Heart Rate by Age: Normal Resting Pulse
Last updated: August 2026
The short answer surprises most people: for everyone from about age ten upward, the normal resting range is the same 60–100 beats per minute. Unlike blood pressure, your resting pulse doesn't climb with the decades — what changes with age is the maximum your heart can reach, and the pulse pressure behind each beat.
Below: the resting-rate chart from newborns to older adults, pulse pressure by age (the number your monitor implies but never shows), and what actually moves a resting pulse up or down.
Normal resting heart rate chart
Measured at rest — seated a few minutes, not after coffee, stairs, or stress:
| Resting rate (bpm) | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Below 60 | Bradycardia on paper — but often simply fitness. Well-trained hearts commonly rest at 40–60. It matters when it comes with dizziness, fatigue, or fainting. |
| 60–100 | The normal adult range. Most healthy adults sit between 60 and 80. |
| Above 100 | Tachycardia at rest. Occasional causes are mundane (fever, stress, caffeine, dehydration); a pulse that sits above 100 at rest for days is worth a doctor's visit. |
One number is not a verdict. Your pulse moves minute to minute, so judge the resting rate you see repeatedly — ideally measured the same way at the same time of day, which is exactly what proper blood pressure technique gives you for free, since every cuff reading includes a pulse.
Resting heart rate by age
Children run faster; the adult range holds from roughly age ten onward:
| Age | Typical resting rate (bpm) |
|---|---|
| Newborn (0–1 month) | 70–190 |
| Infant (1–11 months) | 80–160 |
| 1–2 years | 80–130 |
| 3–4 years | 80–120 |
| 5–6 years | 75–115 |
| 7–9 years | 70–110 |
| 10 years and older, incl. adults | 60–100 |
| Well-trained athletes | 40–60 |
So a normal pulse at 70 is the same 60–100 as a normal pulse at 30. Two things do change with adult age: maximum heart rate falls (the common estimate is 220 minus your age), and the heart takes slightly longer to speed up and settle back. Neither moves the healthy resting range.
Pulse pressure by age
Pulse pressure is the gap between your two blood pressure numbers: systolic minus diastolic. At 120/80 mmHg it is 40 — and 30–50 is the usual healthy band in young and middle adulthood.
This is the pulse number that genuinely changes with age. As arteries stiffen, systolic pressure rises while diastolic drifts down, so the gap widens: in the 50s and 60s values around 40–55 are typical, and past 70 a pulse pressure of 50–60 is common. A gap that stays above about 60 mmHg in an older adult is associated with stiffer arteries and higher cardiovascular risk — not an emergency, but worth showing your doctor, especially alongside readings already in the high range.
A very narrow gap (under about 25) usually just reflects a low systolic reading; persistent narrow gaps with tiredness or dizziness also belong in a doctor's conversation.
Pulse and blood pressure are different measurements
They travel together on your monitor's screen but measure different things: pressure is the force on artery walls, pulse is beats per minute. One can be normal while the other is not — a fit person can have low pulse and high pressure; anxiety can spike pulse while pressure barely moves. Neither predicts the other, which is why pulse and blood pressure get a full guide of their own on this site.
What moves your resting heart rate
Day to day, the usual suspects:
- Fitness — the one reliable way down. Regular aerobic exercise lowers resting rate over weeks.
- Fever and illness — roughly 10 extra beats per degree Celsius of fever.
- Dehydration and heat — less volume, faster beats.
- Caffeine and nicotine — both push it up for hours.
- Stress, anxiety, poor sleep — sympathetic drive keeps the idle high.
- Medications — beta-blockers lower it (a resting 55 on a beta-blocker is expected); decongestants and some asthma inhalers raise it.
- Thyroid — overactive raises, underactive lowers.
See a doctor promptly for: a resting pulse persistently above 100, below 50 with dizziness or fainting, or a rhythm that feels irregular, racing, or skipping — especially with chest pain or breathlessness, which is emergency territory.
Tracking your pulse: notebook vs app
A single pulse reading answers almost nothing; the trend answers a lot — whether your fitness push is working, whether the new medication dose settled you, whether those fast mornings are a pattern or a coincidence. A notebook can hold the numbers, but averaging a month of them or spotting that your pulse runs ten beats higher on bad-sleep days is exactly the arithmetic nobody does by hand.
Blood Pressure Journal records pulse with every reading automatically — point the camera at your monitor and it reads all three numbers — then charts pulse alongside pressure over any period, computes averages, and exports a doctor-ready PDF. Free, private, synced with iCloud, no account needed.
Frequently asked questions
What is a normal heart rate for a 70-year-old?
The same as for any adult: 60–100 beats per minute at rest. Resting heart rate does not rise with age the way blood pressure does — what falls with age is the maximum rate during exertion. What often widens instead is pulse pressure, the gap between the two blood pressure numbers.
Is a resting heart rate of 55 normal?
Often, yes. Fit people and anyone on a beta-blocker commonly rest in the 50s, and trained athletes in the 40s. It's worth a doctor's visit when a low rate comes with symptoms — dizziness, unusual tiredness, near-fainting — or when it's new and unexplained.
What is a normal pulse pressure?
Systolic minus diastolic — 30–50 mmHg is typical, with 40 the textbook value (120/80). It widens naturally with age; a gap persistently above about 60 in an older adult is worth discussing with a doctor.
Is a heart rate of 110 dangerous?
During activity, stress, or a fever — no, that's the heart doing its job. At rest, repeatedly, 110 is above the normal range and deserves a check-up: common causes range from dehydration and caffeine to thyroid issues and rhythm problems, most of them very treatable.
Does high blood pressure mean a high pulse?
No — they're independent. Blood pressure is force on artery walls; pulse is beats per minute. Many people with hypertension have a perfectly normal or even low resting pulse, especially on beta-blockers. That independence is exactly why it helps to track both together.
