• Question: does all hearts beat at different rates?

    Asked by meganmoult to Fiona on 20 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Fiona Hatch

      Fiona Hatch answered on 20 Mar 2012:

      Yes – the rate at which your heart beats depends on two things. Internal and external stimulation.

      Internal:

      At rest your heart would beat at a certain rate. This would depend on your age and health, but generally the beats per minute are below for certain ages.

      In a baby: Their heart can beat 140 times per minute.
      In a child: Their heart can beat 80-100 times per minute
      In a adult: Their heart can beat 60-80 times per minute.
      In an old person (65+ years old age): Their heart can beat 50-65 times per minute.

      External:

      Whenever you exercise or if you’re stressed or scared, your heart rate would increase to help you cope with whatever you need to do. If you exercise the heart can beat up to 200 times per minute, or even more in children.

      Each person will be different as well. So you may never get the same heart rate as someone else when you’re sitting down.

Comments