Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat it IsHow to CalculateHealthy NumbersTrackers and MonitorsFactors That Affect ItHow to Improve It
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
What it Is
How to Calculate
Healthy Numbers
Trackers and Monitors
Factors That Affect It
How to Improve It
Heart rate recovery (HRR) is how quickly your heart returns to normal after you stop exercising. It’s determined using yourheart rateat the end of your workout and one minute later. This calculation is a measure of your physical fitness and an indication of your heart health.
This article goes over why heart rate recovery is important, what factors affect it, and how to improve your recovery heart rate.
What Is Heart Rate Recovery?
If you’ve taken a fitness class or personal training session, you may have heard people mention your heart rate recovery. Heart rate recovery is different from your target heart rate (a heart rate you aim to raise yours to during exercise) or normalresting heart rate(your heart rate when you have not been doing any activity).
Your recovery heart rate measures the change in your heart rate for the first few minutes after exercise. Typically, it’s measured within the first one to three minutes after exercise. Some people refer to heart rate recovery as your post-exercise heart rate.
In general, the better yourphysical fitness level, the quicker your heart will recover after exercise.
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How to Calculate Heart Rate Recovery
For example, if you end your workout with a heart rate of 130 beats per minute and it drops to 110 bpm after one minute of rest, your recovery heart rate is 20 beats per minute.
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What Is a Good Heart Rate Recovery?
An HRR between 12 and 23 beats per minute is considered healthy.
Why Heart Rate Recovery Matters
Heart rate recovery is important because it can be used to understand how the heart recovers after stress. Exercise intentionally and safely adds stress to the body. The stress from exercise helps you maintain healthy muscles and lungs, as well as cardiovascular (the heart and blood vessels) health.
If your heart doesn’t recover well after exercising, it could be a sign of a poor fitness level and even potential health problems.
A 2017 study found that a slower decrease in heart rate after exercise is associated with an increased risk of health problems like:
Because of its importance to fitness level and cardiovascular health, many healthcare professionals use heart rate recovery to predict disease risk and risk of death from heart disease.
When is a Heart Rate Considered Dangerous?
The drawback to manually tracking your heart rate is the challenge of assessing your higher heart rate at the end of exercise. Once you stop exercising, your heart rate will begin to slow.
Another option is to use a fitness tracker device. These popular devices record your heart rate during your workout and make it easier to measure your HRR after your workout ends.
Factors That Affect Your Recovery Heart Rate
More than just your overall fitness level impacts your heart rate recovery. So, to track change in your heart rate recovery, it’s important to understand how these factors affect it.
Dehydration
Drinking enough water is essential for healthy body function. Research shows that dehydration may lead to changes in heart function and increased heart rate when dehydrated. A lack of water can also slow heart rate recovery after exercise.
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Caffeine
Caffeine stimulates the nervous system, which can slow the body’s ability to recover after workouts. A 2017 study found caffeine intake negatively affects heart rate and blood pressure recovery after exercise.
Fatigue
Fatigue and lack of sleep impact multiple parts of the body, including your heart. Research suggests fatigue impacts peak heart rate and heart rate recovery after exercise.
How to Improve Your Heart Rate Recovery
Verywell / Julie Bang
Now that you understand heart rate recovery, you may be wondering how to improve it. First, make sure you consider the other factors that may impact your heart rate recovery, like not getting enough sleep, caffeine intake, and dehydration.
When tracking changes in your heart rate recovery, these factors could change how accurate the numbers are. The most important factor for improving your recovering heart rate is physical activity.
Getting More Exercise
Here are some other tips to increase your physical activity and fitness levels:
Contact your healthcare provider if you have any concerns about your heart rate during and after exercise.
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Summary
Heart rate recovery measures how quickly your heart rate returns to a resting rate. You can use your recovery heart rate to assess your fitness level and overall cardiovascular health.
6 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Mongin D, Chabert C, Courvoisier DS, García-Romero J, Alvero-Cruz JR.Heart rate recovery to assess fitness: comparison of different calculation methods in a large cross-sectional study.Res Sports Med. 2023;31(2):157-170. doi:10.1080/15438627.2021.1954513Liu H, Miller K, Arguello E.Effects of Ba-Duan-Jin based deep breathing on multimorbidity: A case study.Int J Physiother Res. 2022;10(4):4295-303. doi:10.16965/ijpr.2022.129Qiu S, Cai X, Sun Z, et al.Heart rate recovery and risk of cardiovascular events and all‐cause mortality: a meta‐analysis of prospective cohort studies.J Am Heart Assoc. 2017;6(5):e005505. doi:10.1161/JAHA.117.008341Cengiz A.Effects of self-selected dehydration and meaningful rehydration on anaerobic power and heart rate recovery of elite wrestlers.J Phys Ther Sci. 2015;27(5):1441-1444. doi:10.1589/jpts.27.1441Gonzaga LA, Vanderlei LCM, Gomes RL, Valenti VE.Caffeine affects autonomic control of heart rate and blood pressure recovery after aerobic exercise in young adults: a crossover study.Sci Rep. 2017;7:14091. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-14540-4Thomson RL, Bellenger CR, Howe PRC, Karavirta L, Buckley JD.Improved heart rate recovery despite reduced exercise performance following heavy training: A within-subject analysis.J Sci Med Sport. 2016;19(3):255-259. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2015.02.010.
