For the past few weeks I have been discussing about heart rate knowledge during my cardio lessons in our physical education lesson to students of Hwa Chong Institution (college). This knowledge of taking heart rate came when a teacher taught our class, when I was a secondary two student, on how to take the heart rate at the radial artery
The teacher taught us during my high school civics and moral education days on how we will know that we are healthy. She told us 72 beat per minute is a normal healthy range for human beings. She told us that if the resting heart rate is higher than this, a person is at a high risk zone for facing heart problem of the future. A resting heart rate range, provided a person has not any activity a day before and on that very morning, between 80 and 90 spells trouble in the long run for a person. In the long run, a person may suffer from coronary artery problems plus a host of probably heart related problems.
The teacher also told us that when a person gets lower than 60, it means that a person is fitter. That means that the heart is pumping 60 beats throughout the day per minute. Hence, the faster the heart works, it means a person will be having a shorter life-span. That is what is written in several yoga books. Lower the heart-rate, one will live longer and retain youth and retard the aging process. The faster the resting heart-rate per minute, one may kick the bucket earlier than usual.
Several physiological books have mentioned that researchers have recorded top marathon or endurance athletes having a resting heart rate of 30 - 40 beats per minute. You can call yourself as an elite if your heart falls within this range.
The increase in the size of the cavity at the left ventricle allows the heart to be a bigger pump, hence more blood will be able to come in to the left ventricle. and then it pumps blood to the rest of the body. Due to frequent exercise program,the increase in stroke volume leads to a reduction in heart-rate, allowing the heart to be a more functionally efficient pump.