Have you heard about HRV?
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a vital biomarker that measures one’s health. Other common biomarkers include blood pressure, cholesterol and checking one’s blood sugar status.
However, most doctors don’t ever check HRV. There are countless amounts of research as to the importance of HRV in a clinical sense. Before explaining why this marker is important, let’s quickly go over what it is.
What is HRV?
Heart Rate Variability marks the subtle changes between each beat. Think of it like this, when you listen to a song, each beat is exactly the same tempo. A healthy heart rate variability should not be beating at a perfect tempo.
Instead, there should be a variance to each beat. The more variability between each heartbeat, the better.
Why is HRV Important?
HRV is important because it gives you an insight to how well your body adapts to stressors. The higher the HRV, the stronger your nervous system will function.
According to the American Heart Association, the average median HRV should be 59.3. If your HRV is consistently lower than 59.3, it has been linked with various chronic health problems.
One low HRV reading is not necessarily negative. After stressful activities such as jogging, working, your HRV should go down. That’s normal. If the number does not go back up, there is a problem.
Consistent measurements of a low HRV is concerning. It’s normal for numbers to go up and down. Gradually, if the numbers stay low consistently, that would indicate the nervous system is not adjusting to stress well.
How to Check HRV?
HRV is a biomarker that may be tested in many different ways. One way being through a device called Digital Pulse Wave Analysis. This machine has a sensor that is attached to the finger and detects the subtleties’ of your nervous system, cardiovascular health and of course, HRV.
This is a non-invasive test and takes about 5 minutes. At SOPHIA Natural Health Center, we offer natural solutions for many common health problems. For a free HRV screening, please call our office at (203) 740-9300.
Christopher Maslowski, L.Ac.
SOPHIA Natural Health Center