About 2–3 billion beats
An average human heart logs roughly 2–3 billion beats over a lifetime. Lower resting bpm often stretches that tally even further.
Lifetime tally
Heart Beats Counter — Lifetime Beats & Animal Comparisons
Your pace
For lifetime beats to date.
Typical resting bpm while sitting/relaxed.
Average during exercise or brisk movement.
Remaining minutes use your resting bpm.
Estimated beats
Avg beats per day0
Avg beats per year0
Beats so far (age)0
Beats by target age0
Beats saved if you drop 5 bpm0
Approximation uses weighted average bpm: active minutes at your active bpm, the rest at resting bpm. 365.25 days per year.
How you compare to other hearts
Wild heart rates mean wildly different total beats. A hummingbird hits your daily beats in minutes; an elephant takes its time.
5 Fun Facts about Heartbeats
Hummingbird vs. whale
A hummingbird can fire past 1,000 bpm; a blue whale can cruise at 8 bpm—both tuned to their size and oxygen needs.
Scale extremes
HRV = flexibility
High heart rate variability (HRV) means your heart can switch gears quickly—often a marker of good recovery and stress resilience.
Recovery signal
Sleep saves beats
Quality sleep usually drops resting bpm by several beats, saving millions of heartbeats each year and boosting daytime HRV.
Rest magic
Big hearts beat slower
Larger hearts pump more blood per beat, so they beat fewer times. Elephants and whales trade speed for huge stroke volume.
Stroke volume
How lifetime beats, bpm, and HRV fit together
Your heart beats about 100,000 times per day, but that number hides how differently those beats are earned. Most of us spend long stretches at a lower resting bpm and shorter bursts at a higher active bpm. This calculator mirrors that reality: it blends your active minutes at an “active bpm” with the remaining minutes at a resting bpm to estimate daily, yearly, and lifetime beats. When you add a modest exercise window—say 60 minutes at 110 bpm—your daily total rises, yet building fitness over time often lowers resting bpm, which pulls the average down. That push-pull is why consistency matters more than any single workout.
Lifetime beat estimates add perspective. At 70 bpm resting with a bit of daily activity, many people will land between two and three billion beats over a typical lifespan. Dropping resting bpm by just 5 beats per minute can trim thousands of beats every day and millions per year. Small habits—better sleep, steady hydration, relaxed breathing, and low-intensity aerobic work—often move the needle more than sporadic all-out sessions.
Heart rate variability (HRV) complements bpm by tracking the tiny time gaps between beats. A flexible, higher HRV usually signals that your nervous system can shift between “go” and “recover” modes smoothly. You may see HRV rise when you sleep well, stay nourished, and stack easy or moderate sessions instead of only high-intensity days. A sudden HRV drop paired with a slight resting bpm rise can be an early warning of illness, overreaching, or dehydration. Looking at bpm and HRV together paints a richer picture than either number alone.
Animal comparisons underline how heart design scales. Tiny animals like hummingbirds and mice have minimal stroke volume and rocket-fast metabolisms, so they rely on four-digit bpm. Giants like whales and elephants pump huge volumes per beat and can lope along at single-digit or low-double-digit bpm. Humans sit in the middle: with training we can increase stroke volume (more blood per beat), which lowers resting bpm while keeping plenty of headroom for effort. That is the cardiovascular efficiency endurance athletes chase.
External factors shift heart rate, too. Heat, altitude, caffeine, stress, posture, and even time of day can nudge bpm up or down. Wearables make tracking easy, but the trend line matters more than isolated spikes. If you notice a run of higher resting bpm and lower HRV, ease up, hydrate, and prioritize sleep. If your resting bpm drifts down and HRV trends up, you are likely adapting well. Use these estimates as a learning tool—not medical advice—and combine them with check-ins on blood pressure, perceived exertion, and recovery so you can tune training and rest with confidence.