How do you lower your resting heart rate

• If your resting heart rate is near or above 100 beats per minute, you might want to consider ways to get it down. 
• Some of the best ways to lower your heart rate include exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet, and quitting smoking.
• If your high resting heart rate is the result of stress or anxiety, consider trying yoga, meditation, or simply going for a walk outside. 
• This article was reviewed by John Osborne, MD, PhD, and the Director of Cardiology for Dallas-based State of the Heart Cardiology.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

For most adults, a normal resting heart rate is between 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm). But if you're toward the top end of this range, or above it, you'll want to lower it.

It is possible to have a heart rate that's too low, but generally, the lower your resting heart rate, the healthier you are. In fact, well-trained athletes and highly-active adults are often in the 40 to 50 bpm range. 

If your resting heart rate is too high, here are some of the best strategies to lower it over time, as well as tips to calm it down in the moment. 

How to lower your heart rate over time 

Kristin Dean, MD, a board-certified physician at Doctor On Demand, says when your heart beats fewer times each minute, it is more efficient and doesn't have to work as hard to pump blood through the body. 

"Studies have shown that a lower overall workload for your heart is a good thing for heart health long-term," Dean says. "Higher heart rates may be associated with an increased risk of heart attacks or strokes, as seen in the Copenhagen Male Study." 

Additionally, a higher resting heart rate has been associated with increased risk of diabetes and heart disease leading to death, says Maheer Gandhavadi, MD, Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology with Dignity Health Mercy Medical Group. 

You can lower your resting heart rate by making a few lifestyle changes. Dean says some of the best ways include: 

• Regular exercise. "Increasing your physical activity will improve your overall heart health and likely result in a lower heart rate over time," says Dean. Frequently walking, jogging, swimming, or biking are easy ways to gradually decrease resting heart rate. 
• Healthy Diet. Research has found that omega-3 fatty acids are associated with a reduced resting heart rate — try eating more fish, walnuts, and avocados. 
• Stop smoking. Resting heart rate was found to be higher among young adults who smoke, according to research published in the Hellenic Journal of Cardiology.

How to lower your heart rate in the moment 

Anxiety and stress can also cause an increased heart rate, both over time and in the moment.  According to Harvard Medical School, generalized anxiety disorder may lead to higher rates of heart attacks and cardiac injuries. 

There are a few common strategies that can help manage anxiety over time and lower your heart rate to a normal resting number in the moment. Dean and Gandhavadi suggest: 

• Meditation and deep breathing exercises
• Yoga
• Going for a walk
• Taking a bath
• Staying hydrated

If anxiety and stress is a regular part of your life, you should also minimize your use of caffeine and potentially meet with a therapist to find the strategies that work for you to manage stress. 

If you have a consistently elevated resting heart rate, a doctor's visit is necessary. Together, you can create a personalized plan for improving your cardiac health.

Related stories about heart health:

Mary Sauer is a freelance writer for Insider.

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Magazine|How to Lower Your Heart Rate

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/24/magazine/how-to-lower-your-heart-rate.html

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• March 24, 2017

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“Find out why your resting heart rate is so high in the first place,” says Dr. John Elefteriades, who directs the Aortic Institute at Yale University. Someone struggling with heart or lung problems, for example, will have an elevated pulse that needs to be corrected immediately with medicine. But even with no serious health problems, lowering the number of times your heart beats in a minute can decrease its burden. Once you determine your resting heart rate by making several measurements — count the beats for 30 seconds, then double that number — start exercising regularly for a long period of time. “If you’re a couch potato, your pulse rate might go up just by doing normal activities,” Elefteriades says.

“For someone who is not inclined toward exercise, just walking is great,” he says. Walk one to two miles, five times a week, or bike three times as far as you would walk or run. In addition to reducing your resting heart rate, such exercise will improve the efficiency with which your heart pumps blood to various bodily tissues. But don’t overdo the workouts. “Endurance athletes use lowering heart rates as a badge of honor, which is not necessarily a good thing,” Elefteriades says, adding that the heart wasn’t made to operate for much more than one hour in a high aerobic state.

A temporarily elevated pulse caused by panic attacks, anxiety or sudden heart palpitations can affect resting heart rates. To relax your heart, try the Valsalva maneuver: “Quickly bear down as if you are having a bowel movement,” Elefteriades says. “Close your mouth and nose and raise the pressure in your chest, like you’re stifling a sneeze.” Breathe in for 5-8 seconds, hold that breath for 3-5 seconds, then exhale slowly. Repeat several times. Raising your aortic pressure in this way will lower your heart rate. Yoga, meditation and other relaxation techniques also provide relief. Chronic stress, which can lead to an overactive sympathetic nervous system (the one that produces flight-or-fight reactions), can be detrimental over decades. “If the rapid heart rate is related to anxiety,” Elefteriades says, “treat the anxiety.”

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