A groundbreaking Australian study reveals that fitter individuals actually use fewer heartbeats each day than their sedentary counterparts, dispelling the myth that exercise “uses up” heartbeats.
Forget the old myth that physical activity drains your supply of heartbeats. New research from Australia has found that people who are physically fit actually have significantly fewer total heartbeats each day, which could help them live longer.
According to the study, athletes recorded an average heart rate of 68 beats per minute (bpm), compared with 76 bpm for those who were not active. Over a 24-hour period, that equals about 97,920 heartbeats for athletes and 109,440 for non-athletes, a difference of roughly 10 percent fewer beats per day among the fitter participants.
“That’s an incredible saving of about 11,500 beats a day,” says Professor La Gerche, head of the HEART Laboratory supported by the St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research (SVI) and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI). “Even though athletes’ hearts work harder during exercise, their lower resting rates more than make up for it.”
The study, published in JACC: Advances, revealed that the most physically fit participants had resting heart rates as low as 40 beats per minute, while the average person’s rate ranged between 70 and 80 bpm.
Over a full day, this means athletes actually accumulate fewer total heartbeats than those who are inactive, even when periods of intense exercise are taken into account.
Busting the “Finite Heartbeats” Myth
The findings bust the long-standing saying, popularized by US President Donald Trump, that the body is a battery with a finite amount of energy and that exercise only depletes it.
“The fitter you are, the more metabolically efficient your body becomes,” Professor La Gerche explains. “Even if you’re training hard for an hour a day, your heart beats more slowly for the other 23 hours. The net effect is fewer beats used overall.”
This lower resting heart rate is not only a sign of fitness but also a predictor of better health outcomes. Professor La Gerche says increasing physical activity, when done safely, can improve heart function and reduce long-term cardiovascular risk.
“Exercise is strongly linked with improved mental health, longer lifespan, and lower rates of heart disease,” he says.
While extreme endurance events like the Tour de France can temporarily raise daily heartbeat counts, Professor La Gerche says the benefits of regular, moderate exercise far outweigh any risks.
“The biggest bang for your health buck is going from unfit to moderately fit. Just a few hours of purposeful exercise each week can transform your heart’s efficiency and help make every beat count. It may even extend your life by years,” he said.
Reference: “Balancing Exercise Benefits Against Heartbeat Consumption in Elite Cyclists” by Tim Van Puyvelde, Kristel Janssens, BN, Luke Spencer, BbioMed(Hons), Paolo D’Ambrosio, Max Ray, Stephen J. Foulkes, Mark J. Haykowsky, Guido Claessen, Rik Willems and Andre La Gerche, 12 September 2025, JACC: Advances.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jacadv.2025.102140
Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.
Follow us on Google and Google News.
17 Comments
Wait, they compare the resting heart rates? This is the first time I’ve ever heard of this myth, but the data in this study did nothing to “debunk” it. You made it sound like the whole point of the myth is the number of heartbeats each day. They didnt add all of the exercise heartbeats into this equation, so the conclusion is completely flawed. What they’re sayong about resting heartrates is absolutely true. But it doesnt prove that athletes use less heartbeats… this isn’t even science…
Well let’s say you average 100 bpm for an hour exercising. We’ll say that’s 40 bpm over your average resting heart rate. That’s 2,400 extra beats in that hour.
But your resting heart rate is 15 bpm lower than someone who is not physically fit. That means in the next hour, you SAVE 900 beats. Which means you’ve recouped all of your extra beats after 3 hours. And that means you save thousands of beats over the rest of the day.
I hope that helped.
Well let’s say you average 100 bpm for an hour exercising. We’ll say that’s 40 bpm over your average resting heart rate. That’s 2,400 extra beats in that hour.
But your resting heart rate is 15 bpm lower than someone who is not physically fit. That means in the next hour, you SAVE 900 beats. Which means you’ve recouped all of your extra beats after 3 hours. And that means you save thousands of beats over the rest of the day.
I hope that helped.
Agreed, it’s probably true, but the study doesn’t really support the title of the article.
“They didnt (sic) add all of the exercise heartbeats into this equation, so the conclusion is completely flawed.”
You are not a careful reader. The article specifically said, “Over a full day, this means athletes actually accumulate fewer total heartbeats than those who are inactive, EVEN WHEN PERIODS OF INTENSE EXERCISE ARE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.”
I agree with Mark. There’s the rub, athletes use more heartbeats in working out, so are they really saving much? Probably not.
Not if the non-athletes are working out at the same intensity. High performance athletes find it very difficult to get their heart rate to get very high during cardio work. Where as if you pull someone sedentary off the couch and have them do the same effort, they’ll be at 180 bpm without even trying.
what myth..? sounds like bs some “influencer” would make up
It’s a cult.
Any message that even hints at contradicting Dear Leader, becomes subject to sycophant scrutiny by the enthralled mob.
It was a throwaway line in an article about bpm.
Relax, guys.
We all know who this article was written for since Trump started this rumor.
My heart rate goes down every time I encounter someone w TDS, allowing me to live a longer and more productive life. Productivity is hurt by spending ALL your time obsessing over DJT.
More misinformation. It has been years since I last encountered this “myth” — long before Trump became newsworthy! I’m amazed at how TDS can turn ordinary people into flaming idiots. I’m assuming they didn’t act like this before Trump came along, although I don’t have anything but the absence of evidence to support the conjecture.
How is this news? It was well documented decades ago that Lance Armstrongs heart rate was below 40 bpm. And it’s well established that people with lower heart rates have more difficulty reaching the intensity required to get their heart rate into “vigorous” intensity range. (I know a guy who pretty much can not achieve it). Where as non-active people can hit a vigorous heart rate range with minimal effort.
It seems to me that flexibility in heart rate, responding to need, is a better adaptation than always having a low rate. I think that what is needed to resolve this is a study on the longevity of super-athletes versus moderately-fit individuals.
1440 minutes in a day. If an athlete resting heart rate was 50 bpm and they worked out 2 hours per day and averaged 120 bpm. 1440 minutes – 120 minutes = 1320 minutes.
(1320 minutes × 50 bpm) + (120 minutes × 120 bpm) = 66,000 + 14,400 = 80,400 beats per day. If a sedentary person average 75 bpm over 1440 minutes in a day they would total 108,000 beats per day. That’s a difference of 27,600 beats. Seems to me like this is just obvious.
Perfect, I have only about 50 heartbeats per minute when not doing exercises.
And I’m doing exercises in average 1 hr per day (kungfu training plus general fitness workouts), so this gives me perfect sense.