Teen DD worried about resting heart rate

[Whatswiththesmalltalk]

Dd has returned home from school today concerned about her resting heart rate. They all dod an experiment in science and measure their resting rate and then after exercise. She was worried as her resting rate was almost 90 beats consistently and all of her friends were in the 60-70 range. I've reassured her that she is fine but it got me wondering if it should be this high? She's 15 5ft 6 and slim (size 6) but healthy. Is this normal?

As someone who was advised by GP to get a home BP monitor when I started HRT, it does sound high (presuming it's diastolic). I'd investigate if it were me.

Oh that happened to me 25 years ago and I can still see the bitch PE teacher's face! She pulled such an expression like I was beyond help. I'm also 5'6 and at that point was size 8-10. I know the plural of anecdote isn't data but I'm really fine, and if dd is otherwise healthy and eats ok and gets exercise sand sleeps and feels good in her body then she should crack on and not let statistic ruin her day.

Resting heart rate between 60 - 100 is normal at her age.

She is otherwise fit and healthy, walks 20 minutes each way to school each day and is never in the house. Diet wise she is pescatarian so I wonder if maybe it could be her iron levels. I may just ask the gp to check her levels.

We did this at school. We were told what mattered was the difference between our resting heart rate and heart rate a minutes (I think) after exercise. The lower the difference, the fitter you were. The boy with the lowest resting heart rate in my class also had the highest difference between the two measurements.
We were told our resting heart rate on its own if we were healthy, is meaningless, unless incredibly high.

StrictlyAFemaleFemale I think she has had a similar response from her teacher wondering why it was so high which I think is what has made her worry a bit. She's usually pretty laid back but this seems to have worried her.

NoisySnail that's interesting, her heart rate only went up to 130 after exercise.

Does she do any exercise? Like actual exercise, other than walking?

Do you know what her blood pressure is?

I have a high resting heart rate and low blood pressure, and have been told by doctors that this is commonly linked and completely normal.

She’s talking about heart rate, not blood pressure.

Dacadactyl nothing overly strenuous really, she goes to the gym in school and enjoys that and probably walks around 15,000 steps every day nut doesn't do as much sports or swimming as she used to as piano and guitar are her main hobbies now.

GiantRoadPuzzle that's interesting, I don't know what her blood pressure is but she does complain of diziness now and again so could be low blood pressure.

Doh! Thanks AppleDumpling

I was going to say the same. My BP is always pretty low whenever it's measured, and my heart rate is on the higher side.

It's normal, please don't worry about it unless she actually has any other worrying symptoms. This kind of thing can be where health anxiety starts in teens. There's really nothing to worry about.

Thanks everyone, will keep an eye on it.

Resting heart rate can be affected by anxiety. If you measure it while feeling nervous it could read higher.

While 90 is in the normal range it could be reflecting her fitness level (she's not getting much actual aerobic exercise).

If she was feeling a bit anxious about it, that will have made her heart rate higher. If she wants to check, she can do it herself with a watch before she gets up in the morning, to get a true reading.

That's interesting. My BP is generally 110/70 with a resting heart rate in the high 70's.

I am quite ancient (early 60's) 😂but do a lot of aerobic exercise.

Its all very interesting, I have a resting heart rate of 39 and very low blood pressure. Both below the "normal" range, but no one ever has any concern, except once when I was in an accident and they were concerned that the low HR might indicate internal bleeding. It didn't

How did they measure it - did she have a monitor or was it fingers on pulse?
Also, I’d be a bit sceptical of a ‘resting heart rate’ being measured in school, presumably in front of peers. I had a friend who went for regular HR/BP check ups due to family medical history. Both registered high, but turned out the anxiety of going for check ups caused both to increase and when she measured it at home both were fine!

A high resting heart rate in someone otherwise healthy has nothing to do with level of fitness. It is a common misconception.