Mark Loehrke Times correspondent

The beat is intensifying.

Every new electronic device these days – from your phone to your watch to your ring – seems to want to make you aware of your heart rate.

Why this focus on heart rate? Is it because the technology to measure it has become so readily available and more convenient than a trip to the doctor’s office? Or are we just now catching up with the fact that heart rate is something we should have been aware of all along?

The answer likely involves a little of both. Because even if this is more of a gee-whiz tech advancement than a medical imperative, it doesn't hurt to pay more attention to something as critical as heart health.

But it raises other questions.

What is a “normal” heart rate?

“In general, a resting heart rate between 60 a

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