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Median HRV falls from 66.5 ms in women and 67.4 ms in men at 13–14 to 16.1 and 14.9 ms at 75 and over. The table gives the median and the normal range at every age.
Tegegne et al. 2020, Lifelines Cohort Study (n = 84,772). RMSSD in milliseconds from a 10-second resting 12-lead ECG. Not a diagnosis.
RMSSD is how much the gap between heartbeats changes from one beat to the next, in milliseconds. The median is the middle: half of people that age read higher and half read lower. The range shows where 96 of every 100 people fall.
| Age | Womenmedian · range, ms | Menmedian · range, ms |
|---|---|---|
| 13–14 | 66.5 17.4–232.2 | 67.4 12.8–213.0 |
| 15–19 | 60.7 12.4–225.9 | 59.9 9.8–213.2 |
| 20–24 | 52.1 11.3–205.5 | 47.6 9.6–174.0 |
| 25–29 | 47.5 11.5–180.7 | 42.3 10.1–172.7 |
| 30–34 | 42.3 11.5–161.0 | 36.9 10.2–140.8 |
| 35–39 | 37.9 10.8–141.9 | 32.8 8.6–123.8 |
| 40–44 | 33.9 9.7–123.7 | 29.0 8.1–105.5 |
| 45–49 | 29.2 8.3–109.5 | 26.0 7.1–95.5 |
| 50–54 | 26.6 7.5–96.3 | 23.7 6.7–87.5 |
| 55–59 | 22.5 6.7–83.6 | 21.0 5.5–89.5 |
| 60–64 | 20.5 5.5–79.3 | 19.1 4.8–86.6 |
| 65–69 | 17.8 5.0–83.0 | 17.7 4.87–110.5 |
| 70–74 | 18.3 5.0–115.8 | 16.0 4.7–161.9 |
| 75+ | 16.1 3.5–106.2 | 14.9 3.7–130.3 |
These are 10-second ECGs taken awake. A watch or ring reads HRV during sleep, and that number runs higher.
The free assessment scores you on 11 targets researchers set on the record, from sleep to strength. It takes 14 questions and about 3 minutes, with no labs needed, and shows the one target holding you back most.
Check where I standThe study draws no good or bad line. It gives you two things to read your number against: the median for your age and sex, and the range where 96 of every 100 people fall.
Say you are a woman of 42 and your HRV is 43 ms. The median for women aged 40–44 is 33.9 ms, so you read above the middle. The range runs from 9.7 to 123.7 ms, so you sit well inside it. For a man of 42 the median is 29.0 ms and the range is 8.1 to 105.5 ms, so 43 ms reads above the middle too.
Only 2 in 100 people your age read below the low end of the range.
Find your reading. Each cell names the age from which that reading is at or above the median.
| Your HRV | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| 10 ms | No age in the table | No age in the table |
| 20 ms | 65 and older | 60 and older |
| 30 ms | 45 and older | 40 and older |
| 40 ms | 35 and older | 30 and older |
| 50 ms | 25 and older | 20 and older |
| 60 ms | 20 and older | 15 and older |
| 70 ms | Every age in the table | Every age in the table |
Researchers on the record judge a reading against your own 30-day baseline. Their rules are further down, each linked to the second it was said.
Watches and rings read HRV while you sleep. A researcher on the record says overnight HRV is always higher, because the body's rest-and-digest side is turned up during sleep (Joel Jamieson, on The Drive, at 1:07:56). This table is a 10-second ECG taken awake. Compare your device with its own history, and use the table as a rough guide.
Three resting heart rate bars are on the record, each said on tape and linked below. No study on file gives a table by age, so this page prints none.
60 bpm or under: the bar the free health check scores
“if I see somebody over 70 beats per minute um unless something's going on you're not physically fit regardless of whether or not that is quote unquote within the normative values I want to see everybody sub 60 beats per minute or close”
Dr. Andy Galpin, exercise physiologist (on Huberman Lab), at 44:22
Under 50 is really good.
“if you're less than 50 for a resting heart rate that's really good for someone my age in my 50s Mine mine's usually around mid-40s”
Dr. David Sinclair, at 38:51
For men, a resting heart rate above 85 is not a good place to be.
