Have you ever wondered how sleep effects your heart rate. A smart watch can give you some insight if you wear one, but for many of us it will remain a mystery.

I read a great article on the Harvard Medical School website on the topic. You can check out the full article here.

Here is an extract from the article:

“Even if you don’t wear a smartwatch or fitness band to track your heart rate, you can often sense your pulse fluctuating throughout the day. During your waking hours, the number of heartbeats per minute when you’re just sitting quietly is known as your resting heart rate. In most adults, resting heart rates range between 60 and 100 beats per minute.

Once you stand up and move around, your heart rate goes up. And exercise boosts it further still. Even intense emotions — fear, anger, or surprise — can cause your heart rate to spike. But what happens when you lie down to sleep? The answer differs depending on the phase of sleep: light sleep, deep sleep, or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.”