HRV?

[Awilksy35]

Anyone had any experience with Heart rate variability and afib? I have an Apple Watch and HRV is monitored but not too much information about regarding what levels should be? Mine seems to be always on the high side .

Anyone shed any light?

[Physalis]

Yes, the higher the better! Google it. Mine is quite low unfortunately. 27, 31 and 28 this last three days, a bit better than it was.

[Padayn01]

Yeah the Higher the Better like athletes would have a higher HRV than a person who did no exercise, was that on the Apple Watch 6 this was recorded on?

[Physalis in reply to Padayn01]

Mine is. Apple watch 4. I think I'll make a graph and try to do more exercise.

[CDreamer]

There is an optimum HRV for everyone so it’s really difficult to give a normal range but basically it’s a good indicator of vagal tone. You can have a very high HRV if you are in AF and quite low when at rest & in a relaxed state.

Heart rate variability is a measure of the beat-to-beat changes in heart rate.

From HeartMath:-

The normal variability in heart rate is due to the synergistic action of the two branches of the autonomic nervous system (ANS)—the part of the nervous system that regulates most of the body’s internal functions. The sympathetic nerves act to accelerate heart rate, while the parasympathetic (vagus) nerves slow it down. The sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the ANS are continually interacting to maintain cardiovascular activity in its optimal range and to permit appropriate reactions to changing external and internal conditions. The analysis of HRV therefore serves as a dynamic window into the function and balance of the autonomic nervous system.

Elite Athletes use it as a measure of optimization of fitness but I’m really pleased to keep my average between 20/30 for a woman of my age.

[Awilksy35]

Yes on an Apple Watch 5. Mine is constantly +200 in persistent AF.

[CDreamer in reply to Awilksy35]

That’s because you are in AF. If you don’t understand what it means - explanation above - ignore it and don’t worry about it.

[Spudly22]

I am not sure how accurate an Apple watch is for this. Mine is 38 and I am not in AF age 57. If that helps

[Daisy2908]

I look at mine all the time on my Apple Watch and I’d like to know more about it. Mine was average 190ish when in AF but now I’m in sinus rhythm it’s an average of 37 and I’m 55. It fluctuates during the day from about 10 to 90.

[CDreamer in reply to Daisy2908]

See my explanation above.

[Hidden]

My Apple Watch says anything from 15 to 99! Scares me when says HR 40 too.

[CDreamer]

Your heart rate does not beat to a regular rhythm even when in NSR and HRV is just a measurement of how variable in milliseconds the difference between heartbeats is.

If you link back on my posts to around 2014/5 I posted about this a lot as I used a machine which measured HRV as an aid to relaxation. It’s used in schools a lot for pupils with exam anxiety and also Elite Athletes use to balance ANS - Autonomic Nervous System because they are able to achieve improved performance.

I’ll post a few links.

Please note that if you are in AF - your HRV will always be high.

[CDreamer]

heartmath.com/tech/ I used Inner Balance gadget with my smart phone for a long time and it did help because you get the biological feedback of how you are doing with it.

This is how Athletes use the measurement

trainingpeaks.com/coach-blo...

The Apple Watch is not that accurate and the algorithm calculates an average for the day, if you put on day mode you will see the average by the hour. In my opinion it is not useful data for anyone in AF apart from a general measure of how stressed or not your body is.

[Jmc43]

I have an Apple Watch 4 and use it all the time to monitor HRV. Some things I have learned in the process. One, the best way to get a good reading is to use it with the breathe App every morning upon waking up. I engage the breathe App at that point and look for day to day or week to week trends. It turns out — from various research reports — that when the Watch takes an HRV reading at random times during the day or night, it is not accurate. Two, taking an HRV while in Afib will give an artificially super high reading, like 150 or 200. I guess it is a good way to confirm one is in Afib but not sure it has use beyond that. Three, HRV relates not only to exercise fitness, but also to stress, hydration and even how much sleep one is getting...these are all interrelated to a degree. Four, to manage data, you have to look beyond the graphs that are produced, as they include all readings, not just the morning Breath App reading. But if you scroll down, you can locate the reading you want by looking at the ‘all recorded data’ under HRV.

Overall, it is useful, but it has to be managed. Mine varies between 35 and 80 depending on the factors mentioned in the previous paragraph. As I do fairly well with exercise and hydration, I am finding what affects it most is stress (which also affects sleep) and when I notice it is down, I pay attention to stressors, and work to reduce the stress level (meditation, tai chi) — although it is not always easy in times of Covid....

[alrk]

I am new to AF so still learning.

What i have noticed is that the variability peaks correspond EXACTLY to the periods of AF that I am aware of one for 10days and most recent 12hours.

Looking back through the data i have identified a couple of other short incidents that i probably didnt take much notice of.

This identifies/confirms the AF after the incident but interesting to look at as i learn more about this condition