Impact of changes in resting heart rate with age on all-cause mortality

openheart.bmj.com

2 points·haltingproblem··4 comments

Since taking on a new job exactly 2 years ago, my RHR has spiked by 5-7 points. The value of RHR as a predictor of longevity has been long known but there is controversy around the genetic vs. behavioral factors.

However, I was interested in the life expectancy reduction for every point increase in RHR. This study showed:

Every beat increase in heart rate from 1993 was associated with a 3% higher risk for all-cause death, 1% higher risk for CVD and 2% higher risk for CHD

Yikes.

Mine has always been around 85bpm. Im fucked up then.

Not quite. This article talked about increase in HR, if yours is stable then this article's finding do not apply.

RHR has a genetic component - mine has already been low. When I was fit and getting enough sleep and stress free for an extended period of time, it was even lower.

I think of it as baseline RHR and relative changes to that baseline. Relative changes can be negative (as in RHR goes up) or positive (as in RHR goes down due to managing or removing stress, cardio and sleep).

If yours is 85 and you have room for improvement, then by all means you should try to bring in some positive RHR changes?

Cool thanks for your input. Any tips to improve it?

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