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A June 2017 Wall Street Journal Article "What's Your Heart-Rate Variability? It May Be Time to Find Out" says,
Heart-rate variability is the small differences in time between beats. Greater HRV indicates calm--and also signals readiness for heavy workouts.

An analysis of several peer-reviewed studies of heart-rate training using rhythmic breathing was published in March in the journal Psychological Medicine. It concluded that "HRV biofeedback training is associated with a large reduction in self-reported stress and anxiety."

Harry van der Lei, co-founder of the Hourglass Performance Institute in Atlanta, says training to control HRV with breathing can improve performance in golf, tennis and shooting--sports where performance anxiety can cause even seasoned pros to miss shots. "By increasing your HRV, you are increasing your stress-management capacity," he says.

There are tiny variations in the time between heart beats. That variability is due to the interplay of the two arms of the autonomic nervous system, the part of the nervous system that controls bodily functions, including the heartbeat, without a person's conscious direction.

Those two arms are the parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervous systems, says Lawrence Creswell, a cardiac surgeon in Jackson, Miss., who studies sports cardiology. "The sympathetic arm has to do with getting adrenaline flowing, revving up the heartbeat," Dr. Creswell says. "The parasympathetic autonomic system is the brakes and pulls down the heart rate."

Heart-rate variability is the small differences in time between beats. Greater HRV indicates calm--and also signals readiness for heavy workouts. Heart-rate variability is the small differences in time between beats. Greater HRV indicates calm--and also signals readiness for heavy workouts.

The balance between those two systems is in constant flux. After a hard workout, the parasympathetic system dominates as the body demands rest. This is associated with a decline in heart-rate variability. As the body gets the rest it needs, the sympathetic nervous system takes the upper hand, preparing the body for renewed activity. When that happens, heart-rate variability increases. Dr. Creswell says that in sports training, the idea is to have your heaviest workouts when your heart is most recovered--when your HRV is at its highest


Apps:
Elite HRV
Polar H7 Bluetooth Smart Heart Rate Chest Transmitter – HeartRateMonitorsUSA.com
Links:
What's Your Heart-Rate Variability? It May Be Time to Find Out - WSJ
Heart Rate Variability | Circulation
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last updated 16 jan 2017