Press lightly to feel the pulse in your carotid artery. Many things can affect your pulse rate, also called your heart rate. They include your age, some medicines, health conditions, pregnancy and exercise.

Context Explanation

Ask your healthcare team what your target heart rate should be. What is pulse pressure? How important is pulse pressure to overall health? Pulse pressure is determined from the two numbers of a blood pressure reading.

Insight Material

Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). The top number is called systolic pressure. This is the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats. A medical device that clips to the finger, called a pulse oximeter, measures oxygen saturation. Healthy pulse oximeter values range from 95% to 100%.

Final Conclusion

Values under 90% are low. Often, hypoxemia treatment involves getting extra oxygen. This treatment is called supplemental oxygen or oxygen therapy. Other treatments focus on the cause of hypoxemia. Possibly: Intensity of the pulses are graded on a scale of 0 to 4 +:0 indicating no palpable pulse; 1 + indicating a faint, but detectable pulse; 2 + suggesting a slightly more diminished pulse than normal; 3 + is a normal pulse; and 4 + indicating a bounding pulse. A bounding pulse may indicate excitement, palpitations, or heart irregularities.

Your heart rate at rest is a measure of heart health and fitness. For most adults, a healthy heart rate is between 60 to 100 beats per minute. To check your pulse at the blood vessel in the neck called the carotid artery, place your index and third fingers on your neck to the side of your windpipe. To check your pulse at your wrist, place two fingers between the bone and the tendon over the ...