This Health Metric Can Conquer Your stress
It’s time to let heart rate variability rewire your nervous system
Did you know that your heart rate is one of the best predictors of how you manage stress? I’m not just talking about your beats per minute, however, but your heart rate variability (HRV).
This phenomenon has been well-documented in the research as a key physiological marker for overcoming chronic stress, yet it’s grossly underutilized in health and fitness communities.
It’s time to change this trend and give HRV the spotlight it deserves.
Through understanding and utilizing your heart rate variability, you’ll have the power to reclaim agency over stress. Once you dive deeper into the workings of your nervous and cardiovascular systems, you’ll quickly realize you’re more in control than you originally thought you were.
Not only will this open the door to better resilience and behavioral flexibility, but physiological markers surrounding exercise performance and chronic disease prevention will also improve. If you want to lead a healthy, full life in 2024, it’s time to take this health marker seriously!
Without further ado, let’s look at the ins and outs of heart rate variability and cover exactly what it takes to conquer your daily stress.
Reshape Your Stress Response With HRV
The first order of business is understanding exactly what heart rate variability is all about. Fortunately, the most important concepts are quite easy to grasp.
We all have an average heart rate because of a beat-to-beat difference — I’ll use 50 bpm as an example. Two individuals may have a value of 50bpm, but one has a much higher variability, (a 40 to 60bpm range versus a 48 to 52bpm range). The higher the variability, the healthier you are.
HRV is the inter-beat interval variability between successive heart contractions.
This variation is controlled by a primitive part of the nervous system called the autonomic nervous system (ANS). It works behind the scenes, automatically regulating our heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and digestion among other key tasks. The ANS is subdivided into two large components: the sympathetic (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system.
If you have a high HRV, you have strong emotional regulation. When minor frustration and disappointment come, you can stay calm. Not only can you manage impulses, but you’re capable of seeking the appropriate response to stimuli.
This health metric is also linked to reduced depression, decreased heart disease risk, improved blood pressure levels, better asthma control, enhanced fitness, lower chronic pain, decreased systemic inflammation, and more.
A high HRV essentially means you have a healthy relationship between the SNS and PNS through a variety of factors. Due to the hyper-vigilant nature of our lives, however, this can be hard to achieve. The nervous system is under great duress thanks to the many forms of stimuli we have to sort through at any given moment. Fortunately, there are three modalities for improving heart rate variability that are both extremely accessible and transformative for overall health.
1 ) Physical Activity
Research has shown that moderate to vigorous exercise is closely linked to better HRV values. As long as you’re getting your heart rate elevated for an extended period, you can trust that this value will start to improve over the coming weeks and months.
Many of the studies around HRV involve aerobic activity, but the literature also indicates that activities such as resistance training and yoga are efficacious too.
At the end of the day, moving your body will decrease sedentary behavior which is a powerful thing on its own. My best advice is to find activities that excite/inspire you and try to do them at least 3–4 times a week for thirty minutes or more. Whether it’s running, swimming, or weight lifting, moving your body intentionally will improve HRV and lower stress!
2) Sleep
How could I mention HRV without briefly talking about sleep? It’s an essential part of recovery, and can’t be overlooked regarding healthy physiological measures.
Sleep quality is directly connected to heart rate, along with mood, emotional regulation, productivity, and more. It also happens to be one of the most powerful preventers of chronic disease and stress.
For the best results, target 7–9 hours per night. Additionally, focus on keeping your bedtime and morning rise as consistent as possible.
Using mood lighting, keeping a cool sleeping environment, putting tech away at least an hour before bed, and avoiding late-night alcohol and caffeine are other great ways to ensure you’re getting optimal rest each night. Sleep is truly the best medication so don’t neglect it any longer!
3) Deep Breathing
Slowing down our respiration guarantees that we’re putting brakes on cortisol release and the HPA axis (the system in control of that release).
HRV improves with intentional breathing because inhaling stimulates the SNS while exhaling stimulates the PNS — in other words, breathing orchestrates the smooth rise and fall of these two counterparts. While you may roll your eyes when someone tells you to ‘take a breath’, there’s physiological proof to show that this is actually great health advice!
You’ll be pleased to know that mindful breathwork isn’t all that hard. Just start with box breaths by inhaling for five, holding for five, exhaling for five, and holding again for five. Even repeating this for two minutes can help to decrease intrinsic stress, boosting your clarity and sense of calm under duress.
Testing HRV
Before wrapping up, I want to touch on how to determine where your HRV lies and what to do about it.
The gold standard is to analyze a long strip of an electrocardiogram done in the doctor’s office. If you don’t have access to an MD, consider using a smartwatch…but use it sparingly (looking at data 1x per week is a good start).
Although the accuracy of gadgets is continuing to improve, the act of obsessing over variables such as HRV every day defeats the purpose of trying to calm the nervous system in the first place.
Instead, stay committed to the practices above, look at your data periodically, and trust that the key physiological values will naturally shift in your favor as you foster a healthier life.
In Closing,
While it’s easy to feel out of control in our hyper-vigilant day and age, the human body is incredibly good at regulating itself when given the chance.
Choose to be mindful.
Move intentionally.
Breathe deep.
Rest well.
Not only will these practices help you improve a plethora of physiological markers, but you’ll also become a more calm, grounded person in the process.
Are you ready to wave goodbye to stress and step into a balanced, healthy life in 2024?
Want to boost your health? Check out my full library of programs here to start moving towards better strength, mobility, and function today!