{"id":102,"date":"2010-08-23T00:51:34","date_gmt":"2010-08-23T00:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/?p=102"},"modified":"2019-01-19T23:26:57","modified_gmt":"2019-01-19T23:26:57","slug":"using-heart-rate-variability-to-measure-stress-theres-an-app-for-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/using-heart-rate-variability-to-measure-stress-theres-an-app-for-that\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Heart Rate Variability To Measure Stress: There\u2019s an app for that!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my\u00a0<\/span>last blog entry<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/a>on stress,\u00a0<\/span>Carson Boddicker<\/a>\u00a0asked about some ways to quantify stress without getting to extreme.\u00a0 I offered a few \u201clow-tech\u201d methods which work very well\u00a0and at the end of the article mentioned some of the more\u00a0\u201dhigh-tech\u201d methods that people can use when sufficient funds allow.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

In the comments section of the blog article, track coach\u00a0Carl Valle<\/a>\u00a0mentioned an app\u00a0available for the iPhone or iPad to evaluate HRV called\u00a0ithlete<\/a>.\u00a0 I heard that they may be making one compatible with the Droid, however nothing for the Blackberry at this moment (which is unfortunate for me).\u00a0 This seems to be a reasonably priced product and cheaper than some of the\u00a0Polar watches<\/a>\u00a0which can be used to measure HRV.<\/p>\n

What is HRV and how can it be used?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is one method being used to evaluate the stress of the athlete and determine if they are in a more sympathetic or parasympathetic state, which would then guide the training program for that day.<\/p>\n

HRV\u00a0assess the\u00a0interval of time between heart beats by\u00a0measuring the time between R\u2019s in a QRS wave.\u00a0 Having a high HRV corresponds with a high Vo2max, while having a low HRV can be an indicator of increased mortality and possible cardiac events.\u00a0 Additionally, when R-R intervals are plotted the frequency at which the length of time between them is measured \u2013 very low frequency power (VLFP), low frequency power (LFP), high frequency power (HFP) and finally a ratio of LFP to HFP.\u00a0 Different frequencies have different influences on both the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, when HRV is high, this can be taken as an indicator of a parasympathetic state and being well rested.\u00a0 When HRV is\u00a0low it suggest sympathetic domminance, high stress, and a potentially overtrained state.\u00a0 Additionally, it should be noted that parasympathetic activity is a major contributor to HFP, while LFP is often accepted as a marketer of sympathetic modulation (however, LFP has been debated in the literature with some suggesting that LFP is a paramater of both sympathetic and parasympathetic influences).\u00a0 Finally, when the ratio of LFP to HFP is high, this reflects sympathetic dominance.<\/p>\n

If HRV is low, back off that day, lower the intensity and volume, or take an off-day and recover.\u00a0 If HRV is high, then training today is business as usual.\u00a0 Another interesting thing to evaluate is how well the athlete recovers following a high stress situation like competition.\u00a0 Athletes who are better conditioned will return to a parasympathetic state faster than those with poor conditioning.\u00a0 This information can be used to plan training the day after competition for individual athletes.<\/p>\n

Trained athletes have higher HRV, HFP,\u00a0and increased R-R interval times compared to untraied individuals.\u00a0 Additionally, as noted above, athletes who are in better condition are often able to recover at a faster rate following intense bouts of training and competition.<\/p>\n

One thing that I would like to investigate in future articles is the influence that soft tissue therapy and manual therapy can have on HRV and promoting a more sympathetic state, as this has important implications to both recovery from training\/competition and rehabilitation from injury.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my\u00a0last blog entry\u00a0on stress,\u00a0Carson Boddicker\u00a0asked about some ways to quantify stress without getting to extreme.\u00a0 I offered a few \u201clow-tech\u201d methods which work very well\u00a0and at the end of the article mentioned some of the more\u00a0\u201dhigh-tech\u201d methods that people can use when sufficient funds allow. In the comments section of the blog article, track […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-strength-and-conditioning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/optimumsportsperformance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}