Heart Rate Variability - A measure of stress resilience

Heart rate variability (HRV) is defined as a measurement of beat-to-beat changes in the heart rate. A healthy heart does not keep a regular rhythm, and HRV measures the fluctuation in the time intervals between adjacent heart beats. We now know that a loss of the naturally occurring variability in the heart is a sign of disease and a strong predictor of future health problems.

The changes in the heart rhythm pattern are independent of heart rate: one can have a coherent or incoherent pattern at high or low heart rates. Thus, it is the rhythm rather than the rate, that is most directly related to emotional dynamics and physiological synchronisation.

TheHRV patterns or heart rhythms have consistently emerged as most reflective of our emotional state, in that it covaries with our emotions in real-time. In essence, HRV is a measure of the flexibility of our heart and nervous system, and as such is considered as a marker of physiological resilience and behavioral flexibility.

Autonomic nervous system and HRV

Autonomic nervous system (ANS) handles everything involuntary from body temperature changes to digestion, and is constantly working in the background, monitoring internal functions while also interpreting signs of what is happening around at a moment’s notice.

ANSis made up of multiple divisions, including your:

• Sympathetic nervous system (SNS or ‘fight or flight’ response)
• Parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS or ‘rest and digest’ response)

Throughout the day, ANS will work to keep these two divisions in balance as you go about life. SNS will be activated when something stressful or exciting happens, andPSNS will be activated when it is time to calm down and relax.

HRVis a simple way to track ANS balance because both SNS and PSNS directly affect your heart’s activity. Low HRV signals that your fight or flight response is activated, while high HRV signals that your rest and digest response is functioning effectively. More relaxed you are, the higher the variation between heartbeats. ‍

Emotions and HRV

As we perceive and react to the world around us and experience emotions, messages sent by the brain through the autonomic nervous system affect the heart's beating patterns. At the same time, the heart's rhythmic activity generates neural signals that travel back to the brain, influencing our perceptions, mental processes, and feeling states.

Negative emotions such as anger and frustration, create increased disorder in the heart rhythms, and the out-of-sync sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the ANS. This creates a chain reaction in our bodies: our blood vessels constrict, our blood pressure rises, and a lot of energy is wasted. If this happens consistently, the result is hypertension (high blood pressure), which greatly increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.

The good news is that positive emotions such as love, care, and appreciation create increased harmony, order, and coherence in the heart's rhythms, and improved balance in the nervous system. When we're generating positive feelings, the two branches of the nervous system are in sync, working in harmony.

Therefore, HRV can be looked at as an important measurement of how well we're balancing our lives mentally and emotionally.

A highly variable heart rate creates the foundation for resiliency to stress

If you have low HRV, you are less resilient to stressors, and are susceptible to experiencing acute stress on regular basis. While high HRV indicates your body is fit and healthy enough to handle any changes, respond well to stress, are able to ‘rest and recover’ well, and have a good cardiovascular fitness. ‍

'Transforming Stress into Resilience' program will provide you with the HeartMath’s science-based system and biofeedback device, which will help you increase your awareness of how you respond to stressors on daily basis, and help you develop the ability to self-regulate your emotions, thoughts and behaviours in challenging situations, enabling you to be in command at all times.

Furthermore, this program takes a holistic approach and offers support in nutrition, movement, breath work, detoxification and much more …all elements that play an important role in improving your HRV.