Your Guide to Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
If you’re interested in tracking your fitness progress and maximizing your workout routine, you’ve likely heard of heart rate variability (HRV). But what is HRV?
Simply put, heart rate variability is the measure of the variation in time between each heartbeat.
This is not to be confused with “the time between each heartbeat,” or heart rate. Here’s everything you need to know about HRV, and why monitoring it can be beneficial to your health.
What Is HRV?
HRV is the variation in the measure of time from one heartbeat to the next. This number can provide helpful insight into your overall physical and emotional well-being. For example, a lower HRV may indicate that you’re stressed or fatigued, while a higher HRV may mean that you’re well-rested and ready for physical activity.
HRV is traced by taking note of the time between each heartbeat and tracking any changes over time. Typically, a healthy adult has a resting heart rate of between 60 and 100 beats per minute (bpm). An average adult’s HRV can be anywhere from 20–200 milliseconds. Where this value truly proves useful is in trends over time.
However, stress, lack of sleep, illness, and certain medications can all lower HRV…
