HeartMath

[Julie G]

I know we've chatted about this on and off in the past, but I couldn't find a thread specifically devoted to the topic. I've recently purchased and begun using this... and I'm a little frustrated with it. I purchased it specifically to monitor heart rate variability (HRV). There's a decent body of science that suggests that a higher number is correlated with a younger biological age and other health outcomes. While it measures HRV, it doesn't provide any feedback specifically devoted to it. I can see my pattern from a session, but I have no idea what it means. They focus instead on a term they call "coherence," which is separate from HRV. I mistakenly thought I'd get feedback on both. Am I missing something? Their customer service is closed till Monday. You can read more about it here.

[TLS]

I've been using the Heartmath Inner Balance system for a couple of years to learn how to meditate. I find the feedback very helpful to learn how to meditate. I think they are focused on the meditation aspects of HRV, rather than being an HRV monitor. Sweetbeat is an app that you can use with a regular heart rate monitor that is supposed to measure HRV. I haven't purchased one yet but I am considering it.

[ccfield]

For HRV, I use a polar strap + an app called Elite HRV. I didn't know about Sweetbeat but I'm going to check it out. Because gadgets are an obsession of mine (perhaps I need to dial this down!), I am also waiting on the Oura ring which is supposed to be a pretty good continuous HRV monitor as well as monitoring sleep cycles, RHR, and body temp. I realize this doesn't help you in regard to Heartmath though. Many of my colleagues recommend Heartmath for anxiety/stress, so I imagine it has great benefits aside from HRV measurement.

[slacker]

I am also waiting on the Oura ring which is supposed to be a pretty good continuous HRV monitor as well as monitoring sleep cycles, RHR, and body temp.

cc - after Oura tells you what is off kilter, does it give you advice on how to correct it? (sort of like Alexa or Suri?? )

[Tincup]

When I was diagnosed with afib 14 years ago, a Heart Math device (then branded Freeze Framer). was one of the first piece of tech I got to monitor my heart rhythms. It was a finger plethysmograph device that hooked up to a PC with software.

What I learned was that breathing with a 5 or 6 second inbreath and outbreath seemed to optimize their coherence.

Subsequently I learned that respiratory sinus arrhythmia (heart rate changes with breathing) can change HRV significantly. As I do a lot of breath work to consciously increase serum CO2, I can manipulate the HRV dramatically. Hence I never know if I'm getting a true reading unless maybe I'm in a non-breathing meditation.

[ccfield]

cc - after Oura tells you what is off kilter, does it give you advice on how to correct it? (sort of like Alexa or Suri?? )

Slacker,
It does say on the website that it provides guidance but I don't think it will be like Alexa or Siri, though I would get a kick out of that! Once I get the ring, I'll let you know. I ordered it back in February so it's been a long wait.

[Julie G]

CC, I'm also a gadget girl and look forward to your report on the Oura. It looks impressive... and a bit intimidating .

Thanks all for weighing on the HeartMath. I agree that It's a useful biofeedback tool for meditation. I was just hoping for more HRV feedback based upon information I received from their customer service agent. That said, I want to better understand the correlation between HRV and "coherence." The first has solid science. The second appears to be their in-house term. I'll let you know what I learn tomorrow. If I knew that this only provided coherence feedback, I'm not sure that I would have bought it.

[Andru]

I know we've chatted about this on and off in the past, but I couldn't find a thread specifically devoted to the topic. I've recently purchased and begun using this... and I'm a little frustrated with it. I purchased it specifically to monitor heart rate variability (HRV). There's a decent body of science that suggests that a higher number is correlated with a younger biological age and other health outcomes. While it measures HRV, it doesn't provide any feedback specifically devoted to it. I can see my pattern from a session, but I have no idea what it means. They focus instead on a term they call "coherence," which is separate from HRV. I mistakenly thought I'd get feedback on both. Am I missing something? Their customer service is closed till Monday. You can read more about it here.

This is the first time I've heard of HRV, but I'm confused. Apparently high HRV is good, but isn't this the same as arrhythmia?

[Tincup]

This is the first time I've heard of HRV, but I'm confused. Apparently high HRV is good, but isn't this the same as arrhythmia?

Nope. I have had afib for 14 years. When I'm in afib you can see a range of >100%. For example 60 - 130 BPM or more. Though this is not exact, in normal rhythm HRV might vary between 55-65 (or even 70) BPM. Even premature contractions will be hugely greater. If you put a heart rate monitor (beat to beat) on a youth/teen you'll see a very large HRV compared to somebody in their 60's.

[Verax]

HRV is between R waves, but the signal must be filtered to exclude all but normal sino-atrial beats, and there are various algorithms to quantify the signal. I am not familiar with HealthMath or other than Elite HRV, which I use with a Polar 10 Bluetooth chest strap monitor and with Android. An explanation is at https://elitehrv.com/what-is-heart-rate-variability . Elite HRV's main users are physical trainers, as the graphical meter tells you if overtraining or undertraining. It is possible to graph the score against variables such as sleep or blood glucose to see if there is a trend or association. I haven't seen any long-term pattern, which indicates I am not as serious with exercise as I should be.

Another gadget I have started to use is the iHeart finger oximeter that with an app can measure Pulse Wave Velocity (usually measured with Doppler ultrasound in a doctor's office). PWV represents large vessel (aorta) flexibility or stiffness, and that can be improved with life style measures such as exercise. I believe the Cronometer app allows you to input and track PWV from iHeart, which the only device I have seen that measures PWV.

Both apps are subject to electrical interference and sometimes frustrating, but both have reasonable customer support. I think the obscurity and lack of utility of the devices has to do with the FDA's requiring extensive validation and approval before medical use, so they skip the expense and FDA validation and sell them as recreational or educational not medical. For example, clinical investigators must validate standard cardiac monitors with an "epoch" or time period used for the average heart rate, but recreational devices don't report an epoch used. The result will cause difficulties with personal device use in personalized precision medicine as allofus.org .