Cardiovascular Health
How to Improve Heart Rate Variability in 3 Easy Steps
Enhancing the quality of heart rhythms can significantly improve physical and mental health with healthy lifestyle choices and affordable resources.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a vital indicator of overall health and fitness. Essentially, the key to good health can be found in the spaces between heartbeats, as I will explain in this article.
The heart is a crucial organ, and its proper functioning is essential for survival. The heart’s primary functions include managing blood flow and oxygen supply to cells and tissues.
Like any other organ, the heart can experience problems, and issues with other organs, such as the lungs, liver, and brain, can also impact the heart’s health.
Unfortunately, heart-related issues have become a significant concern for the public and governments, with cardiovascular diseases primarily caused by atherosclerosis and chronic inflammation leading to many deaths worldwide.
According to the CDC, cardiovascular diseases claim the lives of one person every 36 seconds in the United States alone, with an estimated 18 million deaths globally each year.
I firmly believe that by learning about HRV and implementing techniques to improve it, we can lower the risks of cardiovascular diseases and enhance our overall health and well-being.
What does heart rate variability mean?
Heart rate variability (HRV) is biofeedback indicating the amount of time and variation between heartbeats. The time between the heartbeats constantly changes depending on physiological and psychological reactions in the body and mind.
HRV measures the variation in time between consecutive heartbeats. It measures the balance and flexibility of the autonomic nervous system (both PNS and SNS), which controls the body’s unconscious functions such as heart rate, breathing, and digestion.
This paper on Frontier informs that “HRV is an emergent property of complex cardiac-brain interactions and non-linear autonomic nervous system processes.”
As highlighted in the paper, “a healthy heart is not a metronome because it exhibits complex non-linear oscillations characterized by mathematical chaos.”
A high HRV score indicates a healthy and adaptable nervous system. A low HRV score indicates the formation of disorders in the body and mind.
Therefore, HRV biofeedback enables us to adjust our physiology to improve our neurological, cardiovascular, and cognitive functioning.
Our heart rate changes based on what we do at a specific time. For example, when we’re sitting or lying down heart rate slows. When we move or get excited, it beats faster. Heart rate variability shows a pattern for the biological and psychological needs of the body.
As pointed out in this paper, “the analysis of heart rate variability found its use in the diagnosis of different clinical and functional conditions in the last decade.”
Heart rate variability can decrease as we get older. However, we can improve it, as I mention in subsequent sections.
The Importance of heart rate variability
In my opinion, the most valuable aspect of HRV is its ability to indicate the body's adaptability to internal and external conditions.
By establishing a baseline and regularly monitoring HRV, you can improve your body’s ability to adapt to various internal and external conditions, ultimately leading to improved fitness and overall health.
The biology and rhythm of the heart are highly complex. While devices that measure HRV can provide valuable insights, you may seek analysis and interpretation from qualified healthcare professionals, such as cardiologists. This is particularly crucial if you have pre-existing heart conditions.
HRV results do not indicate an emergency but rather provide an understanding of current and potential health concerns.
For example, athletes and bodybuilders often use HRV biofeedback to monitor recovery times, as higher HRV scores are associated with improved performance. Low HRV, on the other hand, can indicate an injury and predict health disorders.
The study of HRV is increasingly gaining attention in the medical community. A search on PubMed, the National Library of Medicine, reveals over 55,000 indexed health and science reports related to HRV, while a Google search yields 103 million results for the keyword “heart rate variability.”
Since the fluctuations between heartbeats are in milliseconds, it is impossible to detect them with our senses. However, technology made this capability available to us, as I explain in the next section.
Measurement of Heart Rate Variability
Medical specialists use various technologies such as electrocardiograms (ECG), seismo-cardiograms (SCG), and gyro-cardiograms (GCG) to measure heart rate variability.
However, with the advancement of technology, it is now possible to measure HRV at home using publicly available devices.
You can link these devices to your PC or smartphone apps. They can provide results in graphical, text, and video formats.
There are various brands offering hardware and software solutions with different features and prices.
To find the best option for your needs, you might research brands such as Optimal HRV, Inner Piece, Elite HRV, Somatic Vision, Garmin Premium, Suunto Smart Sensor, and Polar H10.
Keep in mind there are many more options available that might offer what you need.
How to Improve heart rate variability
1 — Start by educating yourself.
Promoting education on HRV is one of the main reasons for this article. Through focused and dedicated training, you can learn to regulate your heart and nervous system, achieving a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves.
