Learn simple ways to check and record your heart rate before using Therapy Beats activities, whether you are at home, in a classroom, or in a clinical setting.
Heart rate is the number of times your heart beats in one minute. Checking it provides a simple way to notice your body’s natural rhythm and how it may change during different activities.
Therapy Beats helps participants connect the body’s internal beat with the external rhythms used in listening and movement activities. Recording heart rate can give families, educators, and clinicians another way to observe and discuss the experience.
Heart rate naturally varies between people and from moment to moment. The number should be treated as helpful information—not as a score or measure of success.
Choose the method that works best for your setting. Each method can be used to count or record beats per minute (BPM).
Use two fingers to feel the pulse on the inside of your wrist.
Use a pulse oximeter or heart-rate monitor to view your pulse rate.
Use a stethoscope to listen to and count each heartbeat.
1.
Rest your arm comfortably with your palm facing upward.
2.
Place the tips of your index and middle fingers on the thumb side of your inner wrist. Do not use your thumb, because it has a pulse of its own.
3.
Press lightly until you feel a steady pulsing beneath your fingers. If you cannot feel it immediately, gently reposition your fingers.
4.
Count the beats for 15 seconds.
5.
Multiply that number by four to estimate your heart rate in beats per minute (BPM), then record the result.
Example: If you count 18 beats in 15 seconds, multiply 18 × 4 for an estimated heart rate of 72 BPM.
1.
Place or wear the device as directed.
2.
Remain still while the device takes the measurement.
3.
Wait until the numbers remain steady.
4.
Find the number labeled pulse rate, PR, heart rate, or BPM.
A pulse oximeter may also display SpO₂, which represents estimated blood-oxygen saturation. Make sure you record the number labeled PR or pulse rate—not the SpO₂ percentage.
1.
Find a quiet place where the heartbeat will be easier to hear.
2.
Place the stethoscope earpieces comfortably in your ears.
3.
With adult or professional guidance, place the chest piece where the heartbeat can be heard clearly.
4.
Listen for the repeating heart sounds. Count each complete heartbeat once.
4.
Count the heartbeats for 60 seconds and record the total as beats per minute.
Also record whether the heartbeat was checked before or after an activity. This provides helpful context when reviewing the result.
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