"Your body has many systems and features that let it adapt to where you are and what you’re doing. Your heart’s variability reflects how adaptable your body can be." The human body is in a constant state of change and adaptation. To be healthy, your body requires a dynamic equilibrium among multiple systems, homeostasis. Healthcare scientists and researchersh have identified heart rate variability as a valuable and valid means to assess the health of a person. If you read our article on HRV, you understand a little more about what HRV is. Simply stated, it is the dynamic relationship between the parasympatheic and sympathetic nervous system (autonomic nervous system) and how that autonomic nervous system responds to the stressors your body encounters every second in your life. After reviewing this post, check out the first post we published on HRV here.
After 6 months of exercise women over 60 improved their HRV scores and decreased their risk for heart disease.
An improvement in parasympathetic tone is generally an improvement in the nervous system.
“Overall, our analysis demonstrated a significant improvement in parasympathetic tone…”
Heart Rate Variability can describe how well your body is regulating the many different systems (digestion, circulation, respiration etc.) that are constantly in action.
“Heart rate variability (HRV) is the fluctuation in the time intervals between adjacent heartbeats. HRV indexes neurocardiac function and is generated by heart-brain interactions and dynamic non-linear autonomic nervous system (ANS) processes. HRV is an emergent property of interdependent regulatory systems which operate on different time scales to help us adapt to environmental and psychological challenges. HRV reflects regulation of autonomic balance, blood pressure (BP), gas exchange, gut, heart, and vascular tone, which refers to the diameter of the blood vessels that regulate BP, and possibly facial muscles.” [This is an article heavy in how HRV is calculated in a technical manner.] Click here for the research article.
A consistent exercise program including aerobic training for 3 months can show improvements in HRV (heart rate variability). A better HRV can mean a longer life.
“A large body of evidence shows that, in healthy subjects and cardiovascular patients of all ages (up to an age of 70 years), regular aerobic training usually results in a significant improvement of overall as well as instantaneous HRV. These changes, which are accompanied by significant reductions in heart rates both at rest and during submaximal exercise, reflect an increase in autonomic efferent activity and a shift in favor of enhanced vagal modulation of the cardiac rhythm. Regular aerobic training of moderate volume and intensity over a minimum period of 3 months seems to be necessary to ensure these effects, which might be associated with a prognostic benefit regarding overall mortality.” Click here for the research article.
“Heart rate variability (HRV) provides indirect insight into autonomic nervous system tone, and has a well-established role as a marker of cardiovascular risk.” Click here for the research article.
HRV helps you understand if you could be at risk for heart attack or diabetes.
“Heart rate variability (HRV) has long been used in risk stratification for sudden cardiac death and diabetic autonomic neuropathy.” “These changes (improvements in heart rate variability), which are accompanied by significant reductions in heart rates both at rest and during submaximal exercise, reflect an increase in autonomic efferent activity and a shift in favor of enhanced vagal modulation of the cardiac rhythm. Regular aerobic training of moderate volume and intensity over a minimum period of 3 months seems to be necessary to ensure these effects, which might be associated with a prognostic benefit regarding overall mortality.” [better heart rate variability is associated with lower mortality (death) rate] Click here for the research article.
Heart Rate Variability is a way to measure your health and is closely related to lifestyle factors like diet and exercise.
“As a measure of general body homeostasis, HRV is linked to lifestyle factors, and it is associated with morbidity and mortality.” “Besides weight reduction, effects of physical activity and dietary intervention can be monitored by parameters of HRV…” Click here for the research article.
People that are pro-inflammatory (in a state of chronic inflammation) will have a poor HRV assessment score.
“In this large cohort of young and healthy adults, inflammatory parameters were strongly associated with increased HR and decreased HRV, suggesting an important interaction between inflammatory pathways and the autonomic nervous system.” Click here for the research article.
Heart Rate Variability is valuable to assess cardiovascular health.
“In the last decades analysis of heart rate variability has emerged as a new useful tool for assessing the changes in autonomic tone that influences cardiovascular function.”
“Reduced heart rate variability was shown in endocrine disorders, neurological and psychiatric diseases, with use of different drugs and many other conditions.” Click here for the research article.
Nervous system (ANS) imbalance is associated with Subluxations of the vertebra of the spine. The ANS manages all the systems of your body and can be monitored by the use of HRV assessment.
“The autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays an important role in the human response to various internal and external stimuli, which can modify homeostasis, and exerts a tight control on essential functions such as circulation, respiration, thermoregulation and hormonal secretion.”
“Measurement of heart rate variability (HRV) is an easily accessible window into autonomic activity. It is a low-cost, non-invasive and simple to perform method reflecting the balance of the ANS regulation of the heart rate and offers the opportunity to detect the presence of autonomic neuropathy complicating several illnesses. “ [HRV is an excellent and inexpensive assessment tool to detect potential illnesses] Click here for the research article.
Improve your HRV assessment score and decrease your risk for a heart attack.
“Measurements of HRV and the quantification of its spectral components are powerful predictors of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.” Click here for the research article.
“Breathing exercises seem to reduce anxiety and to increase parasympathetic activity assessed by HRV indexes.”
“…DSB (deep slow breathing) is more beneficial to older adults than younger ones to restore vagal outflow. “ Click here for the research article.
This goal of this study was to determine whether Division 1 football players were recovering during their Spring Football camp which required consecutive (back-to-back) days of training. They found that the larger players (lineman) did not recover well enought between training sessions for the training to be valuable for them.
“The ∼20-hour recovery time between training sessions on consecutive days may not be adequate for restoration of cardiac-parasympathetic activity to baseline among LINEMEN.” [There was a relationship with body mass and delayed recovery amount the different groups of football players (skill player, mid skill player and lineman).] Click here for the research article.