Measuring heart rate variability (HRV) with Kubios

[Cipher]

@Cipher: I don't know EliteHRV in detail as I use it only for data capturing. But I think the EliteHRV (at least the free version) is more or less thought for lay people.

Kubios is used in many scientific studies and is very good documented. Its used algorithms are transparent and implemented according to the Task Force of The European Society of Cardiology and The North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology. It has many different analyzed parameters (time and frequency domain, nonlinear).

Does Kubios analyze more parameters than EliteHRV or calculate them differently? If you compare the rMSSD, PNN50, LF, HF, etc, are they the same?

 

[Markus83]

Does Kubios analyze more parameters than EliteHRV or calculate them differently?

Which parameters does the EliteHRV calculate? I don't have it here at the moment, so I can not look it up.

If you compare the rMSSD, PNN50, LF, HF, etc, are they the same?

I did not compate the values. I'll look it up but not before next week.

 

[Matthew_2]

I do think that there is significant autonomic dysfunction in ME/CFS that can be tracked with a heart rate monitor: just regular heart rate and HRV. Our bodies seem to have to work exceptionally hard to try to maintain a balance that is achieved with minimal effort by normal bodies. The sympathetic/parasympathetic negotiation seems severely challenged. At night for me, for instance, I wear a heart rate monitor and notice that I have frequent brief spikes in HR when I am asleep; it is as if my body is moving through the architecture of sleep with over-reactions that cause arousals. It feels as if my body swings too far to the extremes.

 

[Cipher]

Which parameters does the EliteHRV calculate? I don't have it here at the moment, so I can not look it up.


I did not compate the values. I'll look it up but not before next week.

EliteHRV (free edition) at my end calculates the following:

• Mean RR interval (ms)
• rMSSD (ms)
• In(rMSSD) (ms)
• SDNN (ms)
• PNN50 (%)
• NN50
• Total Power (ms2)
• LF (ms2)
• HF (ms2)
• LF/HF
• Minimum HR
• Maximum HR
• Avarage HR

 

[Markus83]

On this page you can see that there are two versions of Elite HRV: https://elitehrv.com/pricing

The one that is free and the one that costs $ 8 /month (Personal Pro Version). I see that for example the following analysis is NOT part of the free version:

• Time Domain Analysis
• Frequency Domain Analysis
• Poincare Analysis

These are all part of (free) Cubios, so even if the results of Elite HRV are accurate, you need the Pro version which is not free. As I only have the free version of Elite HRV I cannot say if the parameters that you, Cipher, mentioned are comparable from Elite HRV to cubios. @Cipher: Do you use the Pro Version of Elite HRV?

 

[Markus83]

EliteHRV (free edition) at my end calculates the following:

Ok, interesting. That would be sufficient. Then I'll compare if the results are identical to Kubios next week.

 

[Matthew_2]

@Markus83 I am assuming that the premium product allows direct transfer of Polar data to Kubios. So, is that why you use EliteHRV? Do you have to do any massaging of the data from EliteHRV before it is input to Kubios?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[PatJ]

There are a couple of interesting blog posts by Karmin on Health Rising about HRV.

From the first blog post called "Your Crash in a Graph: How Heart Rate Variability Testing Could Help You Improve Your Health":

The most surprising benefit I found from HRV tracking has been being able to objectively demonstrate ‘crashes’ to others. For me, qualitative descriptions of how I’m feeling from day to day always feel whingey. And – let’s face it - descriptors cannot adequately convey how you feel to people who have no direct experience of our illnesses.

However, I’ve found that when you can show graphs of your heart numbers, or can simply say, ‘My heart numbers have plummeted today’, people actually get it! They really do. My husband now asks me almost every day how my numbers are – and it makes sense to him. That makes HRV an amazing tool as far as I am concerned!

The second blog post is here, called "Heart Rate Variability (HRV) - An Under-Utilized ME/CFS/FM Management Tool: PART II – Surveying the Landscape".

HRV’s strength is as an indicator of recovery. And it is morning HRV that gives that information. (In my opinion, heart rate monitoring is more suited to monitoring during activity). I, therefore, believe that the most useful HRV data comes from assessing the carryover effect that various activities and treatments have on my next morning HRV numbers. So my focus is on measuring recovery by tracking morning resting HRV. Using HRV in this way brings me huge benefits for a tiny amount of time and effort.
...

Different activities and treatments have different effects in different people. Keeping quantitative data on them enables me to determine the best treatments for me. For example, I can answer questions such as: Does taking electrolytes increase or decrease my next morning HRV, and by how much on average? I can also test different electrolyte formulations against one another.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

@Rufous McKinney - heart rate variability (HRV) is different than the heart rate you measure with your BP cuff:

Thanks for that...I got generally confused because I watched some of the Klimas stuff focused on looking at...resting heart rate..and that varies...!

My blood pressure cuff measures- irregular heart beats..and calculates a percentage...that must be: somethign else.