6 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Mongin D, Chabert C, Courvoisier DS, García-Romero J, Alvero-Cruz JR.Heart rate recovery to assess fitness: comparison of different calculation methods in a large cross-sectional study.Res Sports Med. 2023;31(2):157-170. doi:10.1080/15438627.2021.1954513Liu H, Miller K, Arguello E.Effects of Ba-Duan-Jin based deep breathing on multimorbidity: A case study.Int J Physiother Res. 2022;10(4):4295-303. doi:10.16965/ijpr.2022.129Qiu S, Cai X, Sun Z, et al.Heart rate recovery and risk of cardiovascular events and all‐cause mortality: a meta‐analysis of prospective cohort studies.J Am Heart Assoc. 2017;6(5):e005505. doi:10.1161/JAHA.117.008341Cengiz A.Effects of self-selected dehydration and meaningful rehydration on anaerobic power and heart rate recovery of elite wrestlers.J Phys Ther Sci. 2015;27(5):1441-1444. doi:10.1589/jpts.27.1441Gonzaga LA, Vanderlei LCM, Gomes RL, Valenti VE.Caffeine affects autonomic control of heart rate and blood pressure recovery after aerobic exercise in young adults: a crossover study.Sci Rep. 2017;7:14091. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-14540-4Thomson RL, Bellenger CR, Howe PRC, Karavirta L, Buckley JD.Improved heart rate recovery despite reduced exercise performance following heavy training: A within-subject analysis.J Sci Med Sport. 2016;19(3):255-259. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2015.02.010.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Mongin D, Chabert C, Courvoisier DS, García-Romero J, Alvero-Cruz JR.Heart rate recovery to assess fitness: comparison of different calculation methods in a large cross-sectional study.Res Sports Med. 2023;31(2):157-170. doi:10.1080/15438627.2021.1954513Liu H, Miller K, Arguello E.Effects of Ba-Duan-Jin based deep breathing on multimorbidity: A case study.Int J Physiother Res. 2022;10(4):4295-303. doi:10.16965/ijpr.2022.129Qiu S, Cai X, Sun Z, et al.Heart rate recovery and risk of cardiovascular events and all‐cause mortality: a meta‐analysis of prospective cohort studies.J Am Heart Assoc. 2017;6(5):e005505. doi:10.1161/JAHA.117.008341Cengiz A.Effects of self-selected dehydration and meaningful rehydration on anaerobic power and heart rate recovery of elite wrestlers.J Phys Ther Sci. 2015;27(5):1441-1444. doi:10.1589/jpts.27.1441Gonzaga LA, Vanderlei LCM, Gomes RL, Valenti VE.Caffeine affects autonomic control of heart rate and blood pressure recovery after aerobic exercise in young adults: a crossover study.Sci Rep. 2017;7:14091. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-14540-4Thomson RL, Bellenger CR, Howe PRC, Karavirta L, Buckley JD.Improved heart rate recovery despite reduced exercise performance following heavy training: A within-subject analysis.J Sci Med Sport. 2016;19(3):255-259. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2015.02.010.
Mongin D, Chabert C, Courvoisier DS, García-Romero J, Alvero-Cruz JR.Heart rate recovery to assess fitness: comparison of different calculation methods in a large cross-sectional study.Res Sports Med. 2023;31(2):157-170. doi:10.1080/15438627.2021.1954513
Liu H, Miller K, Arguello E.Effects of Ba-Duan-Jin based deep breathing on multimorbidity: A case study.Int J Physiother Res. 2022;10(4):4295-303. doi:10.16965/ijpr.2022.129
Qiu S, Cai X, Sun Z, et al.Heart rate recovery and risk of cardiovascular events and all‐cause mortality: a meta‐analysis of prospective cohort studies.J Am Heart Assoc. 2017;6(5):e005505. doi:10.1161/JAHA.117.008341
Cengiz A.Effects of self-selected dehydration and meaningful rehydration on anaerobic power and heart rate recovery of elite wrestlers.J Phys Ther Sci. 2015;27(5):1441-1444. doi:10.1589/jpts.27.1441
Gonzaga LA, Vanderlei LCM, Gomes RL, Valenti VE.Caffeine affects autonomic control of heart rate and blood pressure recovery after aerobic exercise in young adults: a crossover study.Sci Rep. 2017;7:14091. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-14540-4
Thomson RL, Bellenger CR, Howe PRC, Karavirta L, Buckley JD.Improved heart rate recovery despite reduced exercise performance following heavy training: A within-subject analysis.J Sci Med Sport. 2016;19(3):255-259. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2015.02.010.
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