What is HRV?
- Dr. Gregory Lowe PT, DPT, cert. MDT, CSCS
- Mar 20
- 3 min read
In last week's blog, we talked about the importance of quality sleep for enhanced recovery and improved athletic performance (among other essential health benefits).
This week, we'll discuss something that can be measured as an indicator of fitness, recovery, and health: Heart Rate Variability (HRV).
Most smart watches and running watches such as Apple, Garmin, and COROS now include an HRV measuring capability.
HRV represents one of the best monitoring tools to evaluate stress levels and training readiness!
But what even is HRV???
While athletes (especially runners) prefer to examine heart rate to predict their fitness levels or monitor pacing, HRV takes this a step further diving deeper into examining heart rate.
Heart Rate (HR) indicates the number of times the heart is beating per minute; HRV, however, assesses the variation in timing between heart beats. So even if your average HR is 65 beats per minute, those heart beats are not necessarily occurring at equal increments.
The amount of variability in heart beats is controlled by your autonomic nervous system, which regulates involuntary bodily functions such as HR, breathing, digestion, etc-- all the behaviors you don't have to think about but your body is subconsciously working at!
The nervous system functions by shifting between two different states: parasympathetic ("rest and digest") and sympathetic ("fight or flight").
Working out or stressing out causes the body's "fight or flight" response, whereas sleeping, relaxing, or eating causes the body to shift into the "rest and digest" response to promote a recovery state for the mind and body.
HRV determines which system the body is using more, and can therefore estimate the state your body is currently residing in.
From a performance standpoint, monitoring HRV levels will estimate whether or not the nervous system is stable enough to take on a high-intensity workout session, or if it requires additional rest.
So how can you assess your HRV levels?
Low HRV trends indicate the "fight or flight" nervous system response, and a lower than normal HRV shows that the body is in a state of higher stress. This means your body could be trying to recover from a hard workout or increased training load, it may be in a state of chronic stress from either overtraining or life stresses/anxiety, or may be on the verge of getting sick.
High HRV trends determine more of the "rest and digest" nervous system response indicating a more relaxed state. This means your body is recovering well and able to make HR shifts more easily to prepare for performance as well as everyday tasks. High HRV levels can therefore determine the body's readiness to tackle an intense workout or performance.
Additionally, extremely high HRV levels could actually indicate that the nervous system is adjusting to new stimuli, and could turn into either a positive or negative bodily response.
Monitoring your HRV levels will ultimately help you train accordingly and therefore represents an effective way to improve health and performance.
And if you're looking for other ways to improve performance, or if you have a nagging pain or injury getting in the way of it, WE CAN HELP!
It's our mission at AWAKEN to provide the highest level of care through our process of determining the root cause of your issue, then establishing an individualized plan to help you prevent recurrence and come back stronger than before!
We offer several specialized services including orthopedic and sports physical therapy, strength and conditioning, 3D Running Gait Analysis, and personalized run coaching. All of our services include one-on-one individualized care with a doctor of physical therapy.
Reach out via the link below today to request a FREE phone consultation and learn about how our services can help you AWAKEN YOUR POTENTIAL!!!
Written by: Mackenzie Lowe and Gregory Lowe, PT, DPT, cert. MDT, CSCS
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