Heart rate variability: physiology, methodology and experimental possibilities

Heart rate variability (HRV) is the complex modification of the heart rate over time. HRV is a popular tool to non-invasively index autonomic control of the heart, as lower HRV is an accurate index of reduced parasympathetic activity. More recently, there has been a particular interest in linking HRV with both state and trait behaviours. For instance, several psychiatric illnesses have been associated with reduced HRV, suggesting that cardiac autonomic dysfunction contributes to the pathophysiology of these disorders. Moreover, various cognitive processes (e.g., theory of mind, cognitive flexibility) have also been shown to be related to HRV. While HRV data is relatively easy to collect, there are a number of crucial considerations when making inferences from HRV data. The purpose of this talk is to provide a brief primer on HRV, provide guidance on what to consider when planning a HRV study, outline various methods for the collection of HRV data, and to describe how to calculate HRV data.
This was a talk I presented on December 11, 2019 at the RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, at the University of Oslo
Full slide deck: osf.io/y6zmt/

[@tarkatirtha]

Very good lecture!

[@abrahamnorthhampton3327]

Sorry I'm late to this discussion. Terrific talk!
There is so much discussion of HRV right now, and didn't realize there are so many ways the analysis could go wrong. Lots of things to look out for when analyzing results.
Thank you for this!

[@dsquintana]

Thanks for your comment, glad you found this useful!

[@terry_orie]

Hi. The video cuts off before the "how to improve HRV" section. Is there a link to the HRV Improvement section that you can share?

[@fisiologico]

Thank you for this video. It was very instructive and helped me to better understand the linear frequency domain variables.
I am starting to study the effect of physical exercise in HRV. I managed to collect data from pilot studies but I still have some hard times to process it, specially regarding the ectopic points filters. Do you have any tip of article or video explaining how can I choose the optimal filters and/or make the manual filtering as you showed in this video?

[@mohammadheidari4974]

thank you very much. This video was really helpful and informative

[@dsquintana]

Thanks for your comment, happy to hear this video was useful for you!

[@Tswaraj]

Thank you sir..... Really appreciate your endeavor

[@somaticdrummer]

Great presentation, Daniel! Is there a way for a drummer to monitor both breath rate and heart rate from one's studio? Seeking deeper biofeedback data than say, Heart Math. Thanks!

[@dsquintana]

Thanks for the comment! There are tools available to monitor both heart rate and respiration (e.g., a belt that goes around your chest) but the body movement associated with drumming would make any data very difficult to interpret

[@musas1957]

Thanks, Doc.
Is the HRV reading from a person wearing a pacemaker accurate? Any recommendations on setting a pacemaker so that to achieve the benefits of the Parasympathetic response?

[@dsquintana]

It would not be an accurate measure of parasympathetic nervous system activity because the pacemaker is determining the beat-to-beat interval, but not the parasympathetic nervous system. I can’t provide any recommendations regarding pacemaker settings

[@225rip]

A pacemaker will eliminate Parasympathetic true? Will this also bring on poor health due to no recovery?

[@dyukhnenko9356]

Thank you for the video! It was a really nice primer. As I am preparing to analyze some heart rate data at the moment, you video and papers will come in handy.
Now a practical question. What are your thoughts on currently available HRV-analysis packages for Python, i.e. PyHRV or HeartPy? In terms of usability, things they can do, and overall impression. Have you or your colleagues used those, and, if so, would you recommend them?

[@dsquintana]

I haven’t tried these packages personally, but I’ve heard good things about PyHRV from colleagues

[@mammac1793]

Wonderful presentation! I’m trying to educate myself on this because I keep getting low HRV levels (20-35 ms) and barely any dips in my heart rate while I sleep according to my Apple Watch.
Should I bring this up to my doctor? Or just keep monitoring it?

[@nataliepipe]

My heart rate dips significantly in my sleep on days when I exercise. Hope that helps.

[@physioq7590]

Great talk Daniel! For anyone interested in learning more about HRV, a Harvard professor just ran a seminar that our nonprofit hosted. You can find the video here th-cam.com/video/sZOuqTOyqc4/w-d-xo.html Enjoy!

[@PikesCore24]

Could you clarify something? Early in this talk, I believe you say that you did your PhD using a watch. Then later in your talk you say that you must clean your data. However, I may be wrong, but I don't think you can clean the data that comes out of a watch.

[@dsquintana]

If a watch can record and store raw interbeat interval data that can be exported then you can clean the data

[@dr.amjadaldabbagh2948]

dear Sir
Is there any difference in HRV between STEMI and non STEMI ?

[@dsquintana]

Dr.amjad al dabbagh I haven’t come across any literature on this comparison, but I’m assuming that someone’s published data on this

[@ashishgupta7841]

SIR CAN YOU SUGGEST SOME BOOKS FOR BASIC OF HRV LEARNING OR SOME OF YOUR VIDEO IF THERE IS ANY

[@evanhadkins5532]

Haven't read it but this has been published - from the US

[@physioq7590]

There is an amazing talk by Harvard professor Dr. Ahn on HRV which our nonprofit just hosted. You can find it here: th-cam.com/video/sZOuqTOyqc4/w-d-xo.html

[@micktrickmp]

Can you name a wrist watch monitor that has hrv read out on it

[@dsquintana]

micktrickmp a few Polar watches can measure HRV, but I don’t know the specific model names off the top of my head...

[@micktrickmp]

@@dsquintana thanks I will check them out tmz

[@denisrodriguez4982]

Polar 10 is a very accurate heart monitor

[@robertreinhart1066]

Hi