What Your HeartBeat Says About Your Health

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exercising heart-rate

Monitoring your heart rate during exercise can tell you whether you’re working toward your goals, but don’t assume that the heart-rate charts and zones that you learned in P.E. or see posted on the wall at your fitness center are right for you.

“The 220-minus-your-age formula used to calculate target heart-rate zones is only accurate within 12 beats and only for two-thirds of the population,” says Richard Cotton, Preventive and Rehabilitative Program director for the American College of Sports Medicine. “It’s really just a beginning. Trial and error using the ‘perception of exertion’ scale is the way to really determine your optimal heart rate.”

See our list of great heart-heath exercises that you can do in your spare time in your spare space.