Heart rate is considered one of several vital signs that the human body has, it is defined as the number of times per minute that the heart contracts. It should be noted that the heart rate can be variable, since on the one hand we have a heart rate at rest, which, as its name indicates, is the rate at which the heart beats when a person is relaxing. Thanks to physical effort, the frequency can increase, this is because the body must provide a greater amount of oxygenand energy for the activity that is running at that moment. On the other hand, the measurement of the pulse can be carried out in different areas of the body, however the most common sites are on the wrist and neck.
The fact that the neck and wrist are the most frequent places to measure the pulse is because there they can feel the beats more easily. For this reason, it can be said that the pulse points most used to measure heart rate are those in which the arteries are located closer to the epidermis.
To be able to measure the pulse properly, it is necessary to use the index and cord fingers, in addition to this, it is important to note that the thumb should not be used since it has its own pulse. The fingers that are used must exert gentle pressure in the area where the artery passes, so that in this way the pulsations can be felt.
The heart rate varies according to the characteristics of each person, this is because it depends on the physical state of the individual, as well as age, genetics and environmental conditions, just to mention the most important. According to experts, an adult who is healthy will have a heart rate of between 60 and 100 beats per minute, which can drop to 40 during sleep and go up to 200 if some type of intense physical activity is performed.
