You’ve probably heard the claim that too much exercise “uses up” your heartbeats, as if the heart were a battery with a limited charge. New research says the opposite is true. A fit heart actually beats less over time, making each beat more efficient and possibly adding years to your life.

A team from Australia’s Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and the St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research found that physically active people use fewer total heartbeats per day than those who are sedentary. Here, we’ll look at what the researchers discovered, how it challenges a long-standing health myth, and what it means for your heart, longevity, and fitness habits.

Exercise myth debunked: the truth about heartbeats

The study, published in JACC: Advances, compared the daily heart activity of trained athletes and inactive adults. The difference was striking. On average, athletes’ hearts beat about 68 times per minute, while non-athletes clocked in around 76. Over 24 hours, that’s roughly 97,920 beats for the active group and 109,440 for the inactive—a savings of more than 11,000 beats a day for fitter individuals.

Professor Andre La Gerche, head of the HEART Laboratory at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, explained that this efficiency is what sets a fit heart apart. “Even though athletes’ hearts work harder during exercise, their lower resting rates more than make up for it”, he said. In other words, your heart doesn’t wear out from regular workouts—it gets stronger and smarter.

Participants with the highest fitness levels had resting heart rates as low as 40 beats per minute, compared to the typical 70–80 bpm seen in most adults. Despite bursts of intense activity, their total daily heartbeats remained lower overall. This finding directly challenges the old “finite heartbeats” theory that exercise depletes the body’s limited energy supply.

“The fitter you are, the more metabolically efficient your body becomes”, La Gerche said. “Even if you’re training hard for an hour a day, your heart beats more slowly for the other 23 hours”. That lower resting rate is linked with better cardiovascular function, reduced disease risk, and longer lifespan.

The biggest improvement, according to La Gerche, comes from going from unfit to moderately fit. Just a few hours of regular activity a week can make a measurable difference in how efficiently your heart works.

Other exercise myths worth forgetting

Here are a few other common misconceptions that science continues to dismantle:

• You have to work out hard every day to see results. Rest and recovery are part of training. Muscles repair and strengthen when you give them time to recover.
• Cardio is all you need for heart health. Strength training, mobility work, and flexibility exercises also support heart function and metabolic health.
• Morning workouts are always better. The best time to exercise is when you can do it consistently.
• Sweating means you’re burning more calories. Sweat is about cooling your body, not a measure of fat loss or workout effectiveness.

Exercise doesn’t burn through your heartbeats—it helps you use them wisely. A strong heart beats slower, lasts longer, and keeps you healthier. Fitness is about training your body to use it efficiently.