HRV training is widely available and can be pursued through formal programs offered by qualified professionals at health and fitness centers or informally through resources available on the internet.
These training methods are non-invasive in nature. Additionally, technological advancements have made HRV training more accessible and user-friendly for the general public.
The official term for this type of training is Resonance frequency breathing (RFB). RFB training is a skill that improves HRV. I have been utilizing RFB training for over a decade and have experienced notable benefits in terms of health, fitness, and overall well-being.
If you are interested in learning more about RFB training, you might check this review paper titled “A Practical Guide to Resonance Frequency Assessment for Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback.”
Beginners of RFB training might start with the Resonant Coherent Breathing (RCB) method. I used RCB to improve my sleep quality. I still use it to improve my HRV. You may find both day and night modes on YouTube.
The night mode can make us sleepy, and the day mode can keep us alert. Here is a sample RCB video on YouTube for night mode that you might use for your daily resonance frequency training.
2 — Improve physical activity gradually.
Exercise can improve HRV through three essential mechanisms.
The first mechanism is to increase the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) and decrease the overwhelming effects of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). PNS regulates the body’s rest and digestion functions. The SNS controls the “fight or flight” response.
The second mechanism is to improve the function of the cardiovascular system by increasing the strength of the heart, increasing blood flow, and decreasing blood pressure.
The third mechanism is to lower oxidative stress and chronic inflammation that can adversely affect the nervous and cardiovascular systems.
Aerobic exercises, resistance training, and high-intensity interval training can improve HRV and overall heart health.
These types of exercises can increase the activity of the PNS, decrease the activity of the SNS, and lower stress and inflammation in cells, tissues, and organs in the long run.
3 — Rest the body with restorative sleep, breathing, and relaxation exercises.
In general, any stress management activity can contribute to a better HRV profile. Restorative sleep tops the list as it is the most critical stress management method for all of us.
Breathing techniques such as slow and deep breathing and other techniques such as Resonance Frequency Breathin (RFB) can improve HRV by increasing the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system.
RFB focuses on breathing at the resonance frequency, known as the natural frequency at which the heart and respiratory systems oscillate. RFB can also improve the coherence between the heart and respiratory rates.
Progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, Pilates, and meditation can improve HRV by reducing stress and anxiety. These techniques can activate the PNS, lower the activity of ANS, decrease heart rate, and increase HRV.
Restorative sleep, breathing exercises, and relaxation techniques such as meditation and other mindfulness practices lower the number of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenalin, relaxing the nervous, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems.
In addition, lowering the digestive system with a healthier diet and refraining from toxins and pathogens can also contribute to higher HRV rates.
Conclusions and Takeaways
The heart is a vital organ essential to our survival. Understanding its function and requirements is crucial in reducing the risks. Unfortunately, cardiovascular diseases are widespread.
One of the effective methods for improving cardiovascular health and overall well-being is by enhancing heart rhythm, also known as heart rate variability (HRV), as I introduced in this article.
The importance of HRV is widely recognized in the medical field, with healthcare professionals utilizing it to diagnose various illnesses and professional athletes utilizing it to enhance their performance.
Despite the misconceptions of some skeptics, HRV is not a new-age concept but a well-established one.
The benefits of HRV improvement are both tangible and intangible, with many people reporting improved mental clarity, emotional balance, and increased confidence in their professional and personal lives.
For example, through HRV training, I improved my public speaking skills noticeably, enhancing mental clarity, self-confidence, and a greater sense of balance in my thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
By using these three steps, it is possible to improve HRV. In my experience, restorative sleep, regular exercise in the form of resistance training (calisthenics) and aerobics (barefoot walking and trampoline), cold showers, dry saunas, fasting, expressive writing, self-talk, and daily meditation with breathwork significantly improved my HRV.
I also take well-researched and high-quality supplements, such as CoQ10, TMG, citrulline malate, n-acetyl-cysteine, and magnesium in low doses, as a precautionary measure for heart health, as recommended by my cardiologist after 55 years old.
There are also medications to improve heart rate variability prescribed by cardiologists. I excluded them from this story and will cover them in another post documenting my research.
The availability of software programs and HRV tracking devices, such as those found on your smartwatches and smartphones, can make monitoring and improving HRV more accessible and affordable.
These tools are also easy to use with clear instructions. So, we have no excuse not to leverage this vital health metric and measure to improve our well-being.
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