Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Explained for Health and Decision-Making
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- Опубліковано 13 лют 2020
- If you think your heart beats at a regular interval like a metronome, think again.
We have a natural variability in the spacing between our heart beats. This phenomenon is called heart rate variability, and HRV for short. It says a lot about our bodily systems, which is why athletes and health enthusiasts alike have been so interested in this, and why you should be too.
Simply put, HRV is a measurement of the balance between your parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. These two systems make up the autonomic nervous system, which handles about 90% of the body’s involuntary functions. The sympathetic nervous system is what kicks into gear when we are stressed or in danger.
We sweat, our heart rate goes up, and the interval between our heart beats goes down. Our body is primed to either fight or flight. The parasympathetic nervous system is pretty much the opposite, and it functions like a brake by disabling the sympathetic nervous system. Called the rest and digest response, it activates when we are in a relaxed state, and engages processes such as the production of saliva and peristalsis. It slows the heart rate, and with greater intervals between beats.
When in balance, your heart produces a high HRV through a more variable heart rate. The more variable your heart rate, the more you can readily respond to your environment and switch gears between these two systems. It’s one of the most accurate measurements of overall health that we can get without taking blood tests or body scans.
High HRV is an indication of cardiovascular health, fitness, willpower, calm and positive emotions, and your capacity to handle stress.
The lower your HRV, the less capacity for stress that you have in your body, so the more likely you are to feel anxious, tired or burnt out at the end of the day.
Low HRV is also related to inflammation, chronic stress, chronic pain, depression, cancer and low emotional flexibility.
HRV is used in professional sports to predict injury, and by forward thinking doctors to diagnose disease. Many smartwatches now can indicate your stress levels by measuring HRV through your wrist pulse.
HRV is a huge predictor of persistence and self-control, and it increases when exerting self-regulation. This mechanism is called the pause and plan response.
By changing our physiology, we can manipulate our HRV and there are several ways to improve your HRV.
The simplest way to improve your HRV is through breathing at a rate, which is called Coherent Breathing. By slowing down your breathing, you can activate the parasympathetic nervous system and raise your HRV, which causes your heart rate and blood pressure to synchronize with your respiration, resulting in a state that the HeartMath institute calls coherence.
For most people the optimal breathing rate is will be around 6 seconds in, 6 seconds out. 5 breaths a minute might feel slow, particularly if you do suffer with stress or anxiety, but you will feel the benefits immediately.
Doing a minimum 10 minutes of this breathing every day, you can develop the skill of producing a state of coherence at any given moment. Activating this state, you can get into the zone so to speak, and increase your performance for single actions such as swinging a golf club or presenting to a group.
HRV training has shown to be incredibly beneficial for children with overactive sympathetic nervous systems and resulting belly aches. After a few weeks of daily training, they show massive improvements in their baseline HRV and can function much better.
It can help with asthma, depression, hypertension, and self-control. It’s also great for stress management. Around 20% of people will feel sleepy from following this breathing rhythm, which makes it a great tool for getting high quality sleep every night.
The interest in HRV has increased substantially the past decade, and several consumer technologies have emerged to help measure your personal HRV metrics.
The most accessible way to accurately measure your HRV is to use a free app called Welltory. This measures your HRV using your phone camera, and it provides insight into your stress levels. I use this with my clients suffering from burnout, chronic stress and anxiety as a way to get objective insight into their wellbeing. welltory.com
If you want to use HRV to improve your stress levels, then you want the Heartmath Inner Balance, which helps you train your nervous system to respond better to stress, it's my preferred method of HRV Training, as I’m able to measure their HRV on a daily basis and adjust their training to help them recover quickly from burnout or improve their performance in high pressure situations. hatson.coach
#hrv #heartmath #heartratevariability
That figures that I'm part of the 80% that still can't fall asleep by slow breathing. However, I did notice that 4-7-8 breathing a few minutes after my regular 5k runs produces an almost instant "runner's high." That was unexpected. Overall, yes... my HRV did improve, but getting to sleep and staying that way is still difficult.
I don’t find slow breathing helpful when I get in to bed. I do my breathing exercises c. 30 mins before bed and this helps me drop straight off.
