Hello amazing nurses,

I never asked anyone about this, but I always wanted to know. My question is, why do athletes have a lower heart rate than non athletes or average people? If possible, I would like to know how their heart functions besides working harder, faster. Thank you all. Big hugs.

I have seen sleeping heart rates in runners down in the 40's. No kidding. I don't recall the physiology involved, but athletes do tend to run low at rest.

I have seen sleeping heart rates in runners down in the 40's. No kidding. I don't recall the physiology involved, but athletes do tend to run low at rest.

How can you tell what is considered normal and abnormal heart rate for them. Is there a special HR scale for them. For instance, 60-100 is considered normal for a non athlete. What is too low for them or too high? Thank you.

Athlete's hearts are actually more efficient and therefore don't have to work as hard as a non-athlete. An athlete has a larger stroke volume which means that they don't have to pump as often to achieve the required cardiac output. HR x SV = CO. Make sense?

stronger heart translates to better circulation, better blood flow,etc. Muscles also have more mitochondria because training hard actually makes some muscles make more mitochondria (powerhouse of the cell). Muscles who are used to training don't have to work as hard when not training. (Example: if you carry a backpack for a week everywhere you go, when you take that backpack off, it feels like you could run all day...)

Exercise physiology has a lot of other explanations. Those are the ones that come to mind. Your body needs less because it can do more w/ less.

[quote=lvicu;4387428]athlete's hearts are actually more efficient and therefore don't have to work as hard as a non-athlete. an athlete has a larger stroke volume which means that they don't have to pump as often to achieve the required cardiac output. hr x sv = co. make sense?

before i started school i was an avid runner and my heart rate was always around 54/55 bpm. i was so proud of my heart rate, mostly because it confirmed that chubby, clumsy me was in fact an athlete!! (i was pretty fast too...i ran my first 10k in 54 minutes!) however, by the time i got to clinicals and we actually started practicing the theory part my heart rate was up to 65 bpm. i was shocked... it didn't take very long for my heart to get a little 'weaker', six months maybe. my teacher told me not to worry about it because it is still a very good and normal heart rate. i get that...but she couldn't understand that for me it was too high. i look at it like this; 55 bpm was my baseline, my baseline is now elevated so i need to do something in order to get it back down to my baseline. not only has my heart rate increased but so has my weight.... gack!! slowly but surely i am starting to run again. i felt so healthy at that time in my life plus i had so much energy!

Healthstar- many athletes know their resting HR and their target HR. They can tell you if their HR is too high or low. Also, a good way to know is to look at them. Are they symptomatic with this low HR? While there is not a different "scale" for them per se, but bradycardia is definitely their norm in most cases. Hope this helps with your question.

How can you tell what is considered normal and abnormal heart rate for them. Is there a special HR scale for them. For instance, 60-100 is considered normal for a non athlete. What is too low for them or too high? Thank you.

I've seen teenagers with heartrates in the 30s. :)

It's mostly just assessing other things to make sure all is ok. If it's not ER or a new admit, then it's looking at what the patient has been doing since arrival, making note of any trends just like you would for someone with a "normal" heart rate. If they've been running 85 since admission, then all of the sudden it's 60, just because it's "normal" doesn't mean it's good for that patient at that time.

It's all about trends and the big picture. Not about how does it fit into the little chart I have of normal vital signs.

It has been a while since I went over the specific whys of it but I believe that the cardiac muscle of an athlete has more stretch so it can fill with more blood and that it has stronger contractions so more blood gets pumped out. If I recall correctly the heart pumps about 5L of blood per minute during rest. So if you have more blood per contraction going out there doesn't need to be as many beats/min.

While I was in the Army and running everyday I used to have a resting heart rate of 50. Now I just walk quickly up and down the halls of a hospital 3 12 hour shifts a week and it's at about 65. I think that there will never be a range for athletes because who defines a person as an athlete? I just did my normal duties while in the military, I never considered myself an athlete. I smoked and drank heavily the whole time that I was serving. If you admit a patient and they have bradycardia then ask them if they exercise and if so how often.

I must have stumbled onto the health education board.....

With the soccer background, I can answer this. An athlete's BP is in the ballpark of 100-120 over 55-65. For instance, my BP 5 days ago was 100/60. Perfect. The diastolic number of 60 is considered "normal" for an athlete. So don't be scared if you see the range given above. It's considered normal.

I'm not 100% sure about all the details since I was a student and it was a LONG time ago, but...

When I was a student, we had an eighty-ish year old man come into the ER after falling while running…he ran several miles a day. His heart rate (per the pulse ox) was in the low forties…he said that was normal and had been his baseline for years. His great-grandson (about eight years old) came to see him in the ER and asked the nurse some questions about the cardiac monitor…the nurse hooked grandpa up so he could show the grandson what grandpa's heart rhythm looked like…it was a third-degree block. Grandpa got a pacemaker.

I believe Lance Armstrong has a HR in the mid 30's. Can't remember where I heard that.

In athletes, the heart do not need to pump as fast, because it's so strong it can pump enough blood to the entire body in one beat. Therefore, decreasing the HR.

I'm an atlethe, I work out 3-4 times a week, dancing for an hour straight and my base HR is high 50's. Now, if I don't workout for a week or so, it goes to about 62-65, sometimes as high as 70's.

If you get a bradycardia pt and they are asympthomatic, ask if they work out. I would still hook them up to the monitor and get an EKG to rule out any potential blocks.