How to take your resting heart rate
A short walk-through for finding your pulse and counting your resting heart rate at home, with no special kit. It pairs with the explainer on what resting heart rate is and what it can show over time.
Your resting heart rate is how often your heart beats in a minute while you're calm and still. You can find it with two fingers and a clock. Here's a simple way to do it.
What you'll need
A clock, watch, or phone with a seconds display.
A few quiet minutes where you can sit or lie still.
Method
1. Settle first. Sit or lie quietly for about five minutes so your heart is genuinely at rest. The British Heart Foundation suggests resting before you count.
2. Find your pulse. The easiest spots are the wrist, on the thumb side, or the side of the neck. Press gently with the pads of your first two fingers. The NHS advises against using your thumb, since it has a faint pulse of its own.
3. Count the beats. Count for a full 60 seconds, or count for 30 seconds and double it. That number is your beats per minute.
4. First thing in the morning, before you get up, tends to give the steadiest reading. The American Heart Association and Mayo Clinic both point to the morning, before coffee or activity, as a good moment.
Good to know
A reading taken right after caffeine, exercise, or a stressful moment will run higher, so those aren't the best times to measure. A wrist tracker or smartwatch can do the counting for you, though Harvard Health notes the two-finger method works just as well.
One reading is a single snapshot. Where it gets interesting is over time. If it appeals, note yours every so often and watch how it moves with your sleep, your rest, and your days. That watching is where the meaning lives.