Heart Rate Variability Conundrum

[Jyoti]

Very kind @Markus83 ! I will send you a PM.

 

[Mary]

@Jyoti - I didn't even know HRV went over 100! Mine is always around 30 - 40, sometimes a little higher. The Elite HRV app analyzes my numbers and then gives me a score of between 1 - 10, with 10 being the highest meaning I am all set to have a very good day. And I've gotten a 10 on days that I am crashed! I really haven't found it to be a useful tool . . . I hope you get some answers from others here who are much more knowledgeable about this than me!

 

[Jyoti]

And I've gotten a 10 on days that I am crashed!

I think these things are geared to athletes, not people with chronic fatiguing illness..... I have been wondering how your experiment (maybe this should be added to this thread: https://forums.phoenixrising.me/threads/poll-experimentation-win-lose-draw.85268/ or this one:https://forums.phoenixrising.me/thr...rk-in-the-long-run.85267/page-2#post-2362615?) with HRV was going. Sorry to hear you have had so little help from it. I know you were hopeful.

I am beginning to think that my high numbers are actually a sign of a heart gone wild on too much adrenaline rather than one floating on a parasympathetic lily pad. I have no idea why or how my body keeps on making and releasing it, but it seems to have an endless supply. I am surmising that in order to fulfill the obligations I have in the world, I fuel myself on epinephrine while my body--without it or underneath it-- is actually in near total collapse.

Experimentws today with meditation and other forms or what we might call mindfulness--just to see what would happen--and it brought the HRV numbers down into a still high, but less absurd realm (86 during meditation this afternoon--from 168 overnight!). Which is exactly the opposite of what meditation is supposed to do. But...we live in a world where standard advice (e.g., get into your cardio zone for at least 20 minutes a day!) can be lethal.

It is mysterious, to be sure. No way, though, that whatever is happening to my heart has anything to do with being in a state of extreme fitness!

 

[Jyoti]

Thanks all for thoughts and ideas.
And look what I found on the Oura site:

Considerably higher HRV levels are not necessarily a good thing. These may be an indication of low autonomic nervous system stimulation, which can be felt as low energy and lethargy.

That pretty much matches my reality!

 

[kangaSue]

Heart rate variability is measuring the difference between individual heart beats right?

HRV is a measure of inter-beat variability, a.k.a. the R-R interval
https://elitehrv.com/heart-rate-variability-vs-heart-rate

 

[hapl808]

Meditation doesn't seem to improve my HRV at all. I eventually stopped doing it as I don't really enjoy it or find any benefits. I kept trying because it's supposed to be so great for physical, mental, etc. Just doesn't seem to do that for me.