HRV EXPLAINED - Should It Really Guide Your Training?

[@wouterwynen]

The biggest effect on hrv i found is alcohol. Even after 1 or 2 beers in the evening, hrv overnight is lower. If you drank a lot, it drops to super low values. I quit drinking and never had these very low hrv readings.

[@jeremyleake6868]

I found the same, wearing a Whoop. I’m now doing ‘dry January’ and will consider extending that.

[@skipr2342]

Same here

[@champio517]

I don't drink, but I have the same effect after eating a high fat meal too close to bed.

[@satoriseedclub]

Food within 3 or even more hours before bed = hrv 60-80. Bed fasted = 110-150. 😮

[@CAPTAIN_FANTASTIC_WORKS_OUT]

​@satoriseedclub What is your age, and what is your fitness regime? Those are great numbers! I'm 58, my nightly HRV is in the the 60-65 range.

[@Aberger789]

Dry January has caused my HRV to skyrocket. Truly remarkable.

[@chrisvanbuggenum871]

I had a few drinks last night and bam my HRV dropped lower than the previous weeks data. I'm surprised.

[@Aberger789]

​@@chrisvanbuggenum871 I'd been a pretty consistent drinker, a small drink in the evenings, some larger depending on what the kids felt like doing 😅. Fair amount on the weekends (5+). Couple that with being sick every other week since November, and yeah, here we are! I shared this research with my brother (doctor) and sister (cardiology nurse currently wrapping up Nurse practitioner degree), and they're both intrigued. Anyways, i might seek out other dry January folks and do a quasi "study" (fancy survey)

[@goranwinblad]

Interesting thanks for sharing, skipping out on that is one of the best thing you can do for your body

[@emillsommer-kt4mb]

alcohol is poison, no matter what amount.

[@Martin-kc1xj]

Tracking my HRV not only showed me how bad alcohol is, but also became an incredible metric to track my inflammation from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). It has literally changed my life. Without it, my inflammation had to get to a point where I was physically starting to become lethargic to let me know I need to fast and alter my diet until my body can process food properly again. Now I can see my stress response to eating, and my HRV response overnight, and take action before it becomes a serious problem that forces me to stop running. Being able to keep running and just slightly adjust my diet in time has reduced IBS attacks from 1-2 weeks of lethargy, depression, cramps, bloating and abdominal pain, to 1-2 days of a slight slump and "feeling low", maybe skip a run, and then I'm back to normal for another 2-3 months.

[@goranwinblad]

Wow that’s incredible to hear, thanks for sharing and congrats on feeling so much better!

[@RobR-m2x]

I had caught COVID and I noticed my HRV dropped before I tested positive. It usually confirms that I don’t feel well. I’ll ease up if it drops out of range for a couple days.

[@goranwinblad]

Interesting to hear, thanks for sharing!

[@stephendavidcampbell]

By far the Best explanation and guide to HRV I've seen. Brilliant as always Göran.thank you!

[@goranwinblad]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks 😊

[@Denisicun]

Great video! I think this is the best and simplest explanation on what's hrv I heard. 2 things I found on myself that affected my hrv are alcohol (drops it to the floor) and magnesium (increases it dramatically, but I use it only during intence training periods). Thanks for this video!

[@husseinubai]

nice video, i always wait for you to update new video

[@goranwinblad]

Thanks!

[@gggibson3058]

Thanks!

[@Peter-ri9ie]

Eating too close to going to sleep has always been problematic for me, feeling sluggish, sometimes even a bit like a hangover when that happens. When I bought a watch checking HRV every night some years ago I could really see in numbers how my sleep was affected. Kinda cool what technology can do.

[@Gabriel_KB]

By far the best explanation of HRV on the internet!

[@kristo5747]

Thanks for making sense out of this new metric. Great content as always!

[@jomelltan9296]

My hrv on 2023 was 50 plus within normal but that was my optimal hrv when I got my 3:19 PR in marathon. Getting enough sleep with consistent training and less alcohol intake. No coffee also or any caffeinated foods or drinks past 12pm.

[@20729e]

I have also learned you should compare the reading with the historical data of the same week days. As weekend tends to lower the stress levels in general and it is natural to have a weekly pattern. Thus, comparing Monday with Mondays is more meaningful than comparing Monday with Sunday (ref Andy Galpin). Anyway, life choices, lurking sickness or accumulated fatigue/stress is always valuable insights. Thanks for an inspiring channel! ❤

[@TrailOhio]

Amazing video Goran. Thank you!!!

