• Your pulse rate and blood pressure aren't correlated."Broken Heart" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: CarbonNYC (David Goehring) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
  
  

Function

• Blood pressure and pulse rate are both measures of heart function, but they measure different things. Blood pressure is the force of the blood as it moves through the arteries, and pulse rate is the number of times your heart beats each minute.
  
  

Misconceptions

• When your pulse rate rises, your blood pressure doesn't rise with it. Even though your heart is beating faster due to activity, stress or a health issue, the force of the pumping blood isn't affected.
  
  

Measurement

• If your pulse rate has seemed consistently high, start to monitor it. After a full night's rest, check your resting heart rate by counting your pulse for a minute. An average resting heart rate is 60 to 80 beats per minute.
  
  

Considerations

• After activity, your pulse rate should be raised, though your blood pressure should remain normal. Your target heart rate for activity is 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate.
  
  

Warning

• If your heart rate is rapid even when you're at rest, you may have a condition called tachycardia. In addition to the rapid pulse rate, you may notice dizziness, shortness of breath or light-headedness. See your doctor for diagnosis and treatment options.