What it is
Pulse counts heartbeats per minute. Rest, posture, fitness, medicines and emotional state can change the reading.
Evidence basis: Human clinical evidence
Measuring pulse while resting just before falling asleep.
What it is, why people use it, the evidence, and what to know before trying it.
Pulse counts heartbeats per minute. Rest, posture, fitness, medicines and emotional state can change the reading.
Evidence basis: Human clinical evidence
This is a pre-sleep pulse measurement, not HRV or a whole-night average.
Pulse is useful health context. General heart-rate guidance does not establish a universal pre-sleep target or show that lowering a reading alone improves sleep.
Confidence: weak
Known limitations and precautions from reviewed sources.
A lower number is not always better. Unusual changes or symptoms need clinical interpretation; do not change medicines to reach another person’s reading.
This review does not automatically apply to:
Public protocols that include Heart rate before sleep. Open one to see the full context and source.
He reports his best sleep alongside readings of 39–44 bpm, and poorer sleep at higher readings. This is a pre-bed reading, distinct from overnight resting heart rate and HRV. It does not show that lowering heart rate causes better sleep.
Personal report · 3 Apr 2026Bryan Johnson's heart rate before sleep ↗His readings are personal observations, not a target for other people.
Methods and schedules reported in public protocols; these are observations, not instructions. Private and hidden usage is excluded.
Continue into interventions that appear alongside this one.