[@goranwinblad]

Glad you liked it! 😊

[@heighRick]

Thanks for your insights Göran, another great video, helps a lot!

[@ruudk6448]

Great video as always Göran! I love that you always dig into the science. A few weeks ago I was travelling and the stress around that trip probably caused my HRV to drop below the 4 week range for a number of days in a row. This made me a bit concerned initially, but at the same time my Garmin told me my form was peaking which is how I actually felt . Slightly contradicting signals, so I listened to my body and trained as usual and actually ran a 5km PB that same week.

[@liljemark1]

Really good talk on HRV. Thanks!

[@goranwinblad]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JayRappa]

It’s a good metric to monitor but nothing beats listening to the body and avoid overtraining. Thanks for this

[@goranwinblad]

Totally agree!

[@bleighhh]

I think I overtrained and it went down for more than one month and still trying to recover aha

[@JayRappa]

@@bleighhh it wouldn’t take that long to recover. Go by what you feel and use HRV as a secondary guideline

[@bleighhh]

@@JayRappa no during that one month I Kept over training

[@xchrisntiffx]

lol I wish that was my issue as a newer runner. Really like your content and how you back with studies and opinions together. Long journey from a bad leg break biking, but actually enjoying running this time around.

[@stanmaes]

Thanks for the tip of not eating to close to sleep. I was not aware of that and will check it.

[@martinonmountains]

Great video Göran! Thanks for always providing excellently researched videos that serve as terrific references that I keep coming back to. PS: thumbnail is missing another o for the “too” ;)

[@wavesnowaves]

Also, HRV averages should increase when cardiovascular fitness increases.

[@freedomfreedomhoi]

Is this true? But still it's not comparable between individuals like HR. Why is this the case?

[@wavesnowaves]

@@freedomfreedomhoi Well, it's still individual in regards to any increases. But across a general population, you should typically see increases.

[@suelifelizardo7280]

I recently started using my Garmin to sleep and have been amazed at how useful it is. As a senior runner (65 years old) I have noticed that it takes me much longer to fully recover after training and racing. Thank you for the explanations and suggestions. They will be a great help in speeding up my recovery.

[@abbyschwendler1107]

Does your Garmin also record naps when not napping? I'll be sitting at my desk working and it thinks I'm napping, which messes up my sleep score.

[@JJBpilot]

​@@abbyschwendler1107mine shows me still asleep when I'm not. One of the first nights I had it, my puppy got me up at 2AM with a gastro emergency! (Not normal) we were outside over 30 minutes walking around and it showed deep sleep during that time!

[@nro337]

This is a super helpful video! Thanks!

[@goranwinblad]

Glad it was helpful!

[@bingosuunnistaja]

30 is a pretty normal number for me. At first I was scared that there was something wrong with me even though I am in excellent shape for my age. When I found out about it, it turned out that my RMSSD HRV value was at the upper end of the standard deviation for my age group, so no worries. It's worth noting that the SDNN-HRV value is always much higher than the RMSSD. For example; Suunto and Coros use the RMSSD value and apparently Apple devices use SDNN value.

[@shantiescovedo4361]

Never knew that. Thanks so much for stating which devices measure which type.

[@abbyschwendler1107]

Great video. I agree that metrics are very helpful to spot overall trends to keep you on track, but those numbers can get in your head. One metric that can be frustrating for me on my Garmin is "performance condition". Sometimes I feel amazing and my run feels so easy, yet it's giving me awful scores. The opposite is true as well. I try not to pay attention to what my number is, because I can sabotage my run that way.

[@ThomVerd]

thanks a lot for the very useful insights! I monitor closely the HRV and I couldn't agree more with all what you said. I think the main benefit out of it is to look at the trend of HRV to help the runners take a wise decision while looking at one/few observation/s only might not provide the full picture. I take the occasion to ask if you could make a video on left/right unbalance ground contact time (GCT). I tend to have a L/R GCT of about 49-51 and this might explain why all the injuries I got are mostly on my rx leg....

