Heart Rate Variability (HRV): Measure Your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)

HRV technology gives you a behind-the-scenes look at where you are with your health. Learn more!

0:00 Introduction: Heart rate variability explained
0:10 What is HRV?
1:47 What does an HRV device do?
7:05 Learn more about HRV in our training videos

Today, I want to introduce you to something called heart rate variability (HRV).

HRV is a measurement of the variations between the heartbeats. There are different time distances between your heartbeats.

The more varied the timing is between the heartbeats, the healthier a person is, and the higher the HRV is. The less varied the timing is, the less healthy the person is, and the lower the HRV is.

HRV measures the autonomic nervous system. It has been well-researched and can help a person understand their ability to adapt to and recover from stress.

Many people use this technology to determine whether or not their body can handle the stress of working out on a given day. Maybe they can handle doing high-intensity training one day, but their body would do better with a day off or with low-impact exercise the next.

There are many different lifestyle changes you can make to help improve your overall health. HRV technology can help give you feedback to see if what you’re doing is actually benefiting you. It can even tell you your biological age and rate of aging.

You really can’t take your health to the next level if you can’t measure it. This is a fantastic and easy-to-use tool to help you do that right at home.

Dr. Eric Berg DC Bio:
Dr. Berg, age 58, is a chiropractor who specializes in Healthy Ketosis and intermittent fasting. He is the author of the best-selling book The Healthy Keto Plan, and is the Director of Dr. Berg Nutritionals®. He no longer practices, but focuses on health education through social media.

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Disclaimer:
Dr. Eric Berg received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1988. His use of “doctor” or “Dr.” in relation to himself solely refers to that degree. Dr. Berg is a licensed chiropractor in Virginia, California, and Louisiana, but he no longer practices chiropractic in any state and does not see patients so he can focus on educating people as a full-time activity, yet he maintains an active license. This video is for general informational purposes only. It should not be used to self-diagnose and it is not a substitute for a medical exam, cure, treatment, diagnosis, prescription, or recommendation. It does not create a doctor-patient relationship between Dr. Berg and you. You should not make any change in your health regimen or diet before first consulting a physician and obtaining a medical exam, diagnosis, and recommendation. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

#keto #ketodiet #weightloss #ketolifestyle

Thanks for watching! I hope this helps explain how HRV technology can help you better understand your health. Learn more about HRV technology in the training videos above.

[nevastrong]

I am up early to catch a flight; the first 2 minutes of your video today helped get me awake! I’ve noticed an adaptation of my heart rate over the past year, lowering stress & more yoga. 👏🏻 🙏🏻

[christinamurphy]

Dr Berg the intro to HRV is finally here. You’ve been hinting in your videos for a while. Thank you for the free training on your website. 21 videos so that we maximize our use of this device. I haven’t decided yet if I will purchase but I am grateful for all these free training videos so I can watch and learn and make a decision.

[cassandragrayes]

Im 33 and have a pretty active lifestyle. I’ll weight lift, do some hiking, and consistent walking. I also eat a well balanced meal - fish, veggies, fruits and water. However, I do get easily stressed and don’t know what to do to remove it. I just started running 3 weeks ago as I’m training for a 5k. Within 3 weeks, my heart rate variability went from 47 to a 56. My resting heart varied between 64-69. Now it’s between 53-59. The slight change of running a mile to 2 miles 3-4x a week made such a big difference. Last thing, I use the Garmin watch and it stated that I decreased my age to 31. My set target is 29.

[rvingtheusa]

Would love to see a video telling do's and don't on taking the vitamins you recommend. I know some are better early others late, some with certain things like fats. Things to not take together or foods and drinks to avoid for a certain amount of time.

[marikehaulani]

Thank you, Dr. Berg, for this amazing information on HRV which I had never heard about before. You are so good at giving us tools to better our lives. People around me - more composed and in control of their emotions now that I think about it - don't sleep well and we just put our hands up in the air as to why? I sleep well. I wonder if it is because I don't hold anything in. I let everything all my emotions out as it comes, VERBALLY and bodily, through playing tennis and pickleball, playing music on the louder side, dancing, singing out loud, journaling and creative projects. The choices are endless, really. Of course I could be wrong about this, but I hope this helps some people.

