HRV tracking

[muaythai123]

wondering if anyone else tracks their Heart rate variability (HRV).

I sleep with an oura ring to track mine, have always been around 75ms but since aug last year (after my summer holiday) I've been trending downwards and now average around 50ms.... this is with sleeping well, diet the same, exercise pretty much the same.

wondering if anyone else tracks this and has had similar experiences or has had any luck increasing their HRV.

things that drop HRV drastically:
- alcohol
- no sleep
- hard training
- being sick / run down
- stress

worth noting that my RHR has remained the same around 58 average

 

[TheOtherOne55]

wondering if anyone else tracks their Heart rate variability (HRV).

I sleep with an oura ring to track mine, have always been around 75ms but since aug last year (after my summer holiday) I've been trending downwards and now average around 50ms.... this is with sleeping well, diet the same, exercise pretty much the same.

wondering if anyone else tracks this and has had similar experiences or has had any luck increasing their HRV.

things that drop HRV drastically:
- alcohol
- no sleep
- hard training
- being sick / run down
- stress

worth noting that my RHR has remained the same around 58 average

I have the oura too. Also have used the whoop but oura is much better.

If your diet and sleep are the same, I'm assuming its stress. I love the oura to notice differences when i blast and cruise.
My RHR on a blast gets up to like 70. During a cruise I'm 58ish.

My average HRV during a blast is like 20 and my on a cruise its like 40

 

[cmryan]

I have the oura too. Also have used the whoop but oura is much better.

If your diet and sleep are the same, I'm assuming its stress. I love the oura to notice differences when i blast and cruise.
My RHR on a blast gets up to like 70. During a cruise I'm 58ish.

My average HRV during a blast is like 20 and my on a cruise its like 40

Does the oura or whoop strap have value if someone does not wear it during training? Can if be helpful if you only wear them during sleep? I never like wearing any kind of ring when lifting a barbell. And the whoop strap caused some kind of rash on my wrist where the glass sensor was.

 

[TheOtherOne55]

Does the oura or whoop strap have value if someone does not wear it during training? Can if be helpful if you only wear them during sleep? I never like wearing any kind of ring when lifting a barbell. And the whoop strap caused some kind of rash on my wrist where the glass sensor was.

Both devices primarily ONLY track your HRV during sleep. You're doing too much shit during the day for it to get an accurate reading. So most of these devices reallllly read your body during the down time, ie. SLEEP.
And I know LOTS of people who don't wear their ring during training, sometimes it bothers me other times it doesn't.
The variation in the milliseconds between your heartbeat is only really helpful for us to look at when we're NOT training.

I also try to explain to people that there is no "right number" for each variable the oura tracks. Its all individual to you. Its really only helpful after you've been wearing it for a couple of weeks. Its like bloodwork, you need a baseline first and then you watch as you change different variables in your life: stress, sleep, workouts, etc. You get to watch that change over the course of time. And that's when it becomes really helpful.

 

[muaythai123]

Does the oura or whoop strap have value if someone does not wear it during training? Can if be helpful if you only wear them during sleep? I never like wearing any kind of ring when lifting a barbell. And the whoop strap caused some kind of rash on my wrist where the glass sensor was.

you can manually enter your workouts into oura so that it take into account your training for the day.
when im doing cardio etc ill wear a polar chest strap, then oura app picks ups the workouts for that.

i only wear my ring when im asleep at night as i am only interested in my next day recovery numbers

 

[muaythai123]

I have the oura too. Also have used the whoop but oura is much better.

If your diet and sleep are the same, I'm assuming its stress. I love the oura to notice differences when i blast and cruise.
My RHR on a blast gets up to like 70. During a cruise I'm 58ish.

My average HRV during a blast is like 20 and my on a cruise its like 40

yes the only thing i can think is that its the stress from work as i have been more busy the last few months.

ive also been cutting calories overall for the week, but some days i am high cal some days i am low cal and it doesnt seem to impact the individual days.

just on trt levels the whole time

 

[TheOtherOne55]

yes the only thing i can think is that its the stress from work as i have been more busy the last few months.

ive also been cutting calories overall for the week, but some days i am high cal some days i am low cal and it doesnt seem to impact the individual days.

just on trt levels the whole time

Stress is a bitch man. It affects me hard.

Over the lockdown time I quit my day job, one that I hated. Then I laid around searching for work....got nervous and stressed about it. THEN got 3 job offers quickly and have been working 13hr days since Jan 1st. Watching all of this thru my oura ring has been nuts. And I'm generally a veryyyy laid back guy. Im not wound up at all.

Like you mentioned, dieting does cause some changes too. I wore my and went from 280 to 241 at the beginning of Covid too. Wathing THAT was pretty nuts too. In general, even if your HRV average is low, if you are still able to work and work HARD, then you're ok.

I honestly use mine a TON because im not a very good sleeper AND i use a CPAP.