Thread by @gregorycampion

Are you ignoring one of the most important indicators of your health?

Companies like @whoop, @ouraring and @eightsleep have figured out how important #HRV is and they're building businesses on top of it.

Here's what you need to know.

🧵

1/ WHAT IS #HRV?

Heart rate variability is the measure of the time between each beat of your heart—and more specifically, how that changes over time.

2/ We might know that our Resting Heart Rate is 60, for example, but unlike a metronome, the time between beats is not the same.

3/ Some beats may have 1 second between them, while others may have 1.5 seconds, and still others may have 0.5 seconds.

4/ WHY IS HRV SUCH A VALUABLE MEASURE?

2 reasons:

1. It's an incredibly helpful metric to show us how our bodies are performing (or how "recovered" we are) in the SHORT-TERM.

2. It's equally as useful for telling us how our overall health is trending over the LONG-TERM.

5/ SHORT-TERM

Athletes like Rory McElroy, Patrick Mahomes and Justin Thomas have become evangelists for the fitness wearable company, @whoop.

Why? Because they love the "recovery score" that Whoop gives them on a daily basis.

And what is that score based on?

6/ You guessed it: HRV

It has become a critical piece of information for athletes and their trainers alike.

In fact, many trainers are now moving to HRV or recovery-based workout regimes as opposed to simply planning training schedules chronologically.

7/ Even if you're not an elite athlete, daily monitoring of HRV can provide insight into how lifestyle choices impact your body's readiness to take on strain.

As an example, alcohol absolutely destroys my HRV.

And a Whoop study found that it takes 4 days to clear the system.

8/ Don't shoot the messenger on that one. 👆

9/ When it comes to short-term measurement, it's somewhat shocking that we know more about the underlying performance of our phones, cars, and computers than we do about our own bodies.

HRV is one critical measure that helps to close this gap.

10/ Indeed, following the fluctuations in one's HRV can be incredibly informative, particularly when they can be mapped to variables like:

• Alcohol
• Hydration (which also has a large impact)
• Exercise
• Nutrition
• Sleep

So that's the day-to-day... what about long-term?

11/ LONG-TERM

Dr. Bob Arnot summed it up well when he said that while HRV is a great indicator of day-to-day recovery, it may be "the best overall marker of biological age."

12/ In fact, research has shown low HRV is associated with a dizzying number of both physical and mental conditions.

But it appears to be particularly associated with worsening depression and anxiety, as well as an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and even death.

13/ Scary stuff.

The good news is that:

a) HRV appears be a remarkably helpful metric to track how overall health and how it is trending.

b) It's getting extremely easy to track.

How? 👇

14/ MEASURING HRV

As HRV has gained increased acceptance as an important health metric, the market has responded by providing a number of consumer-friendly devices that track (and even interpret) HRV readings for you.

15/ The most common, mass market devices that track HRV today are:

• Apple Watch
• @whoop
• @ouraring
• @eightsleep

Each has its own pros and cons but any one of them will give you a great start on monitoring your HRV.

16/ With Whoop, there is a bit more intentional focus on HRV.

One of the most addictive parts about Whoop is the Recovery score you get every morning when you wake up.

Regular access to this information enables you to hone in on the activities that impact your HRV most.

17/ WHAT IS A "GOOD" HRV?

HRV is a highly personalized metric.

There are many factors that influence it—some are lifestyle-oriented—like how physically active you are, your tendency to consume alcohol, your sleep habits, etc...

18/ ... while others are more fundamental like our age group (HRV declines pretty dramatically with age) our gender (women tend to have lower HRVs) and our genetics.

19/ According to Whoop, the most common HRV for men is right around 40 and for women, 37, but there are outliers on the ‘extremely fit’ side.

20/ HOW TO IMPROVE HRV

Short-term:

• Rest/sleep
• Get over illness
• Hydrate
• Avoid alcohol (remember what I said about the messenger?)
• Meditate/practice some stress reduction

21/ Long-term

• Cultivating an exercise habit
• Dialing in nutrition
• Addressing mental conflicts (purpose, career, etc.)
• Psychological (talk) therapy
• Meditation or mindfulness habit
• Improving breathing (listen to @hubermanlab)

22/ HRV — Gamifying your health

What’s most intriguing about HRV is that not only is it a phenomenal measure of both short-term and long-term health, but also, it’s a measure that we can actually do something about.

23/ We all know that we should lose weight or get in better shape or reduce stress.

But we also know that life gets in the way.

And we tend to put worrying about our health off to another day.

24/ Tracking HRV helps to address this.

Not only can you monitor long-term trends and get an indication on whether or not your overall health is improving or deteriorating, but you also get daily feedback on how you're doing vs. yesterday, last week, or last month.

25/ This thread has only touched the tip of the iceberg on HRV, for more info, check:

• The Whoop podcast (and their blog, The Locker)
• The @EliteHRV podcast

26/ I also wrote a more detailed version of this thread in this article:

https://twitter.com/gregorycampion/status/1455324042714562563?s=20

27/ And if you're interested in learning about about Whoop, the company, I'd check out this amazing thread from @austinschless:

https://twitter.com/austinschless/status/1451532041594486786?s=20

28/ Finally, if you enjoyed this thread, please give it a retweet to help spread the word.

And follow me @gregorycampion for regular tweets and threads with practical strategies for self-improvement.