109. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) | What Is It And How to Change It?

2024-02-27

“Maybe you see a child run out into the road after a ball. You want your fight or flight response, your sympathetic nervous system to boost so you can quickly run out there, grab that child and get him out of the way of harm. You don’t want there to be a delay.” In today’s solo episode of “The Code,” Dr. Andrew Fix talks to us about Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and how we can optimize it to perform better in all areas of our lives. HRV, essentially, measures the time intervals between your heartbeats. Why is this important? Because the higher your HRV the more...

In today’s solo episode of “The Code,” Dr. Andrew Fix talks to us about Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and how we can optimize it to perform better in all areas of our lives. HRV, essentially, measures the time intervals between your heartbeats. Why is this important? Because the higher your HRV the more resilient your body–particularly your cardiovascular system—and the more responsive your physiology is to changes in input.

The heart gets a great deal of its input from the sympathetic nervous system—which is responsible for our “fight or flight” response— and the parasympathetic nervous system—responsible for our “rest and digest” response. A high HRV means we more quickly and sharply perform in both of these modes, and more quickly and easily switch between the two.

There are several fitness and lifestyle changes we can make to increase our HRV. Dr. Fix describes what to do and what not to do in terms of training, hydration and nutrition. He reveals the three most important factors in getting quality sleep, how an ideal day should begin and end, and the importance of finding value in our work.

Quotes:

• “Why do we monitor this; why is it even important? Well, HRV can be used as a measure of resilience in your body, particularly your cardiovascular system. Resilience and your physiological flexibility. How responsive your body is to changes in input.” (3:40 | Dr. Andrew Fix)

• “The higher your HRV is, the more responsive your body is to each of these inputs, the quicker your body can make that change and flip the switch from ‘on’ to ‘off’ and vice versa, which is good. You want to be responsive to both.” (6:36 | Dr. Andrew Fix)

• “Really as it relates to the HRV, it’s the circadian rhythm. In an ideal world, if you could watch the sunrise and watch the sunset go above and below the horizon every day, that would be amazing. I know that doesn’t work with many of our busy schedules. However, if you could design your day from a light exposure standpoint the way that would be most optimal, that would be very beneficial to do.” (18:34 | Dr. Andrew Fix)

Links

https://www.rupahealth.com/post/what-is-heart-rate-variability

https://www.whoop.com/us/en/thelocker/heart-rate-variability-hrv/

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