A normal resting heart rate for most adults is 60 to 100 beats per minute, but the healthy range shifts with age and fitness. Newborns run high (100–160 bpm), children settle down through their teens, and by adulthood most people land between 60 and 100 bpm at rest — with well-trained adults often in the 40s or 50s. In CDC survey data, the median adult resting pulse is about 67–69 bpm for men and 70–74 bpm for women, and it barely changes with age (table below). A lower resting heart rate generally reflects better cardiovascular fitness, because a stronger heart pumps more blood per beat and needs fewer beats. As with HRV, the single most useful comparison isn't the population average — it's how your resting heart rate is trending against your own baseline.
Check your number → HRV Calculator by Age — compare your morning RMSSD (Oura, Whoop, Garmin, Polar, Fitbit) with Fitbit users your age. Apple Watch SDNN is a different measure and isn't compared.
Resting heart rate by age chart: what is normal?
A normal adult resting heart rate is 60–100 bpm — a wide band, and fitness moves people within it more than age does. Fit people often sit lower (often below 60 bpm; many elite endurance athletes reach 40 bpm or less at their lowest point of the day), and in population studies a lower resting heart rate is associated with lower long-term mortality. These are general ranges for a healthy resting heart rate:
| Age | Typical resting heart rate |
|---|---|
| Newborn (0–1 mo) | 100–160 bpm |
| Child (1–10 yr) | 70–120 bpm |
| Teen (11–17 yr) | 60–100 bpm |
| Adult (18+) | 60–100 bpm |
| Well-trained adult | often below 60 bpm |
Within adulthood, age itself moves resting heart rate less than you'd expect — a fit 60-year-old can easily have a lower resting heart rate than an unfit 30-year-old. Fitness, stress, sleep and stimulants explain most of the difference.
Resting heart rate by age and sex: men and women
In the CDC's NHANES survey of healthy U.S. adults (seated resting pulse, Ostchega 2011), the median barely changes with age, and women run a few beats higher than men:
| Age | Men — median (typical p25–p75) | Women — median (typical p25–p75) |
|---|---|---|
| 20–39 | 69 bpm (61–76 bpm) | 74 bpm (66–82 bpm) |
| 40–59 | 68 bpm (61–77 bpm) | 71 bpm (64–79 bpm) |
| 60–79 | 67 bpm (60–75 bpm) | 70 bpm (64–78 bpm) |
| 80+ | 68 bpm (61–78 bpm) | 71 bpm (64–77 bpm) |
Watches and rings read resting or sleeping heart rate, which usually comes out a few bpm lower than a seated check. See your percentile for your age and sex: Resting Heart Rate by Age calculator.
What raises and lowers your resting heart rate?
Sleep, exercise, alcohol, stress and illness are the most common things that move your resting heart rate — a daily readout of how your body is doing. Common influences:
Lowers it (usually good): regular aerobic exercise, good sleep, hydration, slow breathing practice. Endurance training is the strongest long-term lever — it's why athletes sit in the 40s and 50s.
Raises it (worth noticing): poor or short sleep, alcohol, stress, illness, dehydration, and hot environments. Caffeine can raise heart rate in some people, but its effect on resting heart rate is inconsistent, and regular coffee drinkers develop tolerance. A resting heart rate that's several beats above your normal for a few days often means your body is under load — a cold coming on, accumulated stress, or poor recovery.
A single elevated reading usually means one rough night or a recent coffee. A sustained rise above your baseline is the more meaningful signal.
What is your resting heart rate while sleeping?
Your lowest resting heart rate of the day usually occurs during deep sleep, when parasympathetic "rest and digest" activity dominates. This overnight low is one of the most stable, comparable numbers you can track, because it's measured under consistent conditions — no caffeine, movement or stress in the moment. It's also where alcohol and late meals show up clearly: both keep your sleeping heart rate elevated through the night, which is why you can wake up unrecovered even after a full night in bed. Tracking your overnight resting heart rate against your own normal is one of the clearest windows into your recovery.
Is my resting heart rate too high or too low?
For adults, a resting heart rate above 100 bpm is called tachycardia and below 60 bpm bradycardia. Neither label means something is wrong on its own: a fit person can sit in the 40s or 50s with no problem, and a single high reading after coffee or a bad night is normal.
Over the long term, a lower resting heart rate is generally better. A meta-analysis of studies with more than a million people found that each 10 bpm higher resting heart rate was linked to about a 9% higher risk of death from any cause (Zhang 2015). This is an association across populations, not a target to chase — your genes, medicines and fitness all play a part.
People also differ a lot. In wearable data from 92,457 adults, average resting heart rates ranged widely between healthy individuals, while each person’s own number stayed fairly stable from week to week (Quer 2020). That is why a change from your own baseline says more than where you sit in a table.
See a doctor if your resting heart rate is:
- •regularly above 100 bpm at rest, without an obvious reason like fever or caffeine;
- •below 50 bpm and you are not an endurance-trained athlete, especially with dizziness, fainting, tiredness or shortness of breath;
- •irregular, or comes with chest pain, palpitations or breathlessness — get urgent help for chest pain or fainting.
How do you measure resting heart rate correctly?
- •Measure first thing in the morning, before coffee and before getting up, or after sitting quietly for 5 minutes.
- •Count for 60 seconds at the wrist or neck, or use a watch, ring or chest strap. A phone camera reading works too if you keep still.
- •Use the same conditions each time and look at a 7-day average rather than a single number.
- •Remember that wearables report sleeping or lowest heart rate, which usually reads a few bpm lower than a seated check.
Want a quick reading now? Check your heart rate with your phone camera.
When does resting heart rate matter?
A resting heart rate inside the normal range for your age and fitness is reassuring, but the number to watch is the change. A steady climb of several beats above your personal baseline — sustained over days, not one reading — can reflect illness, overtraining, stress, or poor sleep. Conversely, a resting heart rate that trends down as you get fitter is a sign of improving cardiovascular health. Extremes in either direction — persistently very high, or very low with symptoms like dizziness or fatigue — are worth discussing with a doctor, but resting heart rate on its own is a signal, not a diagnosis.
See your resting heart rate trend
A one-time reading tells you little; your trend tells you a lot. ONDA reads your resting heart rate and HRV from Apple Health — from Apple Watch or another tracker that syncs there — and builds your personal baseline — your normal range — then shows you when today drifts outside it. Instead of wondering whether 58 or 68 is "good," you see whether your resting heart rate is holding steady, dropping as you get fitter, or creeping up because something's off. That trend is what actually reflects your health.