Your pulse

Your pulse is a measure of how fast your heart is beating. It is the number of beats your heart makes in one minute. Your heart beats faster or slower depending on what you are doing.

You can feel your pulse at certain points on your body. The easiest place to feel it is in your wrist, using the first two fingers of your other hand.

When you sit, the average heart beats about 80 times per minute. However, everybody is different, so your pulse could be higher or lower than this.

When you exercise, your heart beats more quickly. This is because your muscles are working harder and need more oxygen to keep going. Your lungs also work harder, making you breathe more quickly to get more oxygen.

When you sleep, your muscles need less oxygen, so your heart slows down.

BBC bitesize website