Measuring your heart rate variability is critical to understanding your body’s degree of calm versus alarm. The “variability”, not the heart rate itself, tells a lot about your body’s ability to recover from daily stressors and how balanced your physiology is. But what if your reading of rmssd and power ratios are not ideal? How can make steady improvement and secure the reward of a calmer life, deeper sleep, and vibrant energy? Here are 13 tools that have been shown to impact your HRV.
Activities to engage
- Exercise & Training – “appropriately”
- Zone 2 exercise is very restorative. There is a time and place for high intensity training but that is NOT what serves when attempting to repair. Zone 2 training is restorative and paced right for recovery, not damage.
- Zone 2 exercise is very restorative. There is a time and place for high intensity training but that is NOT what serves when attempting to repair. Zone 2 training is restorative and paced right for recovery, not damage.
- Sleep Quality – Do you dream? Snore? Awaken?
- Deep sleep restores us. How do you know if you are truly getting into DEEP sleep? You dream. If you aren’t dreaming EVERY night then odds are high that your sleep is short of being in Delta wave. Snoring and awakening are also sure signs that your sleep is subpar. See the sleep hygiene education piece and work to cultivate awesome sleep. Without it, your HRV will never recover.
- Deep sleep restores us. How do you know if you are truly getting into DEEP sleep? You dream. If you aren’t dreaming EVERY night then odds are high that your sleep is short of being in Delta wave. Snoring and awakening are also sure signs that your sleep is subpar. See the sleep hygiene education piece and work to cultivate awesome sleep. Without it, your HRV will never recover.
- Natural Light exposure – affects mood and brain chemistry
- Nature is Outside. Indoor lighting only generates 200-500 lux compared to outdoor natural light which generates 10,000 lux. That's a huge difference. This drives your circadian rhythm. This amount of light generates neurochemicals, mood, and vitamin D. A life spent indoors is sheltered from life giving energy.
- Nature is Outside. Indoor lighting only generates 200-500 lux compared to outdoor natural light which generates 10,000 lux. That's a huge difference. This drives your circadian rhythm. This amount of light generates neurochemicals, mood, and vitamin D. A life spent indoors is sheltered from life giving energy.
- Cold Thermogenesis. Stimulates Vagus nerve
- Cold showers, cold immersion (plung), cryo chambers all serve to stimulate a sympathetic response that is countered by a parasympathetic rebound.
- Cold showers, cold immersion (plung), cryo chambers all serve to stimulate a sympathetic response that is countered by a parasympathetic rebound.
- Intentional Breathing. Box & Belly breath, Coherent breathing.
- James Nestor’s book “Breath” and the book by Belisa Vranich, “Breathe” will broadly expand your understanding of the importance of proper breathing. For a quicker start, explore the educational piece, Breathing Exercises – Coherent Breathing.
- James Nestor’s book “Breath” and the book by Belisa Vranich, “Breathe” will broadly expand your understanding of the importance of proper breathing. For a quicker start, explore the educational piece, Breathing Exercises – Coherent Breathing.
- Stillness & Meditation. This is the single best path for restoring HRV.
- Engage the “Stillness Exercise” on HippEvo. This affords you a quick and easy start point if this concept is new to you.
- Books that offer simple guidance: “8 Minute Meditation” by Victor Davich, and Eckhart Tolle’s “Stillness Speaks” are both excellent.
- Gratitude Journaling. Train your brain to find the good in life.
- Shawn Achor is a Harvard researcher who has published several books on the topic. He offers an outstanding TED talk, “The Happy secret to better work”. Building a gratitude practice will teach your brain to look for and seek out the good in life. It will bring peace and joy into your existence and stabilize your HRV.
Input – Food & Drink
- Right Food & right Time. Circadian rhythm.
- Time Restricted Feeding is the concept of fasting for 16 hours of the day to reinforce the healthy circadian rhythm of your body. Eating 15 hours per day is stressful un your system and unhealthy for proper circadian function. At the very least avoid eating the first hour of the day and the last 3 hours before bedtime.
- Time Restricted Feeding is the concept of fasting for 16 hours of the day to reinforce the healthy circadian rhythm of your body. Eating 15 hours per day is stressful un your system and unhealthy for proper circadian function. At the very least avoid eating the first hour of the day and the last 3 hours before bedtime.
- Hydrate – simple water
- Water is an essential nutrient that most people get too little of. Goal is a minimum of 60 ounces per day and ideally NOT from plastic bottles.
- Water is an essential nutrient that most people get too little of. Goal is a minimum of 60 ounces per day and ideally NOT from plastic bottles.
- Alcohol – damages HRV and takes days to recover.
- Alcohol may feel relaxing but it has a destructive effect on both sleep cycles and our HRV. The impact of can last for days as it reduces both rmssd and power. Alcohol is toxic to mitochondrial energy performance.
Devices – to help
- Binaural beat sounds - “Beatfulness” APP
- This technology has been around for decades and used to treat anxiety, PTSD and other mood disorders. It can be used to stimulate your brain to be more calm and even more focused.
- This technology has been around for decades and used to treat anxiety, PTSD and other mood disorders. It can be used to stimulate your brain to be more calm and even more focused.
- Vibration – “Apollo Neuro” – external vibratory device
- This is a newer offering in this space but you might find is useful if you struggle with other modalities. It doesn't require you to know or do anything which is appealing to many people.
- This is a newer offering in this space but you might find is useful if you struggle with other modalities. It doesn't require you to know or do anything which is appealing to many people.
- Respironics IMT – restricted breathing (inspiratory muscle training)
- This simple approach can be had using a $20 device. It restricts the volume of air you can move, forcing you to engage your respiratory muscles. When done for short periods of time it stimulates a great parasympathetic response and restores HRV over time when done regularly. Studies had subjects engage this for 20-30 minutes, 3 to 7 times per week.
In reality, you don’t need to engage all 13 of these modalities to improve your HRV but it is nice to see that there are a number of ways you can engage this for change and make it your own. The key is to start measuring your HRV (rmssd) now and ensure that you are moving it in a good direction. This is something you can control.
