Author Topic: Heart Rate Variability  (Read 3400 times)

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Heart Rate Variability
« on: 25 February, 2019, 06:24:49 pm »

Have started to track my heart rate variability to keep an eye on my training load. I'm using "Elite HRV" on Android with my Wahoo Tickr HRM.

I've got 13 days of readings, and yesterday and today it's showing as "Your Sympathetic activity appears to be abnormally elevated. Consider active recovery and/or the Guided Breathing reading to enhance recovery" I did a HIIT session on Friday, Saturday's reading was entirely fine, Sunday morning's ride said much the same as todays, but with 6 rather than 4 on the dial thingy. I'm under a lot of stress at work, which is playing havoc with my blood pressure and resting heart rate, so I'm trying to work out:

Is this change in HRV lagging from Fridays HIIT ride, or is it more likely the stress from work?

J

--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Chris S

Re: Heart Rate Variability
« Reply #1 on: 25 February, 2019, 06:51:01 pm »
Probably the latter. Sympathetic is F&F, so your RHR will probably be elevated, whist HRV is probably lower than baseline.

Some Mindfulness and Headspace time is needed :).

Phil W

Re: Heart Rate Variability
« Reply #2 on: 25 February, 2019, 07:22:56 pm »
I use the Elite HRV app.  It is useful to flag up if I should move sessions around.  Generally after my VO2 max session it can push me into the red or Amber on the Elite HRV app next morning.  If red I do an easy walk that day,  low intensity session day after, then I am good to go again and hit my hard interval sessions. If it comes up Amber I will do a low intensity session that day then back to hard intervals day after.  This year my FTP and VO2 max are up by 10% based on last tests 2 weeks ago.  So it is working well for the gains I am seeing.

The depression of your HRV should be seen the next 24-48 hours before you recover to your baseline.  So most definitely the stress of work.  Interestingly my HRV shoots up after a long Audax, parasympathetic recovery in action. Good luck using it I have found it works well for me.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Heart Rate Variability
« Reply #3 on: 25 February, 2019, 08:38:43 pm »

This puts me in an interesting position then.

My usual solution to stress is to go for a bike ride. I was planning a HIIT session today but decided not to. Was planning a 60km tile hunting tour tomorrow.

Do I take the ride to try and calm my brain, or am I likely to do so at the expense of my cardio-vascular system?

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Phil W

Re: Heart Rate Variability
« Reply #4 on: 25 February, 2019, 08:43:31 pm »
Go for the ride just keep the intensity low.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Heart Rate Variability
« Reply #5 on: 25 February, 2019, 08:43:39 pm »
You are unlikely to drop DEDD if you take the bike.

Pedal Castro

  • so talented I can run with scissors - ouch!
    • Two beers or not two beers...
Re: Heart Rate Variability
« Reply #6 on: 25 February, 2019, 08:59:57 pm »
Can someone point me to significant research into this? I liked the sound of it when I first came across it but have so far failed to find any real research, a bit like the fabled Mozart effect so far.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Heart Rate Variability
« Reply #7 on: 26 February, 2019, 10:54:56 am »

Having got yesterdays very stressful meeting out the way, spent the rest of the day sleeping, or resting, and todays reading is back up at 8, and it says I can consider pushing it a bit today.

The sun is shining, so I'm gonna go hunt me some tiles!

Thanks all!

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Phil W

Re: Heart Rate Variability
« Reply #8 on: 26 February, 2019, 12:43:24 pm »
Sure you have read this but if not this may help you interpret what the app is telling you.

Green: indicates that compared to your own personal trends, you should be able to handle more stress today. This often includes being able to:

    Exercise a little harder than normal
    Tackle a few more items on your to-do list
    Think a little more clearly at work or school
    Have reduced systemic inflammation

Yellow (Sympathetic): indicates the body is under a bit more stress than usual. Consider lighter exercise and reducing stressful activity unless you have restful days coming up or if over doing it is not a concern.

Yellow (Parasympathetic): indicates the body’s recovery systems are working overtime to recover from a large or accumulated stress. This state is correlated with over reaching in training or over-active parasympathetic (recovery) systems.

Red (sympathetic): indicates the body is experiencing deeper levels of stress or fatigue. To avoid over training or over stressing it is highly recommended to prioritize rest.

Red (parasympathetic): indicates a deeper level of recovery activity in response to accumulated stress. The body is likely reaching an over trained state. It is strongly recommended to prioritize light active recovery.

Re: Heart Rate Variability
« Reply #9 on: 27 February, 2019, 07:49:38 pm »
Can someone point me to significant research into this? I liked the sound of it when I first came across it but have so far failed to find any real research, a bit like the fabled Mozart effect so far.

Plenty of medical papers referenced here:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate_variability#References
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Pedal Castro

  • so talented I can run with scissors - ouch!
    • Two beers or not two beers...
Re: Heart Rate Variability
« Reply #10 on: 27 February, 2019, 10:04:02 pm »
Can someone point me to significant research into this? I liked the sound of it when I first came across it but have so far failed to find any real research, a bit like the fabled Mozart effect so far.

Plenty of medical papers referenced here:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate_variability#References

Thanks for that but nothing there that links HRV to exercise from the referenced paper titles.

Re: Heart Rate Variability
« Reply #11 on: 27 February, 2019, 10:20:09 pm »
Google: paper HRV exercise

4th link I get is: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/bjmbr/v35n8/4518.pdf

"
Heart rate recovery after exercise: relations to heart rate variability and  complexity
"

The references of that paper should contain a lot more links too.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Heart Rate Variability
« Reply #12 on: 28 February, 2019, 07:59:37 am »
I have concerns about HRV taken using camera phones.  The quality of any result is dependent on the least reliable part of the chain of production.  There seems to me to be so many variables in the acquisition of the data that there is a high degree of inaccuracy in the data.  However there is a substantial body of research suggesting the opposite.

https://sci-hub.tw/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2018.07.014 links to a fairly recent paper on the subject.

https://www.hrv4training.com/blog is a blog by the creators of what I think is the best iOS app.  They do seem to be trying to validate their data.

Pubmed is of course the best place to search for papers on the subject. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=heart+rate+variability gives 24030 responses today.

sci-hub.tw is the best place to find the pdf without paying but is of course not legal.  on the pubmed site you will find the PMID number.  alternatively you can use the DOI code in Sc-hub.  (I apologise if I am saying things you already know)

Pedal Castro

  • so talented I can run with scissors - ouch!
    • Two beers or not two beers...
Re: Heart Rate Variability
« Reply #13 on: 28 February, 2019, 02:55:58 pm »
Cheers Chris, pubmed is where I go to first. I did do some searching a year or so ago when HRV first caught my eye but couldn’t find anything that was useful. I’ll check out the paper you pointed me to. I am about to go on a two week cycle tour with my doctor daughter so I’ll no doubt be discussing this with her  :thumbsup: