Heart Rate Variability To Balance Stress And Nervous System

On this episode, Faraz Khan sits down with Ronda Collier to discuss all things Heart Rate Variability (HRV).

Ronda has more than 25 years of experience in high technology product development with a proven track record of delivering leading edge consumer electronic products within both privately held startups and Fortune 500 corporations.

She has spent the last few years as an independent scholar researching non-invasive health monitoring techniques to improve overall personal well being. This research led to the founding of SweetWater Health, L.L.C. in 2010.

What exactly is heart rate variability or HRV?

Similar to EKG, the spikes
Your heart may beat 60 beats per minute – but those beats are not every second
There is a variation in the beat of the heartbeats (one may be 0.98 seconds, the second may be 1.02 seconds)
The variability between these two is measured as HRV
Your nervous system controls your HRV – the sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system speed up your heart, while the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system slows it down.
There is a constant tug of war between these two branches of your nervous system

How Does The Nervous System Actually Communicate With The Heart?

Vagus nerve is a major mediator of the heart beat – and it slows you down.
Vagus nerve is connected to multiple organs including the heart
High vagal tone allows you to calm down

What Are The Numbers Measured By SweetBeatHRV App

Stress is the balance of sympathetic and parasympathetic system
In the morning, you have a nice balance of the nervous system
Standard metrics of HRV are
SDNN: standard deviation of heart rhythm. Generally runs on a 24 hour period, the short period is 3 minutes.
RMSSD: root mean square of successive differences. Statistical analysis of RR intervals.
RMSSD measures vagal tone.
HRV goes between 0-100

How Does HRV Change During The Day?

You wake up in the morning restored
Your nervous system is restored during sleep
When you encounter stress, your reserve of stress resilience gets dinged
HRV changes during the day
3-minute measurements are easy to do
24 hour measurements would be ideal
HF and LF are frequencies
Sympathetic nervous system is 0.04 to 0.1 Hz
Parasympathetic nervous system is 0.1 to 0.4 Hz
You want high numbers for these two frequencies

How Can You Improve HRV Numbers?

Sleep is the single most important factor
Mental state and stress is very important
Nutrition is important
Deep breathing can affect that
Cosmetics, water, the environment such as people, animals, pollution
Meditation is great, yoga, qi gong and tai-chi
Ronda recommends Heart Math as well

Is There Any Research on HRV and a Long Life?

Maintaining resilience is very important
Another app called Daily
Increases homeostatic capacity
Monitor HRV often and see if there are trends going on
HRV is a metric to tell if what you are doing is working
You can use generative feedback to change the things that gets your nervous system triggered