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Quick Wits: How to Use HRV (Heart Rate Variability) for Optimal Health and Performance · Wits & Weights | Strength & Fat Loss Over 40

• 0:01
  Philip Pape: HRV, or heart rate variability.
• 0:02
  Philip Pape: You may have heard of it, you may see it on a wearable, like an aura ring, and not sure exactly what it means or how to take advantage of it.
• 0:09
  Philip Pape: We are going to make that work for you today and dive into the numbers that matter and unveil some of the strategies to optimize your HRV for better health and performance.
• 0:19
  Philip Pape: On today's Quick Wits.
• 0:20
  Philip Pape: Welcome to the Wits and Weights podcast.
• 0:24
  Philip Pape: I'm your host, philip Pape, and this twice a week podcast is dedicated to helping you achieve physical self-mastery by getting stronger, optimizing your nutrition and upgrading your body composition.
• 0:35
  Philip Pape: We'll uncover science-backed strategies for movement, metabolism, muscle and mindset, with a skeptical eye on the fitness industry, so you can look and feel your absolute best.
• 0:46
  Philip Pape: Let's dive right in.
• 0:47
  Philip Pape: Hello QuickWits community, I'm Philip Pape, and today we are turning the science of HRV, or heart rate variability, into some actionable strategies you can take.
• 1:00
  Philip Pape: It's something that I've always wondered about and I follow on my aura ring and you may have access to this on a wearable that you might wear.
• 1:08
  Philip Pape: It's not just a metric for elite athletes.
• 1:11
  Philip Pape: It can actually be this little personal health barometer and it signals when you can push hard or take it easy.
• 1:17
  Philip Pape: We don't want to overblow any metrics like this, but it definitely is a really good lagging indicator, sometimes when you've made choices that potentially you don't want to make again, and I can give you a specific on that in a minute.
• 1:29
  Philip Pape: But first let's talk about numbers.
• 1:31
  Philip Pape: A normal HRV for adults is broadly from below 20 to over 200 milliseconds, and if you want to find your baseline you just have to start tracking it daily, preferably during a calm period like your sleep.
• 1:45
  Philip Pape: That's why I like something like the Oura Ring, where you're wearing it while you're sleeping and then after a few weeks you'll have a solid average HRV to compare daily readings against.
• 1:55
  Philip Pape: And again, it's called heart rate variability.
• 1:57
  Philip Pape: It's just what it sounds.
• 1:58
  Philip Pape: It's how much your heart rate itself varies.
• 2:02
  Philip Pape: So you've got that baseline number, and now what do you do with it?
• 2:05
  Philip Pape: Well, if your HIV starts trending lower than your average, this might be an indicator that you're not recovering as well.
• 2:12
  Philip Pape: And I will tell you when mine drops significantly, it's usually after a difficult night either, where I've eaten a lot of food, I've had some alcohol, I trained hard but didn't get very much sleep.
• 2:23
  Philip Pape: I went to bed late.
• 2:24
  Philip Pape: Something was off in my routine, and sometimes it's obvious.
• 2:27
  Philip Pape: Right, I know I did this thing, I know I'm not going to feel great the next day and, lo and behold, the HRV tells me this.
• 2:33
  Philip Pape: But I think it's pretty cool that it can tell you this and so when there are maybe smaller deviations, and then you can look at that the next day you wake up and say, oh interesting, I did this thing yesterday and now I can correlate it with this element of what effectively is biofeedback.
• 2:49
  Philip Pape: It can help you evaluate your choices.
• 2:53
  Philip Pape: So this could be prioritizing sleep or introducing a routine to calm you down, whether that's yoga, meditation, mindfulness, walking, simply taking a rest day.
• 3:05
  Philip Pape: It may tell you that you're training too hard or too often, too frequently and not recovering enough.
• 3:10
  Philip Pape: Now, on the flip side, if your HRV is consistently above your baseline, maybe it's that your body is super ready to tackle something more strenuous or some more intense workouts or more volume.
• 3:20
  Philip Pape: Maybe you know and this might be the time to push a little bit, to try that new thing with your workouts that you wanted to try, or that extra movement or focus on some tasks that require more mental and physical stamina.
• 3:32
  Philip Pape: So some practical strategies for improving your HRV are going to be, for example, breathing.
• 3:38
  Philip Pape: Breathing exercises are great.
• 3:40
  Philip Pape: Diaphragmatic breathing, counting-based breathing to shift your nervous system toward that more relaxed, parasympathetic state.
• 3:47
  Philip Pape: Consistent sleep schedule this is a huge one, aligning your sleep-wake cycle with your circadian rhythm.
• 3:54
  Philip Pape: But even besides that, just doing it consistently, aiming for that roughly seven to eight hours, which is what most of us can get.
• 4:01
  Philip Pape: If you can get nine, great, but seven to eight is good.
• 4:03
  Philip Pape: Regular training, you know, not over-training, not under-training, just doing it consistently and aligned with your goals.
• 4:11
  Philip Pape: Nutrition can also affect your HRV, both.
• 4:14
  Philip Pape: You know how you eat and how much you eat when you eat, but also what you eat.
• 4:19
  Philip Pape: You know things like your fiber and omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants and all those things.
• 4:23
  Philip Pape: That's a whole episode in and of itself of just having a generally healthy diet.
• 4:27
  Philip Pape: And then stress management in general.
• 4:30
  Philip Pape: Besides the things we mentioned earlier, just any activity that brings you joy and relaxation so that you can reduce chronic stress.
• 4:39
  Philip Pape: So I think HRV can be a helpful tool, could be a helpful number if we don't give it too much priority or credit in our life.
• 4:48
  Philip Pape: It's not about chasing this perfect number.
• 4:50
  Philip Pape: I know those of you out there who are thinking that it's really about listening to your body, responding to these deviations with the care that it deserves, understanding how you can use all these aspects of data and biofeedback to give you some insights and understand how choices have certain consequences and then shift toward that healthier, more vibrant version of yourself that we're all trying to get to.
• 5:13
  Philip Pape: So let's use these strategies to get there.
• 5:15
  Philip Pape: You know one heartbeat at a time, to be literal about it, and all I ask is that you keep striving to be the best version of yourself.
• 5:24
  Philip Pape: Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Wits and Weights.
• 5:30
  Philip Pape: If you found value in today's episode and know someone else who's looking to level up their wits or weights, please take a moment to share this episode with them and make sure to hit the follow button in your podcast platform right now to catch the next episode.
• 5:44
  Philip Pape: Until then, stay strong.