that means something.

Every figure on this site names where it came from. How we check.

If you are buying a fitness tracker

Step count and resting heart rate are the two numbers that matter, and any major-brand band tracks both well. You do not need the expensive model to walk more.

How to choose oneSee fitness trackers

Buying through this link supports the free library with a small commission. It never changes a pick.

Keep going, free

Build stamina without a gymConnect your trackerHeart questions, answered
A walkResting rate falls with regular movement, and you can watch it happen.Breath holdThe other thirty second check worth having on file.

Common questions

What is a normal resting heart rate?
For most adults, 60 to 100 beats per minute at rest is normal, and people who exercise regularly often sit in the 50s. What matters more than one reading is your usual number: a rate that has drifted well above your own normal for days deserves attention, even inside the official range.
How do I check my pulse without a device?
Turn one hand palm up and place two fingers of the other hand on the thumb side of the wrist, just below the crease. Press lightly until you feel the beat. Never use your thumb, which has a pulse of its own. Tapping along with each beat for 20 to 30 beats gives a reliable rate.
When is a fast heart rate a problem?
A rate above 100 at true rest, on several quiet checks, is worth mentioning to a doctor, especially with breathlessness, chest discomfort, faintness or fluttering. A fast rate right after activity, coffee, stress or poor sleep is usually the body doing its job. Sudden racing that starts and stops out of nowhere is its own symptom worth describing.
Is a slow heart rate dangerous?
Often not: fit people commonly rest in the 50s, and some healthy people run slow naturally. A rate under 50 in someone who does not train, or a slow rate with dizziness, fainting or unusual tiredness, should be checked, because some medicines and some electrical problems of the heart show up exactly this way.
Is a resting heart rate of 50 good?
With no symptoms, yes, and often a sign of fitness: regular training makes the heart pump more per beat, so it needs fewer beats. The same 50 in someone sedentary, or 50 with dizziness, faintness or new exhaustion, is worth a doctor visit instead of congratulations.
Is 98 a high resting heart rate?
It is inside the official 60 to 100 range but at the top of it, and if your usual is 70, a persistent 98 is a real change worth explaining: poor sleep, illness, stress, dehydration, alcohol, an overactive thyroid or anemia can all do it. Recheck on a few quiet mornings; if it stays high, mention it to a doctor.
Does normal resting heart rate change with age?
Surprisingly little in adults: the 60 to 100 range applies at 40, 50 and 70 alike, so there is no separate chart for a 46 year old woman or a 55 year old man. What changes with age is the maximum during exercise, not the resting number. Your own baseline, tracked over time, beats any age table.