[@Chriscrusty]

i had a period of 4 months where i had massive fatigue from taking ozempic, couldn't run at all and my HRV tanked from 95 down to 40. my recovery from this also correlated perfectly with my HRV returning to baseline over a week. before this i didn't trust HRV as a useful metric but i definitely do now

[@yannicnieen6746]

Great video. Your point on not eating before bed seems a bit counterintuitive to me. Eating and digesting should in theory go along with increased parasympathetic activity (rest & digest) and therefore increase HRV. However, digesting food often leads to increased heart rate and it is known that HRV is somewhat dependent on heart rate (see HRV Wikipedia, Section: Heart rate dependence of HRV parameters). So it might be that your HRV is lower simply because your heart is beating faster after eating and that change is not actually reflective of your sympathetic / parasympathetic balance. Would be glad to hear your thoughts on that.

[@the-fantabulous-g]

eating before bed more likely means you pack the carbs in fat near organs, that doesn’t sound healthy to me

[@yannicnieen6746]

@@the-fantabulous-g I'd really like to hear an explanation for that with a credible peer reviewed-source.

[@lowzyyy]

My rule is follow the 3-4 day trends. If HRV is low for 3 days in a row, i should be concerned. That with listening to my body is great tool. Push only when feeling good because in the past pushing when feeling not so fresh usually dig bigger hole

[@goranwinblad]

That sounds like a really good approach!

[@juliuskazakevicius698]

No doubts eating after 6 pm crashes down the HRV, but it also depends on on the meals itself. Any recommendations on what to eat if you passed the perfect timing, but still in need to get your calories?

[@kilometre.42]

Yeah that's a tough one for me too. I try to eat healthy but in lesser amounts, and although I miss out on a few calories I sleep better.

[@Mayt-e8x]

I find it a reliable indicator of looming sickness.

[@goranwinblad]

Yeah that’s a good use case for sure!

[@craigjok]

Nicely Done 👍🏿

[@goranwinblad]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@kxs7267]

I'm definitely not overtraining (!) but I've been catching one virus after another. I've noticed that when my body really feels too sluggish to do anything, my HRV is down and my resting heart rate is up - I'm going to pay a bit more attention to these metrics now. The other metric that changes when I'm unwell is my waking respiration rate becomes higher than my sleeping respiration rate (as measured by my Garmin watch) - normally they're the other way round. I found that surprising since I'd always thought one breathes slower when sleeping, but the pattern is far too consistent to ignore. It often seems to be a sign that my asthma is playing up at a low level and I need to take note.

[@philiphibberd3528]

Maybe just a coincidence, my Garmin HRV stabilised after adding multi vitamins and iron supplements to my daily routine.

[@Stevemulka]

Hi Goran, would you please consider making some short videos on your favourite recipes? Thank you :-)

[@goranwinblad]

Great idea!

[@NikoSaario]

My Hrv drops day or two before I get sick.

[@martinshields7122]

the hardest thing i struggle with is eating before going to bed, seem to get cravings around 2 hours before I normally go to bed

[@tororo112]

Hi Göran! Very nice video! Thanks for your efforts 👌.. Do you listen to music during your runs? I knew that Coros watches, different from Garmin watches, don't offer the possibility to listen to prior downloaded offline music on the watch during running?

[@JJBpilot]

I wish there was a good correlation available between the actual HRV ya'll talk about, vs my Garmin hrv is a score. And my 945 only does HRV on the chest strap.

[@Huttify]

Changing eating habits to trick the HRV measurement, is to me boarderline not good. Eating is a vital part of training and if my body needs to spend time on processing the first two hour of the night, I see that as way more important than the HRV value. I have for a long time not eaten after 7 PM just to not mess up my HRV, but stopped after thinking about what I achieve by this. I now eat at 7 and 10 PM and don't worry about HRV that much. Thoughts?

[@CiCC-kány]

Thanks for the great content. I just have one question. Why is there an upper limit for the optimal range, if higher is better. There was a week when my HRV was "too high" and was marked as "unbalanced" on my Garmin watch.

[@ACs946]

I like data but i can't trust my Apple watch9 with HRV. It made sense i was low (av. 40) when i started training but a year later it reads 400 overnight before dropping to 60 during the day to av. out at 93 recently. I believe different systems measure at different intervals and can be more or less accurate depending on their software. The AWatch9 seems to do 4 or 5 during the day. In the end, I'm just ignoring it for the most part and I'm happier for it Thanks for the video GW

[@goranwinblad]

Ok interesting to hear, thanks for sharing!

