What pulse is considered normal in women?

No matter what they say about the equality of the sexes, nature itself has laid the differences between the female body and the male. Even a woman's heart works differently. Moreover, the high female emotionality is not at all “guilty” of this, the difference is due to the smaller size of the heart. The first characteristic of cardiac activity is the pulse. According to its indicator, you can determine whether the heart is working normally. That is why every woman should know what the pulse should be.

Pulse: what is it and how to measure it?

Heart contractions rhythmically eject blood into the vascular bed. When filling with blood and increasing intravascular pressure, the arterial walls expand jerkily. The number of such oscillations per minute is called the pulse.

The pulse is measured on superficially located arteries: on the elbow - the brachial artery, on the neck - the carotid artery, in the inguinal zone - the femoral artery, but most often on the wrist - the radial artery. It is the elastic arterial walls (not venous and not capillary) that give the greatest response to heart contractions, creating rhythmic pulse waves. On the flexor surface of the wrist from the outside (place of pulsation), the index and middle fingers are superimposed. The count is made for 30 seconds, then multiplied by two. Pulse characteristics:

frequency - the number of pulse waves counted per minute;
rhythm - equality of intervals between shocks;
fullness - the height of the pulse impulse;
tension - the force with which it is necessary to press the artery until the pulsation completely stops.

What determines the normal heart rate?

According to the pulsation on the wrist, one can suspect some cardiovascular diseases or other organic pathology. For example, with hypertension, the pulse is often tense, and with low pressure, it is weak with minimal fullness. Also considered abnormal is arrhythmic pulsation (different intervals between pulse beats), which is often a sign of arrhythmia. The pulse is considered normal, rhythmic, full, of medium intensity. A separate topic is the pulse rate. In humans, the level of 60 - 90 beats / min is considered the norm. However, this is only a general framework. In women, the number of pulse beats per minute varies depending on the following physical indicators:

Age - age-related changes are also reflected by an increase in the level of pulsation.
Body weight - extra pounds are accompanied by tachycardia.
Physical activity - in women involved in sports, the pulse gives less fluctuations during physical activity (up to 90 beats / min), while in untrained ladies, even a regular run provokes an increase in the level of pulsation to 100 - 110 beats / min.
The presence / absence of pregnancy - a pregnant woman has a physiological overestimation of the norm.
Hormonal changes - during adolescence, during menstruation and with the onset of menopause in women over 50 years of age, the quantitative indicator of the pulse often deviates from the norm (physiological tachycardia).
Ambient temperature - the female body is very sensitive to temperature changes and reacts with a decrease in the pulse in the cold and its increase in a hot room, bath.
Time of day - every woman notices that at night and in the morning the pulsation on the wrist is somewhat weaker and less frequent than in the daytime and evening.

What is the normal heart rate?

In medicine, the following age indicators of the female pulse are accepted (measured in beats / min):

from 20 to 30 years - 60 - 70;
from 30 to 40 years - 70 - 75;
from 40 to 50 years - 75 - 80;
from 50 to 60 years - up to 83;
from 60 to 70 years - up to 85;
from 70 years - 85 - 90.

With physical exertion, the maximum heart rate is calculated by the formula: "220 minus the number of full years." In this case, after physical activity, the pulsation should be restored within 5 minutes. It is noted that before death, the pulse rises sharply to 160 beats / min.

How much is the pulse during pregnancy?

Hormonal restructuring and the need for the heart to work “for two” make it beat more often, thereby increasing heart rate and pulse rate. In the first trimester, such pulse changes are almost imperceptible: the pulse normally ranges from 75 to 90 beats / min. In the second trimester of gestation, with an increase in the volume of blood circulating in the female body by almost a third, the pulse also increases. And from the sixth month it reaches 100 - 120 beats / min. The pulse rate comes to the age norm after 1.5 - 2 months after delivery.

Causes of changes in heart rate

The normal pulsation value on the wrist may deviate for physiological reasons (temperature, emotional state, etc.). However, its persistent deviation from the norm by 10% (less than 50 and more than 100 beats / min) not only causes a number of painful symptoms (dizziness, heart pain, nausea, etc.), but may also indicate the development of various pathologies.

Tachycardia

Tachycardia (rapid heartbeat) in combination with a rapid pulse may indicate the development of:

heart disease, including malformation;
endocrine pathology;
infectious disease;
oncology;
diseases of the nervous system.

An increased pulsation in a woman is observed with vomiting and diarrhea (this may indicate the degree of dehydration), heavy menstrual bleeding and anemia.

Bradycardia

The reduced number of pulse beats can be physiological (for example, in sleep, in athletes) or due to organic pathology, such as:

myocarditis, myocardial infarction;
severe intoxication;
atherosclerosis;
ulcerative lesions of the stomach;
hypothyroidism, high intracranial pressure, myxedema.

If you find pronounced or long-term deviations of the pulse parameters, you should contact your therapist or cardiologist. Only a doctor will be able to identify the cause of this disorder and correctly diagnose, relying on a diagnostic examination. Urgent medical consultation is required when the pulse is less than 50 beats / min and more than 100 beats / min at rest, for a woman during pregnancy - above 110 beats / min. Often, these critical parameters are life-threatening and require immediate treatment.