Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

HRV is emerging as an important way of measuring our overall level of health, our ability to handle exercise and stress, and more.

HRV is not heart rate.  Heart rate is how many beats our hearts beat in a given period of time.  If your heart rate is 60 beats per minute, it is assumed that our heart beats one time each second for 60 seconds.  Not necessarily.  Your heart may beat 1.2 seconds one beat and .8 seconds the second beat and 1.25 seconds and then again at .9 seconds.  This inconsistency is heart rate variability and the importance of measuring it came out of Russia in the mid 1970’s.

The research and what it shows

The autonomic nervous system (ANS), is divided into two parts.  The parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS).  The chart below summarizes the actions of each part of the ANS.