[@the_different_dad9943]

I am not saying it doesn't matter. I do look at my hrv. But when we are running we are told to wear a hr monitor for a better reading. But trust the watch for the hrv.

[@Alexander_Offshore]

After 12 beers, a few whiskey and a pack of smokes my HRV is no longer a number, it’s a white flag.

[@Morfeusm]

Not sure if you going to see this but I have a weird experience tracking this for years I noticed my HRV goes down every time before my race despite me tapering my training. I never understood why.

[@Alyssa684]

Garmin says that my HRV average at night is 110ms. I am a intermediate-advanced endurance runner but it still seems absurdly high

[@Gengh13]

It depends on the person, I'm also around those numbers but what really matters is what makes it go up/down from the mean for you.

[@eric58400]

Thanks for another good video. I bought a COROS 3 through your link the other day and it arrives tomorrow. Looking forward to all the data! Coming over from a +10 year old Garmin.

[@goranwinblad]

Awesome, thanks for the support and enjoy the watch!

[@Eva-hs2hf]

So interesting this video! I also wear my coros now at night because I wanna see my Data over the course of a year (and various training periods)! It would be so interesting to know some values of athletes! I myself have 50-70 as normal average an my bf muuuch higher.... can coros give you here any details that you can share? :D

[@ruudk6448]

On average men have a higher HRV compared to women. Also HRV decreases with age, so if your bf is younger that might be an explanation. But generally HRV varies widely from person to person so it makes most sense to just compare against your own range and recent trends. That said, I am a 43 year old male with a 4 week baseline HRV of 114-136ms and a 7d average of 127ms, which puts me on the higher end of the scale. I believe this is mostly because my average resting heart rate (RHR) is 41 in the last four weeks. There are studies explaining that there is an inverse correlation between HRV and RHR. So lower RHR correlates with higher HRV. Check your RHR and compare with your bf and see if it makes sense. If his RHR is much lower that could explain a higher HRV range.

[@jotaylor1684]

I dont have HRV on my Garmin 45, but I do have body batterry. I wear my watch 24/7 and find my BB ix a good indicator of energy levels. I read that BB is not exactly the same as HRV, but pretty near the same. Is that your understanding?

[@Gengh13]

It was my understanding that one of the most important sources of information the watch uses to calculate BB is HRV, it may not display it separately but it definitely uses it, until recently Samsung didn't display it but it was used for their sleep and stress calculations.

[@TheFiku]

how is my night time hrv like 2x higher than yours? resting hr still kinda low in 42-47bpm

[@tri0xin]

I'm confused.. I've had the coros pace 3 for 6 months and it's been on pretty much the entire time.. my average HRV is 118 over that time, it shows my normal range between 106 and 129. I know Goran mentions not to compare but I've seen charts where they show averages for age groups and mine is way off, for my age 50 the range is 45-65. Not sure what to make of this. Also my average heartrate over that time period is 44bpm

[@goranwinblad]

Yeah it seems to be very good genetically variations so just use your own baseline to compare with

[@tri0xin]

@@goranwinblad appreciate the follow up. I did check over the last 6 months since I started a daily run streak and my average has been steadily going up which is good to see.

[@RhinoJoeOutdoors]

COVID killed my HRV

[@jimmylittleuk]

yes, alcohol is a HRV killer, but for as someone that does not drink, over eating or eating fatty / salty food very much lowers it over night

Your segment title should read: how to measure* HRV

[@foggs]

2:43 I'm sorry, what?

[@gggibson3058]

❤

[@mandrewsvideos]

Your thumbnail needs to be changed. Too low?

[@MrMichaelfalk]

The Thumbnail is 100% correct..

[@JBuchmann]

Too low variability is supposedly bad

[@RedshiftDougal]

@@MrMichaelfalk When this was first published, the in-thumbnail text read: "TO LOW (...)", instead of the currently visible and improved "TOO LOW (...)", which is why @mandrewsvideos posted that, and to be helpful to Göran Winblad. The correction was made within a few hours, showing that GW also cares about accuracy and correcting mistakes.

[@250txc]

I hear there is a fat analyzer on the way ...