Pacing: Very interesting HealthRising article re HR and HRV monitoring and pacing - I may finally spring for an HR/HRV monitor!

Mary

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hapl808

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I'm currently experimenting with the Garmin Vivosmart 4. It takes several days for the 'battery' setting to stabilize I think, but it's definitely showing a higher than desirable heart rate / 'stress' rate during the day which doesn't surprise me.
 
gbells

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gbells said:
I'm just curious how other people's recovery is after sleeping. How much improvement can you get?
Click to expand...

Today I did a very light walk around some nature and slept for about 4 hours then took a reading. Energy is up to 47% from 37%. Productivity at 68% from 20% the previous evening. Before resting I took phone calls from about 5 people and did some remote coaching.

It will be interesting to see if immunotherapy periods impair recovery. I suspect they do. Today's recovery was off the cell growth inhibitors.

Mary the instructions say you have to take the readings from the same position every time. I do mine sitting twice a day. Maybe that's what is messing you up. You don't need to purchase equipment. The phone sensors cover it.
 
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BrightCandle

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WellTory worked well for me, I mean the results are awful but not exactly unexpected. Also showed quite a difference inline with how I and the better half feel so its certainly measuring something different and giving each of us consistent results. The pro version that apparently can link to Garmin (I doubt it can make my old Vivo active do this but who knows) is ludicrously expensive, $12 a month that is too high. I have been using heart rate as a good proxy for exertion but never had anything that could measure mental exertion, I wonder if HRV manages to do that. If so it could be a really important find.

What I ultimately want here is a device that beeps/vibrates the moment I am overexerting so I can stop and rest. Then I can get on with as much as possible and stop what I am doing. My Vivoactive only does that when an activity is running but ideally I want it all the time I am awake.
 
gbells

gbells

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BrightCandle said:
WellTory worked well for me, I mean the results are awful but not exactly unexpected. Also showed quite a difference inline with how I and the better half feel so its certainly measuring something different and giving each of us consistent results. The pro version that apparently can link to Garmin (I doubt it can make my old Vivo active do this but who knows) is ludicrously expensive, $12 a month that is too high. I have been using heart rate as a good proxy for exertion but never had anything that could measure mental exertion, I wonder if HRV manages to do that. If so it could be a really important find.

What I ultimately want here is a device that beeps/vibrates the moment I am overexerting so I can stop and rest. Then I can get on with as much as possible and stop what I am doing. My Vivoactive only does that when an activity is running but ideally I want it all the time I am awake.
Click to expand...

I find that the Welltory readings correlate well with my spoons estimation of how much energy I have remaining so I don't need to do a lot of readings. They did a very good job putting that one together and the analysis is in detail and offers suggestions on areas to work on.
 
Mary

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gbells said:
Mary the instructions say you have to take the readings from the same position every time. I do mine sitting twice a day. Maybe that's what is messing you up. You don't need to purchase equipment. The phone sensors cover it.
Click to expand...
I don't have a phone sensor or any device that measures HRV. I have a plain smart phone and an old-fashioned wrist watch! So I have to buy something to measure HRV and I chose the corsense device because it seems to be the most accurate and the easiest to use, just like a pulse oximeter.
 
L

livinglighter

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Great post! I’m also wanting a heart rate monitor.

Choices, choices! :xeyes:

The Corsense sounds ideal, but as a struggling active parent (violins) I need something I can wear outdoors as well. Accuracy is important but so is wearability 🤔
I do find it hard to make choices....... If anyone has anymore info about the wristband/smart watch kinds please do share.
 
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gbells

gbells

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Mary said:
I don't have a phone sensor or any device that measures HRV. I have a plain smart phone and an old-fashioned wrist watch! So I have to buy something to measure HRV and I chose the corsense device because it seems to be the most accurate and the easiest to use, just like a pulse oximeter.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on whether you want a phone upgrade. The Coresense costs $165. It makes more sense to me to use that money on a phone upgrade (even cheaper after buyback) and put it into Welltory data analysis service monthly fee which I haven't yet signed up for. I had no problem running Welltory on my Samsung Note 9 phone. It uses the flash strobe and videocamera.
 
Abrin

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Mary said:
I don't have a phone sensor or any device that measures HRV. I have a plain smart phone and an old-fashioned wrist watch! So I have to buy something to measure HRV and I chose the corsense device because it seems to be the most accurate and the easiest to use, just like a pulse oximeter.
Click to expand...

I can honestly say that I've used my Corsense for the last couple years and I am so completely in love with it. I had to pay way more than what Americans pay for it retail as well since I had to pay in Canadian dollars for the device and for international shipping and it was still worth the price for me.

