Kyle is a dedicated and trusted researcher and curator of information/resources on living a healthy life.
What is HRV and why is it important?
Heart rate variability (HRV) refers to the variation in time intervals between consecutive heartbeats. It's a measure of the autonomic nervous system's activity and reflects the body's ability to adapt to various stressors.
HRV serves as a crucial indicator of overall health and fitness levels, with higher HRV scores attributed to greater markers of well-being. Higher HRV is associated with various of your health, including better cardiovascular health, overall recovery, sleep quality, improved fitness, and enhanced resilience to stress. By understanding and improving your HRV, you can use HRV data to take proactive steps to boost your overall well-being and optimize your performance.
For a more comprehensive guide on heart rate variability, read the article here.
Exploring the Polar H10
The Polar H10 is a top-of-the-line heart rate sensor and chest strap, that can provide real-time frequency domain heart rate variability data. The device itself consists of a soft textile strap that one places underneath the breast bone, right at the solar plex, and a small heart rate monitor device that is buckled onto the front of the strap.
The strap is adjustable with a firm buckle and non-slip silicone spots to prevent movement, while the heart rate monitor boasts up to 400 hours of battery life and is waterproof up to 30m.
Once the chest strap and heart rate monitor are firmly in place, you can connect it via Bluetooth to either the Polar app or the Elite HRV app.
A Deep Dive into the Polar App
The Polar Flow App is a sport, fitness and activity tracking app that is used in sync with your polar device. The app has a wide range of features:
- Record of your sessions - The app allows its users to easily look at a whole range of metrics from every session. These metrics including duration, distance, calories burned, max and average HR, max and average speed, as well as a graph displaying what heart rate zones you were in.
- Range of sports - Before starting your activity you can choose from a wide range of sports (up to 100). Once you've selected your activity in the app, the app will automatically connect to your HR strap and provide on-screen data.
- Calendar - The app then logs all your session in a weekly calendar so that you can assess what activities you completed and at what times.
- Blog - Within the app, Polar has its very own blog post and serves as an extensive resource for questions regarding new devices, general fitness, mindfulness and so much more.
Why I chose the Polar H10?
Although I'm a huge fan of my Oura Ring and its daily HRV data, the Oura Ring uses an RMSSD HRV measurement and doesn't provide very detailed real-time HRV data. As I was having trouble with my hormones, I decided it would be best to work on improving my resilience to stress and developing the autonomic balance between my parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems.
The best and easiest way I've found to do this is by using the Polar H10 heart rate strap and connecting it to the free Elite HRV app. The app provides extensive HRV data and allows me to analyze the SDNN time domain HRV measurements as well as low-frequency band measurements in real-time. I can therefore use breathwork techniques and exercises to build resilience and train my HRV, and then analyze the HRV data to quantify my improvements and progress.
The Elite HRV App: 101
The Elite HRV App has a ton of features, all of which are free to use:
- Daily Snapshot - The Elite HRV App offers a daily snapshot with a host of easy-to-read metrics. These include a daily streak for those looking for some accountability and encouragement, a daily readiness score of out 10, an HRV score, a comparison of today's HRV score to your baseline score and previous HRV score, an HRV chart and spectrum displaying your relative balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
- Tags - The app also allows you to track your habits using the tags feature. By inputting or ‘tagging’ your sleep, exercise, and mood daily you’re better able to understand how your daily behaviors and events are influencing your HRV.
- Detailed Data - For those who’d like to see a comprehensive review of all your HRV data and metrics you can click the ‘view all data’ button. The data provides an in-depth look into your heart rate, HRV Time-Domain measurements, and Frequency Domain measurements - all the HRV data you could ever need.
- Trends - The Elite HRV app has a tab dedicated to assessing your HRV trends. These trends allow you to assess metrics such as your readiness score or HRV score over a time frame of your choosing. Viewing changes in your scores over a weekly, monthly, or annual time frame via simple bar charts allows you to assess if you’re building resilience and adapting to stress over time.
- Readings - The plus button allows users to choose one of three HRV readings: a morning HRV reading, an open HRV reading, and an HRV snapshot. Open readings are ideal for those who’d like to self-experiment with changes in their HRV while the HRV snapshot feature is helpful for those who’d like a real-time HRV snapshot.
- Biofeedback - The biofeedback tab allows you to choose different types of breath practices such as resonance breathing, box breathing, and custom breathing. I particularly like the custom breathing sessions as its features allow me to choose the time of my session, body position and the length of my inhales, exhales, and holds and then provide an on-screen moving animation to guide my breathing accordingly. Upon starting the session, the app also provides a real-time HRV feedback line graph that you can observe throughout your session.
- Learn - The last tab is a learn tab that allows users access to a range of podcasts, blog posts, and courses so that they can stay up-to-date and informed about a range of health and wellness topics.
Improvements and Recommendations
I love the Polar H10 and Elite HRV App, especially when using them simultaneously, and would wholeheartedly recommend them. For the price point, I think the Polar H10 is great, has many applications, and is very accurate while the app provides a TON of HRV data completely free (which is often not available through other health tracking devices on the market).
Nothing is perfect though and some changes I'd like to see on the app are knowing if and how long I'm in a state of coherence (often at a frequency of 0.1hz) and providing a clearer understanding of what my comprehensive data means, such as what are my ideal frequency domain ranges.
For those truly invested in increasing their HRV over time, my biggest recommendation would be to focus on your sleep habits and optimizing your sleep before you focus on anything else. Sleep is the biggest factor in your overall recovery and heart rate variability and is vital for your overall well-being.
Conclusion
In conclusion, HRV is a powerful metric that offers valuable insights into overall health, fitness, and well-being. The Polar H10, used with the Elite HRV App, provides individuals with the tools they need to monitor and optimize their health and performance effectively. By harnessing the potential of HRV data, individuals can take proactive steps toward building their resilience to stress and improving their overall health and well-being.
For my full review video, click the link here.
Disclaimer: The content provided in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Consult with a qualified healthcare professional for personalized recommendations.
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