Emwave desktop, HRV Heart Rate
Variability and heart breathing…
Emwave Desktop
Today I was listening in a room on clubhouse about HRV (Heart Rate variability.) For a while I have had heart monitors and indeed have had some heart issues in the past and had a heart ablation(s).
Heart Rate Variability is a good way to see how your nervous system is doing and how stress and other things are affecting you.
I used to use the biofeedback on myself and clients suffering from stress and anxiety, as it was a great way to show them how the mind can calm the body down. The software I used at that time had great tools and games to play with. I recently bought the Emwave desktop (Heartmath) which is the latest version, as the old one wouldn’t work on my newest MacBook and I’d misplaced my finger monitor.
The Emwave is pretty much the same but an updated modern version and uses an ear clip to monitor (instead of the old finger biofeedback). (They also do an iPhone one called inner balance, but as Apple change their connectors frequently I decided to go down the USB desktop route instead.
What is HRV, how its measured and the Apple Watch
HRV is calculated by the gaps in between the heart beats. Apple Watch can also measure it on its app. You can press the crown on one of the caps and measure your heart rate and variability. I do this when I am stressed or feel my heart racing, and I can see visually the way the heart is behaving. The Apple Watch does have some flaws on this though, in that when my heart rate is so poor there is less rhythm, the watch just starts counting from the beginning again if it can’t pick up a sensible rhythm when it records and does this until it gets a regular pulse.
Where to find the more technical details of HRV
If you want to go into the technical details about the health benefits of HRV what’s a good rate and what’s not whoop.com has a great detailed explanation for you, but in brief, if your variability is high its a sign that your nervous system is fairly balanced and able to adapt to the stresses around you (environment). Low HRV indicates your body is finding it harder, possibly because of poor sleep, not drinking enough water, stressed or poorly.
Post illness, my current levels are still quite poor for my age 9ms-72ms but generally I’ve been measuring when I don’t feel particularly well. So I will be starting to measure this when I am well, well rested and more active too, to see whether the variability improves. On a side note, I have noticed that since being seriously ill (not sure if it was COVID or pneumonia but couldn’t even walk along the hallway as breathing was so difficult!) and after recovering my resting heart rate has started to improve again as that also dropped to low levels. Admittedly it does still have a long way to go.
Heart Brain connection
If you don’t know much about the heart – brain connection and you may want to find out more have a look at the video in Heartmath
Demonstration of Emwave desktop
The video below demonstrates the Emwave desktop, which I the one I use. Its a great way to FEEL when you are becoming calm and have heart coherence. Once you’ve learnt that its easier to calm yourself in stressful situations, as you know what that feels like and develop personal imagery to take you there quicker. I use heart breathing and that seems to get me to the best state very quickly. I imagine breathing in through my heart and back out through my heart in smooth slow breaths. try it and see how you get on.
I’m not and expert and not a doctor but I’ve been learning a lot more about how to improve it from some lovely ladies in the clubhouse room (look up Sandy Kruse and Zora Benhamou on clubhouse – biohacking for women 50+ and Ageing well room – HRV) they continue to broaden my knowledge in all things biohacking.
Let me know what you’re tried!
Let me know if you’ve tried the Emwave desktop, inner balance or other products like the Apple Watch, Oura ring that you might have used to measure HRV and how you got on with them. Have you used anything to alter and improve your HRV?