[moonchilddave]

We just bought this and received it. First, all you get is the sensor. The software, manual, and training videos are all digital and need to be downloaded and/or printed. I burned a BluRay disc of the training videos and a CD with the downloaded software and manual... I appreciate hard copies... just seems more professional. After getting everything setup and running - we had issues with the sensor disconnecting and giving spurious readings. It worked like 1 time every 10 tests we ran. Dr. Berg support directs you to Binacor - which is what this is - a stripped down Binacor Body Health Analyzer. You can't put in manual BP readings, height, weight, BMI, glucose like with the Binacor version for history tracking. There even apparently was a BP cuff that worked with the software but is now discontinued.

The price between the Dr. Berg SRA is the same as the Binacor BHA. At this point I don't see the advantage of going with Dr. Berg's SRA - as if you have problems you'll be dealing with Binacor anyway.

[Marciap]

I think you mentioned around end August about bringing us a very interesting tool/device. I a few days ago I wondered what happened to it. So here it's, and I look forward to getting my hands on one to give me more insights into my insulin resistance challenges. I'm grateful to you Dr Berg 🥰

[thuywu]

Thank you so much Doctor Berg. It's great to rewatch this topic, i have found something wrong for my dad 's health

[joshuakincaid]

I took these types of tests when I was in New Jersey. When I was working on my health and diat and doing brain simulating things in my doctors office. I also would take this test sometimes. And each year, I would lower my biological age each year. First time I was 21 and the biological age was 20, the second time i was 22 and my bio age was 19. And the Third time I took it. I was 23, and my biological age was 17. It was really amazing to see that. To see me get better. It was really cool.

[NgaNguyen-zefw]

Dear Doctor, Thanks for all your videos that do have helped me .May I send my best wishes to You and Your Family

[bettyluvs]

Garmin devices also track HRV. It is amazing to be able to track this biological component in our bodies. Thanks for helping me to understand this better.

[keithharrison]

If you have a suitable Chest Strap for training, such as a Polar or a Garmin which are both ECG based in effect, then those are compatible with the free Elite HRV App, which is pretty good and very well respected. Thus, you may already have what you need to check your HRV as often as you wish. Also worth mentioning that if you have an irregular heart rate, for what ever reason, then Optical Sensors that measure your Pulse at finger tips, tend to have a hard time counting beats, so are often widely inaccurate compared to an ECG based unit that measures your Heart Rate in terms of R to R interval on an ECG Waveform. Also worth mentioning that your Pulse measured at your extremities, and your actual Heart Rate that the heart is beating at, may not be the same. There can be a deficit between the two, depending upon how your heart is functioning.

[thuywu]

Thankful dr Berg, i am grateful your time to lecture this topic it's helping me to understand clearly about heart operation. ❤

[eleegses]

Here is your requested revised text:

Hello, I would appreciate it if you could create more videos about HRV. I am a 52-year-old woman who walks 2.5 miles per day and does pilates 4 times a week. My HRV is typically in the 50s. I eat healthily and generally sleep well. Despite this, I'm having trouble understanding my HRV readings. Please help! Your content is always informative and helpful to me, and I am grateful for all the assistance you provide in other areas.

[unnamed]

Didn’t see the link for this. Been looking for something like this for a while!

[a.williams]

Thank you for this insightful video, Dr Berg. Your educational content is always helpful. As a patient suffering from dysautonomy/pots/long covid I appreciate this 🙏🏻

[davidgifford]

I have a background in cardiac, so know about sinus-arrhythmia from way back, now referred to as HRV. I got an iWatch almost 4-years ago and started to track HRV. Sure enough as I trained I saw a satisfying up tick in HRV. Then over the past year it increased further, good tight? No. When I looked deeper, HRV was chaotic (inter hour activity) further examination revealed occasional PVCs (missed or premature heart beats) My message is high HRV doesn’t always mean better.

[chrishanke]

Looks awesome Doc, I will definitely consider this.❤❤

[herbigp]

My Garmin watch tracks this for me. Very useful

[beckmillan]

I've used the Garmin Fenix7X which tracks HRV for a year now. I've found it useful in planning my workouts and found myself taking more time off between workouts. Stress levels, sleep and recovery improved.