When you mention “pulse-taking”, many people first think of it as a tool used by Chinese medicine practitioners to diagnose illnesses, and it is also a very specialized and somewhat mysterious skill. In fact, pulse-taking in the usual sense is far less complex than Chinese medicine pulse-taking and can be mastered with a little practice. More importantly, each of us adults, especially older friends, will benefit greatly from the simple good habit of feeling our pulse once we develop it. 1. Why is it important to feel your own pulse? In a healthy person at rest, the number of heart beats per minute is between 60 and 100. And each heart beat will be translated into a pulse beat, so in most cases, the number of pulse beats per minute is actually the number of heart beats per minute, so by feeling your pulse you will have a preliminary understanding of your heart beat. For example, a pulse rate higher than 100 beats per minute at rest indicates that there may be tachycardia, while a rate lower than 50 indicates that there may be bradycardia, both of which require further examination at the hospital. Therefore, we say that the pulse is a barometer of the heartbeat, by feeling the pulse can be timely detection of abnormal heartbeat, the latter is the scientific name of “arrhythmia”, is a large class of very common heart disease. 2.How to feel your pulse? The method of feeling your pulse is very simple. Usually in a seated position, put the palm of one upper arm up flat on the table, then put the tips of the index, middle and ring fingers of the opposite hand side by side and lightly place them on the thumb side of the wrist, and then you will often clearly touch your pulse with a little searching. If you are not familiar with the touching method at first, you can put a small pillow under the wrist on the touching side, and then the pulse will become clear. If you can’t feel your pulse repeatedly, this in itself suggests the need for a hospital visit. 3.What information do I need to record when feeling my pulse? The first and most important information to be recorded when feeling your pulse is the number of pulse beats per minute. First of all, the duration of each pulse should not be less than one minute. The second is the regularity of the pulse beat, which often needs to be felt after a few practice sessions. The last point is the strength of the pulse, especially whether the strength of the pulse beats on the left and right sides are very different. The mastery of the strength of one’s pulse may take a little longer to practice, but it is not difficult. 4.Why does the information provided by pulse feel help in the early diagnosis of arrhythmia? The information provided by palpation is mainly used to detect arrhythmias early and to determine the effect of treatment. Some patients often have no subjective symptoms when arrhythmias occur, so they do not go to the hospital voluntarily, thus delaying the best time for treatment, but by feeling their own pulse they can detect these arrhythmias very early. Here are three examples: Example 1, there is an extremely common clinical arrhythmia called atrial fibrillation, which can lead to serious complications such as stroke. Many patients with atrial fibrillation only find out they have this serious arrhythmia during a physical examination, when the best time to treat the disease may have passed. In fact, atrial fibrillation episodes have very distinctive pulse beat characteristics: one is an increase in the number of pulse beats, and the other is a very irregular pulse beat, both of which are very easy to identify, because the pulse in atrial fibrillation is very different from the normal regular pulse, and anyone without any medical background can tell the difference. Therefore, if you develop a good habit of feeling the pulse you can detect this arrhythmia at a very early stage and thus get a chance to cure it. Example 2: Some elderly people usually have no discomfort, but feel short of breath when they move. There are many possible reasons for this, but one of them is the dysfunction of the sinus node, the “commander” of the heart, which is responsible for the beating of the heart, and is highlighted by the fact that the number of heartbeats does not meet the needs of physical activity. As you know, the number of heartbeats increases when we are active, and the more vigorous the exercise, the more the number of heartbeats increases. However, in patients with sinus node dysfunction, their heart rate increases insignificantly during activity or only slightly, for example, more than 40 times at rest and 50 or so times during light physical activity. This information on heart rate changes can be obtained very easily and quickly by the patient’s own pulse feel. This information is not only very helpful for the doctor’s diagnosis, but also for the prevention of serious symptoms such as syncope in the future through the timely implantation of a pacemaker. As a final example, many of you know about a condition called premature heartbeat. Recent studies have found that a proportion of frequent premature heart beats can lead to serious consequences such as heart enlargement. However, many people with premature heart beats have no symptoms at all or have mild symptoms. Since the pulse beat may be “intermittent” when the heart beats prematurely, i.e., the original regular pulse fluctuation does not occur; or the number may decrease, for example, the original 80 beats per minute, when the pulse is felt, the pulse is found to be only 40 beats per minute, therefore, the presence of premature heart beats can be detected in time by feeling the pulse. 5.How often is it appropriate to feel one’s pulse? In fact, almost all of us have felt our pulse at one time or another, but we just haven’t made a habit of it. Since arrhythmias are very common in older patients, we recommend that older people >60 years old take two or three minutes out of their day to feel their pulse. In case of chest discomfort, it is even more important to feel the beating of your pulse in time. For middle-aged people <60, we recommend that you take a moment to feel your pulse every week, for example, on weekends. Of course, it is also important to feel your pulse when you feel chest discomfort or panic. For young people, since the incidence of arrhythmias is relatively low, you can feel your pulse only when you feel panic. The incidence of arrhythmias is relatively low, so you can only feel your pulse when you feel panic and discomfort.