Pandemic Winter Health Hacks

Take Care of Your Resting Heart Rate

Get to know it and nurture it

As can happen, my life went haywire for a few harried years. While navigating divorce with young kids in the mix, it wasn’t uncommon to notice my heart rate escalate into weirdly rapid territory. This was new. I chalked it up to circumstance-driven anxiety, but I never got used to the sensation. So I bought a Fitbit to track my resting heart rate — and hopefully dial it back.

I hadn’t previously thought much of wearable devices. To my mind, watches, rings, brain sensors, and heart monitors strapped on in the name of health all seemed a bit excessive and invasive. Though I appreciated the trend’s possible role in preventive medicine, I simply never felt the need for all that 24/7 about-me data (until one day I did).

Instead of becoming fitness-obsessed as a result of the new gadget on my arm (a slope I saw myself at risk of sliding down), I started reframing exercise, however challenging, as a way to ultimately slow down. I started caring more about my resting beats per minute than I did about calories burned, miles logged, or hours spent sweaty. I also took note of my heart rate after uncomfortable conversations or stressful meetings. When it topped familiar range, I took that as a signal to get out in nature, breathe more consciously, nap, or even cry.

Years on, my circumstance-driven anxiety has passed, but a global wave of anxiety arrived last spring and hasn’t let up. So if you don’t yet know your resting heart rate range, I humbly suggest you get to know it (with or without the help of a wearable) this pandemic winter. I also suggest you safeguard it by doing what it takes to exit fight-or-flight mode when stressors beckon. It’s well established that higher fitness levels correlate with lower resting heart rates, and there’s also research to suggest that a lower resting heart rate could mean you live longer.

Illustration: Sophi Gullbrants