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View all search resultsRoutinely checking your pulse may help detect arrhythmia early, say heart health groups
For this year's Pulse Day, the APHRS and InaHRS's MENARI campaign aims to teach people how to check their pulse while educating the public on how to maintain heart health.
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An illustration of self-pulse palpation, or checking one’s pulse by touch (Shutterstock/Pixel-Shot)
M
edical experts are urging people to be more aware of their heart rhythm by checking their own pulse regularly for the early detection of arrhythmia.
Arrhythmia, which refers to a heart beating too fast, too slow or in an irregular rhythm, is a serious medical condition that often goes unnoticed, and one in three people globally are at risk of experiencing a cardiac arrhythmia in their lifetime. But many cases are only detected after severe complications occur, such as stroke or heart failure.
“Heart rhythm disorders often show no symptoms,” Dicky Armein Hanafy, chair of the public affairs committee at the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society (APHRS), said on Friday.
“In fact, early detection can be as simple as checking your pulse regularly, which will allow for timely treatment,” he continued, speaking on the sidelines a press conference on Pulse Day 2026 at Harapan Kita Cardiovascular Hospital in Palmerah, West Jakarta.
This method, called self-pulse palpation, is the key message of year’s Pulse Day, a global day for raising awareness of arrhythmia that is commemorated annually on March 1, and is being promoted through a campaign dubbed MENARI.
The campaign, whose name derives from Meraba Nadi Sendiri (check your pulse), teaches people how to recognize whether their heart rhythm is normal, according to Dicky. It also aims to raise public awareness of various types of the condition including atrial fibrillation, a leading cause of preventable stroke.
Self-pulse palpation can be performed by placing index and middle fingers on one’s wrist or neck, count beats for 30 seconds and multiply by two to get beats per minute. A normal rhythm is between 60 and100 beats per minute, while also checking whether the rhythm shows a regular pattern.
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