Oh I realized you asked about RHR not HRV — I feel so crummy I’m brain tootin’. No my RHR is typically in the low 60s or mid 50s. Last night I could feel my heart pounding in my chest at night.
Its an indicator of the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Higher is more towards parasympathetic. Hence breathing exercises/meditation can drive it higher.
What I am looking for is good tools to identify when ultradian cycles start and to measure the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. It would be nice to control these things consciously.
@John_Hemming body clocks aside, can’t you impact your sympathetic vs parasympathetic state (measured via HRV) with breathing exercises (fast breathing with breath holds) vs deep slow breathing with extended exhales)? Music (high vs low tempo)? I can remember squeezing the pressure point between my thumb and index finger to stay awake in early morning college classes (pure agony).
Yes there are a number of techniques to affect the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic including stimulating the vagus nerve (interestingly different on the right side of body compared to left). However, the question is knowing where the balance is at any one time.
I get a read out from elite HRV using the Polar H10. I don’t, however, know how reliable this is.
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I’ve heard “HRV experts” talk about challenges in getting clear HRV signals from trained athletes. The recommendation is often to take the reading standing vs laying down to boost the signal. Also, they tend to suggest that there are too many influences on the system to get meaningful HRV data except just after waking up before food or caffeine.
Check out HRV4Training
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My HRV is chronically low, although it’s improving I contracted COVID over the Christmas holidays and had it pretty bad despite being fit and active. It actually correlates with my genome, which predicted a high chance of severe Covid.
I’ve managed to raise it by about 25 percent since then and have definitely noticed an improvement in my general mood. I’ve been using a Pulsetto, which also seems to help.
I’m curious. Could it be that people who have high HRVs have potentially experienced less stress throughout their lives or are they more resilient?
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It’s a good question. I’ve understood high HRV to be a sign of health. Of course to be fit, a person has to endure stress which will temporarily knock down HRV. OTOH, I’ve also read it’s best to use HRV as a personal marker of status vs comparing to other people. I rely more on RHR to be honest.
I take the reading lying down having just woken.
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Interesting. How does one do this?
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An you talk more to Pulsetto - how/often/timing of when you use? I’ve been interested in something like that for a sleep optimization perspective.
How long have you had it? I’d want to share it with my wife, would that work or only one app/user?
I’ve only had it a couple of months. My wife and I use it. We just use the app on my phone. It does seem to work, it has different settings and definitely makes you more relaxed and your HRV does increase after you use it.
They have a sleep setting, which I’ve been using when I get insomnia. The one thing I will say though is that while it works, having to sit down and put the thing on every day at least for me is a hard habit to add to my routine.
I think it works, but it’s probably going to end up collecting dust in a drawer, unless you’re really disciplined.
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Thanks for this context Paul! How long are the sessions you use it for?
When using for sleep/insomnia has it helped?
Re “sit down”, does one have to sit or can one use while lying down?
Can you talk to this John? Both what techniques you think are promising and also the comment about right vs left.
Sounds like maybe we should be adding the Taurine to our Gatorade instead of coffee?
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You can sit and lie down using it. In fact you could just walk around I suppose. I’ve definitely noticed a calming effect if I’m feeling agitated. I think the only reason I don’t use it more often is that I simply forget to do it. You also have to use gel on the electrodes and it’s a bit messy.
I have been waking up around 4am a bit recently and have found it hard to get back to sleep. So I’ve used it for that. The sleep setting is ten minutes. I definitely feel sleepy after using it. The only drawback is that it has a bright flashing light and you have to navigate the app but it seems to work. I haven’t used it consistently enough to be able to give a definitive review of it.
Taurine has been tested to be safe up to 6 g daily. You can go beyond that, it just hasn’t been tested as far as I know. If you feel terrible at a high dosage, either there is another factor at play such as illness or the dose is too high. I would back the dosage down and wait for any symptoms to clear up. Then you can try a higher dosage in a week or two. If the bad side effects come back then you know it’s the dosing.
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Thanks Paul. I’ll check it out!
Although there is a vagus nerve on both the left and right side they are not symmetrical and
- Sleep on the right side
Lying on the back decreases Vagus Nerve activation, but sleeping on the right side shows greater Vagus Nerve stimulation compared to left side sleeping.
NSDR/Yoga Nidra is one approach to stimulating vagus with a suggested movement before sleep to lie on the right side.
There are various bits of equipment that claim to stimulate vagus. Personally I only use things like meditation/breathing exercises and other aspects of Yoga Nidra (also melatonin administration in various ways).
In the future I might test out some of the vagus stimulation systems, but realistically it is not practical to test too many things at once and vagus is not my current priority.
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Yes that’s exactly what I plan to do. Give it another shot at high dosage when I’m feeling great and no colds / bugs running their course in the family to act as confounding variables. Have a strong feeling it was the 10 grams of Taurine. It’s probably a function of body mass too, as I saw upthread some men taking 20+ grams but I’m 5’3”….
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