This video is so educational!
Thank you!
Thanks
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Hello! First of all thanks for the instructive videos. Just started using welltorty and my readings are really good, except for my stress levels being really low. Then you mention using Heart math to "improve" stress levels, does that also include raising them?
Hi there, what do you mean that your stress levels are really low? I’d need to know more about your readings to understand what’s going on. Heartmath is great for balancing the nervous system… that means it can ebb and flow to deal with the stresses and strains of life without becoming overloaded. For me, Heartmath is the best tool available for doing that!
So I just did a hrv test on my new smart watch, it came out as 66 and I was resting basicly sitting down i am 27 and have only really started cardio training recently and started taking my health more serious is 66 just OK, bad, or good considering I was resting. I don't know if this channel is still responding to questions but if you could help me understand more I would appreciate it I also had a bpm of 68
Consumer Devices don’t measure HRV in a consistent manner. So focus on the trend ie is it improving as you train. If you’re worried about your health please get your HRV checked by a medical practitioner
I use the FitBit HRV and mine averages around 85+- or 5.
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Doctor, My HRV varies between 15 to 18. Resting heart rate varies between 51 to 55. Breaths per minute varies between 12 to 15. I do daily exercises, 60 to 90 mts, a mixture of jogging, walking and weight lifting etc. According to my Fitbit Versa daily steps exceeds 15000 and daily calories exceeds 2700. I am 69 years old Sri Lankan male and not obese (74Kgs, 176 cm) diabetic but well controlled with medication (HB1AC -6.3) I have no other medical condition or stress at all. (checked my Fitbit with other family members and their HRV are well above 50)
Why my HRV readings are low.
Hi there, thanks for your question. HRV does decrease with age, and it also varies by genetics. Your resting heart rate and presented biometrics seem to be good so if you’re feeling well, eating well and sleeping well then perhaps it’s not an issue. HRV training such as Heartmath may increase your HRV, hope that helps.
@@matthatson Thank you Doctor.
You’re welcome! (Ps not a doctor, just an engineer!)
@@matthatson I too an engineer.(retired)
Engineers rock 🤘
My HRV is consistently 8-12ms nightly for months now (It won't record it during the day) RHR is consistently mid 80s with occasional low 90s spikes. BR is consistently 10-12, mostly 10. But this week my HRV isn't recording. Everything else but that records. So I had family members wear my Fitbit to bed. Everything works for them and their numbers are all different but significantly higher HRVs, BRs and lower RHRs. Might that be that my HRV is dipping lower than 8ms? I've had EKGs that all come out "abnormal ekg" but no doc ever mentions it. In fact, if they say anything at all, it's just, "Your ekg looks fine". So, I looked up the problem online and apparently it's a minor issue. I use a Fitbit inspire 2 and always keep it charged enough.
Hi thanks for your comment. As I’ve said before, don’t worry about your HRV if the doctor is saying your ekg is fine... instead focus on how it improves over time. Your HRV depends on many factors (age, stress levels, genetics, fitness etc), so instead focus on improving it using the techniques I talk about in my videos -Heartmath, cold water, exercise etc., anything that stimulates your vagus nerve. Hope that helps. Matt
@@matthatson Very helpful, thank you.
Is it ok for hrv to fluctuate high and low? Should you only look at the average for the day?
Yes that’s quite normal. Focus on your trends - is it going up, down, high, low. Your HRV shows your capacity to take on more stress, so after exercise or poor sleep you would expect to be lower. Use your HRV to better understand your capacity for stress and when you need to wind it back and recover 😀
Dr I have lost 10 kgs is this because of anxiety? I feel fatigue and breathing problems all the time.
Anxiety can indeed cause weight loss. But not all weight loss is caused by anxiety. Given your symptoms I recommend you see a medical practitioner and get some qualified support for your particular situation.
My HRV is between 16-50 usually around 28.
Hi there how are you measuring it?
Matthew Hatson just on a Apple Watch.
Ok thanks. Different devices have their own HRV scale, so just use the Apple Watch HRV score and watch it’s trends. Learn what increases and decreases it to develop your awareness.