“resting pulse is a much stronger prediction predictor of mortality lower is better in that regard lower pulse better longevity in males than in females males with a resting heart rate above 85 is not a good place to be”
Dr. James O'Keefe, cardiologist (on The Drive with Peter Attia), at 1:06:53
By the bars on the record, yes. 50 bpm is 10 beats under the 60 bpm bar, and it sits right at the line one researcher calls really good. No table on file shows how 50 compares with others your age.
The free assessment scores you on 11 targets researchers set on the record, from sleep to strength. It takes 14 questions and about 3 minutes, with no labs needed, and shows the one target holding you back most.
Check where I standPrecis computes each badge below from the studies it checked.
Leaning forOf 7 studies that test it, 5 partly agree and 2 agree.
Not enough evidence47 sources on file, 2 counted so far.
On the shape, yes. Both studies on file that track RMSSD by age find it falls from the teens and levels off around 50 to 60. They split on sex: the 84,772-person Lifelines study finds women higher than men from 20 to 45, and a 24-hour study of 260 people finds women lower under 30. Only Lifelines prints a full table by age and sex, so that is the table on this page.
Sources: each study's own sentence, listed below.
This table adds the mean, the standard deviation and the number of people measured at each age. Standard deviation shows how widely readings spread.
No source on file gives an HRV target by age. What researchers give, on tape, are rules for reading your own number, and one description of the age curve. Each line below is verbatim at the second linked.
a 20% drop is a big disruption
“you're going to see things like HRV drop by generally 20 or so percent that would be a very large disruption in HRV”
Dr. Andy Galpin, on Huberman Lab, at 106:27
30 days to set your baseline
“Measure for 30 days. Try to keep things stable. Take the average, right? Most of your tracker devices and stuff will like give you these numbers.”
Dr. Andy Galpin, on FoundMyFitness, at 187:16
judge drops against your own SD
“we'll pick a number 70 normally. Some people will stay within 70 to 75 to 65. So their standard deviation would be like five milliseconds. Some people's normal standard deviation is 20.”
Dr. Andy Galpin, on FoundMyFitness, at 187:00
normal 20–100 ms, elite 180–200
“so you get these normal ranges of I know 20 to 80 or 100 like you said but then you can get an elite athletes 180 200”
Joel Jamieson, on The Drive, at 51:04
No researcher on file names a number for these rows. Each line below is one sentence copied from a published paper, with the link to it. A cell marked Study points here.
66.5 ms at 13–14, 16.1 ms at 75+ · women, median RMSSD
For women the highest median RMSSD of 66.5 ms was observed in the youngest age category (13–14 years) and lowest value of 16.1 ms in the oldest age category (75 + years).
Tegegne et al., European Journal of Preventive Cardiology 2020, full text
67.4 ms at 13–14, 14.9 ms at 75+ · men, median RMSSD; the two values are the youngest and the oldest band
This was comparable for men with values of 67.4 and 14.9 ms, respectively.
Tegegne et al., European Journal of Preventive Cardiology 2020, full text
women higher by 5.02 ms, then 2.53 · the sex gap in median RMSSD at 20–45 and at 45–59
Women aged 20–45 years had on average 5.02 ms significantly higher median RMSSD values than men, and the difference was smaller (2.53 ms) in the age bin 45–59 years but was still significant.
Tegegne et al., European Journal of Preventive Cardiology 2020, full text
no sex gap under 20 · median RMSSD, women against men
There were no sex differences in RMSSD values in the age bins below age 20 years and above age 60 years.
Tegegne et al., European Journal of Preventive Cardiology 2020, full text
falls until 60, then stable · both sexes
In both sexes, the 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile of RMSSD steadily became lower from a young age until age 60 years, and then remained stable.
Tegegne et al., European Journal of Preventive Cardiology 2020, full text
47% of the age 10–19 level by the 50s · 24-hour recordings of 260 healthy people aged 10 to 99, both sexes
Using pNN50 and rMSSD, HRV decreased most rapidly, reaching 24% and 47% of baseline, respectively, by the sixth decade and then stabilized.
Umetani et al., Journal of the American College of Cardiology 1998, abstract
women lower than men under 30 · 24-hour recordings of 260 healthy people, every HRV measure
At age <30 years, HRV for all measures was lower in female than male subjects.
Umetani et al., Journal of the American College of Cardiology 1998, abstract
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