Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is the variation in time intervals between heart beats.
Higher heart rate variability is associated with better health, better cardiovascular fitness, and a greater ability to recover from difficult or stressful situations, whereas lower HRV is associated with health issues and less resilience in handling changing situations. It takes us longer to recover physically and emotionally from stressful situations.
According to Harvard Health Publishing (from Harvard Medical School), HRV may also give us insights into our nervous system health. Being stressed or in high sympathetic arousal generally equates to lower HRV, whereas being calm & relaxed is associated with higher HRV. Higher HRV also means more flexibility and adaptability in the nervous system.
We can potentially use HRV track how our nervous system is responding not only to our environment, but also our thoughts & feelings. The research in this area is still underway, so it is advised to use this as one piece of information within a larger context rather than solely relying on HRV to measure autonomic function.
Ways to improve HRV include: mindfulness, regular exercise, eating well & drinking enough water on a regular basis, reducing stress, getting adequate sleep, and optimizing our breathing rate.
Research (Lin et al, 2014) has shown that the optimal breathing rate to achieve the best HRV is 5.5 breaths per minute in a 1:1 breathing ratio (equal inhales and exhales). According to Jessica Maguire (nervous system expert and educator) we want to slowly work our way toward this level of breath. We want to be mindful of not increasing tension in the neck, shoulder and abdomenal areas as we are slowing down our breath. Tension in these areas will stimulate the vagus nerve, sending stress signals, which is why it is important to keep these areas soft. She recommends first becoming aware of your breathing rate as it is, working slowly and gently to make the inhales and exhales equal, and then work your way toward the 5.5 breaths per minute.
As we work our way toward optimal resilience, optimizing HRV can be another way of helping ourselves achieve it.
Best wishes!
Caelum's Insights (A Functional Neurology Perspective):
There was a research study with an individual who had damaged their amygdala (fear center) in their brain. This individual showed no signs of fear when watching scary movies or being in scary situations that most people would find fear invoking. They also had no social feelings of embarrassment. Nothing could bring on feelings of fear or anxiety. However, when they inhaled solution mix of 7% CO2 they had a panic attack. This reaction was due to the fact that there is some fear/anxiety that comes from our body and viscera. This is important information when we are looking to heal, as it highlights the importance of the role the signals from the body play, not just the brain.
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Candy Widdifield, M.Ed. candywiddifield.com candy.thriving@gmail.com
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