I used the Elite HRV app with a heart rate strap for years before I was able to finally save up for a Corsense and even with how fiddly the heart rate strap was it was still a game changer for me when it came to pacing.

I've also used a Fitbit for at least five years and now just recently got a Garmin watch. While I've found both useful for keeping track of steps and regular HR pacing I have to admit now looking back on the last five years of sleep tracking data, at the end of the day all that sleep data really ended up being pretty useless to me. The thing that has been the most useful to me has been looking at the data from Morning Reading with EliteHRV. I know everyone else's millege will vary though.

I do feel the need to warn people that it takes a long time of data tracking to actually be able to see patterns in your data that you will find useful to recovery. It took me at least a year of taking Morning Readings with the EliteHRV app through trial and error to figure out what I needed to do to make sure that my reading was in the green more often. The app can only tell you when you are heading towards a crash and when you need to rest more. It doesn't tell you what habits that you need to do on a daily basis in order to get better readings.

While tracking heart rate variability stopped me from heading into hardcore crashes within the first month of using it because I could see from my Morning Readings that it was coming --- the real benefits that come from it can take years and years. I've been tracking for around 5 years now and I am still learning things through trial and error.

Sorry if I ended up writing a novel there but I didn't want you to get the idea that tracking heart rate variability was any sort of 'quick fix'. It is long and hard constant experiment to try to figure out what techniques are working when it comes to pacing. The reason it has been a game changer for me is now I have real mathematical numbers to help me figure out what is going on instead of just hoping to make a best guess when it comes to how I am feeling.

Edited to add: I've also tried using the Welltory app in the past and didn't find its data really useful to me at all and ended up deleting it.

Double edited to add: I also forgot to say that using the EliteHRV app + Corsense has very recently allowed me to start doing body weight exercises without crashing because I now have a much more solid understanding of my symptom patterns. Much to my complete amazement I've slowly worked my way up to doing 10 repetitions of an exercise. Something that if someone would of told me 5 years ago that I'd ever be able to do I'd would of thought they had lost their mind. I know 10 repetitions may not seem a lot for some people but to me and how often I've been bedridden off and on, it feels like a miracle.
 
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Abrin

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livinglighter said:
Great post! I’m also wanting a heart rate monitor.

Choices, choices! :xeyes:

The Corsense sounds ideal, but as a struggling active parent (violins) I need something I can wear outdoors as well. Accuracy is important but so is wearability 🤔
I do find it hard to make choices....... If anyone has anymore info about the wristband/smart watch kinds please do share.
Click to expand...

The Corsense is not meant to be used for all-day monitoring.
 
Mary

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Abrin said:
Sorry if I ended up writing a novel there but I didn't want you to get the idea that tracking heart rate variability was any sort of 'quick fix'. It is long and hard constant experiment to try to figure out what techniques are working when it comes to pacing. The reason it has been a game changer for me is now I have real mathematical numbers to help me figure out what is going on instead of just hoping to make a best guess when it comes to how I am feeling.
Click to expand...
I'm very glad and appreciative that you wrote your "novel"! ;) This is all new to me. I've had ME/CFS for 22 years. I've made a fair amount of progress with various supplements and muscle testing (which helped enormously with my previous almost constant detoxing, which is pretty much gone now) BUT I've made no significant strides in extending my energy envelope, in being able to do more. I feel better overall when I'm not crashed but still crash with very depressing regularity. Anyways, working with HRV is definitely worth an experiment for me - if I can extend what I'm able to do without crashing would be amazing! At least it's something to occupy my active brain which wants to solve everything! :rofl:

Seriously, I do appreciate everything you've written. I did order the Corsense yesterday and have no regrets!
 
Abrin

Abrin

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Mary said:
I'm very glad and appreciative that you wrote your "novel"! ;) This is all new to me. I've had ME/CFS for 22 years. I've made a fair amount of progress with various supplements and muscle testing (which helped enormously with my previous almost constant detoxing, which is pretty much gone now) BUT I've made no significant strides in extending my energy envelope, in being able to do more. I feel better overall when I'm not crashed but still crash with very depressing regularity. Anyways, working with HRV is definitely worth an experiment for me - if I can extend what I'm able to do without crashing would be amazing! At least it's something to occupy my active brain which wants to solve everything! :rofl:

Seriously, I do appreciate everything you've written. I did order the Corsense yesterday and have no regrets!
Click to expand...

I have my fingers crossed that it treats you as well as it has treated me. I've been sick pretty much the same number of years so I should be a good comparison. :)
 
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