How To Improve Your Heart Rate Variability (HRV) - Dr Leah Lagos
26 Aug 2024 (23 days ago)
Understanding Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
- Heart rate variability (HRV) was initially used to assess the health of babies before birth.
- HRV is the variation in time between each heartbeat and is measured in milliseconds.
- Higher HRV is associated with greater health and resilience.
- Low HRV is correlated with cardiovascular conditions, while higher HRV is associated with longevity.
Factors Influencing HRV
- There are biological factors that can influence low HRV, and in some instances, it might point to an underlying medical condition.
- Chronic stress, lifestyle choices like excessive coffee consumption, alcohol use, insufficient exercise, and individual sensitivity levels can all impact HRV.
Benefits of HRV Training
- HRV training can enhance cognitive dexterity, enabling individuals to transition between focused attention and broader perspectives, as well as improve inhibitory control, allowing for a pause before reacting to stimuli.
- Baseline heart rate can be lowered through a 12-week training program, leading to improved cardiovascular efficiency.
Approaches to HRV Training
- There are two distinct pathways for utilizing HRV: HRV training to increase baseline HRV and HRV hacking to calibrate an individual's peak performance by identifying personal variables that influence their HRV.
- Resonance frequency breathing training, typically lasting 10 weeks with weekly sessions, helps individuals gain control over anxiety and enhance performance.
Resonance Frequency Breathing
- Resonance sinus arrhythmia is a frequency (0.1 Hertz) that activates the entire nervous system, including pathways from the brain to the heart and digestive tract.
- During the first four weeks of training, the focus is on maximizing baseline heart rate variability, while sessions 5 through 10 concentrate on managing stress and transitioning between sympathetic and parasympathetic states.
- The heart, rather than the breath, is trained primarily during the 15-minute breathing sessions.
Maintaining HRV Benefits and Practical Applications
- Maintaining the benefits of the breathing exercises requires regular practice, such as three to four times a week for 15 minutes, similar to maintaining muscle mass.
- Professional athletes, such as those in the NBA or PGA Tour, utilize breathing techniques like counting four seconds inhale and six seconds exhale to regain focus and manage their sympathetic arousal.
- To help remind people to practice resonant breathing, setting phone vibration reminders throughout the day or pairing breathing exercises with regular activities like eating can be beneficial.
- While nasal breathing can be beneficial, research suggests that inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth, rather than exclusively nasal breathing, leads to greater increases in HRV for many individuals.
HRV Training and Physical Performance
- HRV training, unlike VO2 Max training, focuses on developing an unconscious reflex to modulate responses, potentially maximizing an individual's elite potential across various disciplines, from sports to the arts.
- Research suggests that physical training protocols enhance recovery and lower resting heart rate.
- Running and swimming for specific distances can positively impact HRV, with the optimal distance varying between individuals.
Measuring HRV
- Nocturnal HRV is a reliable measurement method due to less movement and fewer external influences.
- Wearable devices that take snapshots of heart rate variability (HRV) throughout the night are dependent on factors such as sleeping position and wakefulness, making continuous measurement a more reliable method.
- The Polar device is a reliable tool for measuring HRV both in the moment and during sleep, allowing for the assessment of sympathetic and parasympathetic states.
Optimizing HRV and Additional Resources
- Before attempting interventions to increase vagal tone or influence the parasympathetic state, individuals should prioritize understanding their baseline HRV, identifying factors that enhance or diminish it, and establishing clear goals.
- People experiencing PTSD may find that HRV biofeedback takes more time to show effects.
- A feeling of safety can be recreated by remembering the feeling of holding a child for the first time.
- Leah Lagos's book, "Heart Breath Mind", is available on Amazon and through local distributors.