Heart Rate Variability

Tom Wigginton • April 18, 2024
Functional Training

Heart Rate Variability – What it is and why you might be interested in it.

 

According to experts, the key to a longer, healthier, and happier life comes down to these 5 things.


I call them The 5 Things.

  1. A healthy diet.
  2. Abundant cardiovascular and resistance exercising.
  3. Sleep and restorative downtime.
  4. Stress management and mental health.
  5. Community.

 

The famous Coach Ted Lasso, when challenged to explain the offsides penalty in soccer (or football, depending on where you watch the game), dodged the question by saying it’s kind of hard to define but you know it when you see it.

 

Knowing if you’re getting the 5 Things right more often than wrong might not be as easy to recognize as an offsides violation.

 

Until now. That’s where understanding and measuring Heart Rate Variability may interest you.

 

What It Is – What It Measures – What it Means

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) measures the variation in the time intervals between successive heartbeats, reflecting the beat-to-beat changes controlled by the autonomic nervous system. It’s an indicator of the body's ability to adapt to various stimuli, stressors, and activities. Things influencing HRV include diet, physical activity, sleep, and stress levels.

 

Not coincidentally, that’s 4 of The 5 Things.

 

Higher HRV typically correlates with better health and fitness, while lower HRV may indicate increased stress or potential health issues. HRV serves as an indicator of autonomic nervous system function, offering insights into the balance between sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest) activity. A higher HRV suggests a dominance of parasympathetic activity – a good thing – promoting relaxation and recovery, while a lower HRV may signify sympathetic dominance, indicating heightened stress or fatigue.

 

Understanding HRV enables individuals to make informed lifestyle choices to optimize well-being, manage stress, improve recovery, and enhance overall health and performance. It is objective feedback about how well you’re balancing the 5 Things.

 

Among all the ways we might describe people, two of those ways might be 1) people who geek out on technology and data and 2) people who definitely do not. 

 

HRV Monitoring Devices May Appeal to Both Types of People

I became aware of HRV monitoring around 2012 from Joel Jamieson - a strength and conditioning coach who recognized the utility of tracking trends in HRV to maximize training efficiency. One of his companies is called Morpheus Training Systems. (Update: Joel was a guest on the Peter Attia podcast in June of 2024 where he makes a really great in-depth and nerdy case for using his system for cardiovascular exercise programming.)


Since then, several companies have developed convenient wearable tech devices that measure HRV and other vital signs and then provide guidance on how to improve them.


I have been wearing a Whoop wrist strap for about 2 years now. I have friends who wear the Oura Ring and others who use FitBit, Apple Watches, and Garmin Watches. With some variations between them, each monitors your HRV and gives you actionable insights about what to do about it.

 

Here are some examples of how HRV monitoring devices can help you.

  1. Sleep tracking. Every morning you get a sleep score that tells you about the quantity and quality of your sleep. If it needs improvement, the devices have advice how to improve.
  2. Recovery score. If you’ve been hanging out with me for long, you’ve probably heard me say, “Work without rest is a wasted effort.” You need to recover between workouts because the magic happens on the rest intervals. If you’re not recovered, you don’t need to add more exercise stress to your body. When your device says you’re not recovered, heed!
  3. Strain Guide. Based on your HRV, Sleep and Recovery scores, these devices will give you advice about how hard you should train that day - if at all.
  4. Health Markers. While tracking HRV, these devices also collect respiratory rate, blood oxygen saturation, and resting heart rate data. If any are outside of normal, you get advice about how to improve them. These data are often your first signs that you're coming down with a bug.
  5. Trends. Like a lot of information, there is often more value in seeing trends in the information than individual scores or values on any given day.

 

The Point

Ideally, all of us would benefit having the intuition and self-awareness to recognize how we’re doing without relying on tech. But the truth is, external feedback is often the only way we see ourselves. Whether it’s a mirror, friend, mate, teacher, therapist, coach, or a tech device – objective observations of ourselves is how we see ourselves.

 

HRV isn’t a technological solution to a lifestyle question, though. Your heart has always beat with some measure of variability and how much so is an indication of how you’re doing. The fact that we can measure that variability with inexpensive wearable devices is a modern technological development – and a really cool one at that (in my opinion).

 

If you can do this on your own, that’s extra-ordinary. But if you can use one of these feedback tools to help you develop your intuition and self-awareness, then why not? Use them. Learn how. Graduate. Share your new skills.

 

If you would like to experiment with Whoop, you can use my super special link. You’ll get a free Whoop device and your first month of tracking for free. Full disclosure: I’ll get a month for free, too.


And don't forget the 5th Thing and hug your friends.

 

Resources:

Joel Jamieson – 8 Weeks Out

An Overview of Heart Rate Variability Metrics and Norms - Fred Shaffer and J. P. Ginsberg

Outlive – The Science and Art of Longevity – Peter Attia, MD

Blue Zones

 

Curious to learn more?

We encourage you to do a 14-Day Trial Membership. In 14 days, you will get a private onboarding session that includes the Functional Movement Screen®, then unlimited semi-private training sessions doing the program we design based on that first session. And you’ll get to be a part of one of the most inviting, inclusive, and fun communities you’ll find anywhere. At the end of your trial, you get to decide if you liked it and if you want to continue with a regular 6-month membership. All the options and prices are on our Membership page.


Click here to sign up now!


Our facility is conveniently located on the northwest corner of Denver in beautiful downtown Wheat Ridge.


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