Why is Fitness Important for Your Health

Your heart is most important part of your body that ensures the operation of all organs and elements in your body through blood flow. Usually, an adult’s heart beats somewhere between 60-80 times a minute.

You can measure your heart rate now. Yes, you can do that. Simply place your forefinger and middle finger on the inside of your wrist and press them down slightly. This way, you should feel the slight pulses. Count the number of pulses in a minute and you will have your resting heart rate.

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Before measuring your resting heart rate, be relaxed and make sure you have not done any exercises for at least 10 minutes. Strenuous activity and exercise will increase your heart rate.

Also, do not measure your heart rate right after walking as it could be way low than normal.

Higher heart rate indicates that you are not fit. Individuals who exercise regularly and are usually healthy and fit should have a resting heart rate that is close to 60 but can also go as low as 50 beats per minutes. However, a heart rate lowers than 60 could also mean an indication of Bradycardia, and that should be confirmed by visiting a medical professional.

On the other hand, heart rate that is over 70 or 80 beats per minute point to an unfit or unhealthy individual. A resting heart rate that is above 100 means that you are working too hard to pump blood throughout the body, which could lead to a serious medical condition.

Usually, people who are obese or overweight will have higher heart rate than individuals who are healthy and fit. As the body size increases in volume, the heart needs to work extra harder to make sure that every part of your body is getting adequate supply of blood and oxygen required to function properly.

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That means that people who are unhealthy and unfit often suffer from poor blood circulation and they can experience tingling sensations in their extremities, which essentially means that not enough oxygenated blood is reaching the area that is tingling.

But resting heart rate is not alone a measurement of fitness. There is a better measurement tool to find out how quickly your heart rate returns back to the resting number right after exercise, which is referred to as your recovery heart rate.

And there are wide range of calculations that are available to figure out fitness level and most involve an individual doing some form of cardiovascular exercise while their heart is being monitored.

If you want, you can perform a simpler version of these tests yourself. Just as explained above, take your pulse, right about 10 seconds after you finish your workout routine and write the number down. Repeat the same process for about 1 minute after exercising and write the second number again.

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Now, subtract the second number from the first and you will get your recovery heart rate. The higher the difference between the two, the fitter and healthier you are, or going to be. And the more fit you are, the stronger and healthier your heart will be.