It has taken 7 years to design the artificial heart, but it is worth it as it will save a number of lives and also reduces the risk of infection. The artificial heart costs around $60 000.

1) Get a good night’s sleep

It has been shown that if you are awakened several times a night and your sleep is disturbed you are likely to have a higher resting heart rate than someone who gets 8 peaceful hours sleep each night.

2) Do thirty minutes exercise daily

By exercise I mean aerobic exercise, that is exercise that raises your heart rate and gets the blood pumping. This is essential to achieve a healthy resting heart rate. Top athletes have lower resting hearr rates as they frequently do long cardio workouts which improve the efficiency of their heart. The best aerobic exercises are swimming, running, rowing and many others.

3) Try to relax

If you lead a stressful lifestyle try and take some time out for relaxation, and if possible try to erase or reduce the stress from your life. Yoga, walking and socialising with friends and family is a great way to relax and gain a healthy resting heart rate.

These are three simple steps which should help you achieve a healthy resting heart rate. Remember a healthy resting heart rate means a reduced chance of getting heart disease, so get walking and relaxing today.

The average heart rate for men is 70 beats per minute
The average heart rate for women is 75 beats per minute

It is important to remember that heart rate rises with age and whilst doing exercise, and that heart rates in athletes and those that exercise frequently is normally lower than those that do not take much aerobic exercise.

Calculate your target aerobic heart rate for exercising using the following steps
1) Subtract your age from 220
2) Subtract your resting heart rate
3) Divide by 2
4) Add your resting heart rate

Here is an example: Take a 50 year old with a heart rate of 70
1) 220-50 = 170
2) 170 – 70 = 100
3) 100/2 = 50
4) 50 + 70 = 120
This person’s target aerobic heart rate for exercising is 120.

High resting heart rate has been linked to a higher risk of heart attack in some studies., so it is important to try and maintain a healthy resting heart rate.

My next post will consider ways to get a healthy resting heart rate.

1) Despite weighing less than a pound coin, the heart is the size of two adult fists. Very tiny considering the amount of work it is expected to do.

2) The human body contains 5.6 litres of blood which the heart distributes a massive 2000 miles daily, thats 60 000 miles a month. I dont think you could drive that amount of miles per month.

3) Heart has its own distinct rhythm made up of two sounds lub and dub, which occur due to heart value opening and closing as blood passes through the atria and ventricles.

4) Women have faster heart rates than men

5) Have you ever wondered how many heartbeats you have per day, well does 100 000 sound about right!That makes around 35 million times a year.  Is it any wonder we skip some!

6) Adults should have a pulse of 70 heart beats per minute, but if you are child your heart works much faster and beats sometimes up to 120 times a minute.

7) The heart muscle is the hardest working muscle in the body even while it is not pumping blood, as it works harder than an athletes leg muscles during the 100 metre sprint.

Last but not least the most common time to have a heart attack (myocardial infarction) is between the morning hours of 8 and 9.