Check your pulse to check your health
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I ride my bike 5 miles every day and do so at a fairly good speed. In addition, I have begun weightlifting and follow that with treadmill running. What should my pulse be after I exercise? — Q.D.
ANSWER: The normal lower limit for the pulse when one is sitting is 50 to 60 beats a minute. (The heartbeat rate and pulse rate are one and the same. The pulse is the heartbeat felt in an artery.) The upper limit for the resting pulse is around 100.
Well-conditioned athletes have a pulse rate in the 40s and even lower. Their hearts pump more blood with each beat than the ordinary heart does. Therefore, they need fewer heartbeats.
If you want to gauge heart health, one way is to take your pulse at the end of exercise. One minute later it should be beating 12 fewer beats a minute than it was when you ended exercise.There is an involved protocol that uses the drop in pulse rate after exercise as a health indicator in a very rigorous manner. It has an exerciser take his or her pulse, while still exercising at maximum intensity, for one full minute. Then it calls for a cessation of exercise with a full two-minute rest. According to this method, after two minutes of rest the pulse rate should drop by 42 or more beats.
This is not a test suitable for everyone. It should be done only by those who are positive their hearts are healthy. It’s a strenuous test that can put too much stress on a heart.
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DEAR DR. DONOHUE: What is hemoglobin? Mine is slightly high, but the doctor says I don’t need to be concerned. Is there anything I can do to lower it? — M.M.
ANSWER: Hemoglobin is a large protein inside every red blood cell. When blood passes through the lungs, hemoglobin takes hold of oxygen. When blood passes through organs and tissues in need of oxygen, hemoglobin releases it.Smokers have a slightly higher-than-normal hemoglobin, as do people who live at high elevations.Some illnesses, such as polycythemia (a condition where too many blood cells are made) and emphysema, give a person a high hemoglobin count.
If the number is not very high and if there are no other signs of an illness, then the count is not of great concern.
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DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am a 39-year-old male. My problem is that some nights, at the point of falling asleep, my heart flutters. My doctor says it’s due to my weight. What do you think this might be? — R.N.
ANSWER: I can’t hazard a guess. Have you worn a heart monitor? It records all heart action and can be worn for days. That’s one way to get the answer to this question.