The importance of Heart rate variability tracking has been available with the use of high tech hospital machinery such as an ECG machine for decades, now with the help of your Smartphone you can now unlock its potential to learn more about your body and how it’s really feeling inside!

 

The body has two types of nervous state these unconsciously regulate your body and are called Sympathetic and Parasympathetic. Normally at rest or relaxed we are predominantly in a parasympathetic nervous state, during this state the time between each heart beat is varied. This state enables us to effectively rest, digest and recover efficiently. When we are more in a Sympathetic nervous state our heart rate becomes more regular to prepare us to “fight or flight” and is a marker of increased stress, internal inflammation and potentially overtraining.

 

The problem with spending too much time in a Sympathetic nervous state is it is fatiguing for your body and doesn’t allow it the time to rest and recover. This leads to an increase in stress levels and an increase in the risk of Coronary Heart disease,

 

By using a Heart Rate variability (HRV) tracking app or a smart watch, we are able to see changes in our HRV over a period of time and see how our body is responding to an increase in Training load or if changes to our daily routine are impacting our health.

 

This Smart Phone technology has enabled us to measure HRV without the need for a HR strap. It uses the light on the Phone to measure the difference in length of time between beats.  By tracking this data over a period of time we are able to measure and record changes to HRV and adapt our training or routine accordingly.

 

Happy Training!