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Reasons Your HRV Is Low & How To Improve It Over Time
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It's hard to remember a time before fitness trackers. These days, many people start the morning by reviewing their sleep score and end the night with a quick step count check. Recently, a new metric has gone mainstream on trackers: Heart rate variability (HRV). No longer reserved for athletes and biohackers, the masses are starting to use HRV to gauge recovery, stress, and healthspan.
So what exactly is HRV, and what can you do to improve your score? We consulted exercise physiologists, health practitioners, and medical researchers to help answer these questions and uncover the best science-backed ways to increase your HRV (and your overall health).
What is HRV & why is it important?
Unlike a metronome, your heart doesn’t beat in a perfect, regular rhythm. Heart rate variability is an important metric to track because it provides valuable insight into how your autonomic nervous system is doing.
HRV is the time (measured in milliseconds) between each heartbeat and the variation in time between beat-to-beat intervals.
“For example, if your heart rate during a walk is 120 beats per minute, it’s not as if your heart is always beating twice every second with evenly spaced time between beats,” explains exercise physiologist Rachelle Reed, Ph.D. “Rather, there could be .15 seconds between two beats and .35 between others. You’re likely unaware of these small fluctuations.”
A high HRV score means more variability between each heartbeat and indicates that your body responds and adapts well to stress and physical activity.
On the other hand, A low HRV score may indicate an imbalance in your autonomic nervous system1 and can be a predictor of risk disease and mortality2. A low HRV is associated with inflammation and inflammation-based diseases, chronic pain, fatigue, and other stress-related conditions.
“HRV measurements help us understand how well our body is recovering from the stressors in our lives,” explains Renée Deehan, Ph.D., VP of Science and AI at InsideTracker. “However, not all stress is bad, especially acute stressors like exercise—but only if we allow ourselves adequate recovery afterward to reap the rewards of our hard work.”
Summary
What is a healthy HRV?
Because HRV is a highly personal metric influenced by many factors, some of which you can’t control, like sex and age, it’s hard to pinpoint an optimal HRV for everyone.
“Generally speaking, a higher HRV is considered to be more favorable than a lower one,” says Reed. But she adds that it’s important to remember that ‘high’ or ‘low’ HRV is relative to the person.
“There is an association between lower HRV and lower fitness and/or older age—but even so, HRV is highly variable between people—so it's important not to get hung up on your number compared to someone else's,” says Deehan. “It's much more meaningful to track your HRV consistently over time (think months and years) and understand your own ranges and patterns and what this means.”
Even with all the healthy practices in the world, your HRV may not massively jump up from this baseline. As longevity-focused doctor Peter Attia, MD notes on his podcast, The Drive, it's difficult to sway your number more than 50% (so if you start with an HRV of 40, 60 may be as high as you can reasonably go).
Healthy women typically have a lower HRV3 than their male counterparts, especially before age 30. This gender difference decreases with age and disappears after 50 years of age.
The average heart rate variability for all WHOOP members is 65 for men and 62 for women. For 25-year-olds, it’s 78, for 35-year-olds it’s 60, for 45-year-olds it’s 48, and for 55-year-olds it’s 44.
However, these are ballpark ranges for one type of tracker, so take them with a grain of salt. If you're looking for more specific ranges to shoot for, check out this heart rate variability chart.
Summary
Reasons your HRV is low
Age:
“Population-based studies tend to find that HRV decreases as we age. This may be part of the natural aging process, and it is likely representative of the typical decline in cardiovascular fitness4 we see in the aging population,” explains Reed.
Illness:
Evidence also suggests that people with cardiovascular and metabolic diseases tend to have lower HRV than those without chronic conditions. "Some good news for people who fall into this category, though, is that when [they] participated in exercise training programs, they saw improvements in HRV5 (and in outcomes related to CVD)," Reed adds.
Pregnancy:
Gabrielle Manto, D.C, a prenatal and pediatric chiropractor, collects HRV data from all her patients, including infants, active adults, and people with rare genetic disorders. She is currently collecting data on HRV trends during the perinatal period (around the time of conception, pregnancy, and postpartum) and during each phase of the menstrual cycle.
“In our office, we rescan HRV every 12 adjustments or sometimes pre- and post-adjustments to measure change,” says Manto. “What we are finding is that after conception, HRV will trend down, and then around six weeks postnatally, HRV will trend up.”
Changes in routine:
In addition to longer-term factors, there are a few reasons your HRV could dip from day to day, including dehydration6, illness7, poor sleep8, and even flying9.
For example, this past week, Deehan had a few nights of poor, interrupted sleep, followed by a red-eye to a time zone six hours ahead and long days at work. She noticed her HRV dropped significantly for six days.
Alcohol:
According to user data from WHOOP, when members report consuming alcohol, their HRV drops by an average of 22 milliseconds the next day. Their research has also discovered that the lingering effects of alcohol in your system may continue to suppress your heart rate variability for four to five days.
A small-scale randomized controlled trial10 in 2010 found that drinking two servings of red wine or alcohol can decrease total HRV by 28 to 33%, with the effects lasting days.
Summary
How to increase your HRV
The good habits that form a healthy lifestyle, like exercise, hydration, a balanced diet, and sleep, are all associated with increased heart rate variability scores.
“Generally speaking, maximizing health-promoting behaviors like the AHA’s Life’s Essential 811 is linked to improved health outcomes like lower risk for most chronic diseases and certain cancers, improved fitness levels, etc.,” says Reed. “So working to incorporate small changes day to day can add up to a big return on investment in the long run—improved HRV scores included."
If you're hoping to raise your average HRV a few notches, here are eight ways experts recommend getting started.
Eat a nutritious and balanced diet
While more research needs to be done in this area, one study found that higher intakes of leafy greens, especially spinach and kale, are associated with higher HRV scores. A Mediterranean diet, omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, probiotics, and polyphenols have been shown to benefit HRV acutely and in the longer term12.
Nutrition is highly individual, and what works best for one person might not be what works best for you. Generally, a well-balanced diet that provides a wide variety of nutrients is more likely to improve your overall health.
Get at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week
Getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week and appropriate rest and recovery can increase HRV. Both strength training and aerobic exercise 13can positively impact HRV. Zone 2 cardio training is a great way to improve cardiovascular health.
Someone with a higher heart rate variability than you isn’t necessarily fitter than you.
“Rather than focusing on a specific exercise or two, it’s important to zoom out and remember that increasing fitness levels overall is linked to improved health outcomes and better HRV measurements,” says Reed. “If you’re starting from scratch with an exercise program, my first and most important piece of advice is that all movement counts!”
Another important thing to note: Although HRV is an excellent measure of physical fitness and the body’s readiness to perform, fitness is not the only factor that impacts HRV. It’s also worth noting that someone with a higher heart rate variability than you isn’t necessarily fitter than you.
Get good quality sleep
Deehan notes that getting higher-quality sleep will surely influence your body's ability to recover. To improve your overall sleep quality, she recommends monitoring caffeine and alcohol intake near bedtime. Other ways to reach a deeper snooze include reducing screen time and bright lights at night, exercising during the day, sticking to a consistent sleep schedule, and taking a sleep supplement.
Stay well hydrated
According to WHOOP, when members log that they are sufficiently hydrated, their HRV increases by three milliseconds. Here's what to know about the signs of dehydration and how to rehydrate quickly. If you are always feeling dehydrated, adding some electrolytes to your water may be in order.
Spend more time outside
Spending time outdoors, especially in green environments like forests or parks, reduces stress and improves HRV14, according to research. Here are some ideas on how to maximize the stress-relieving qualities of your next outing.
Do deep breathing and meditation
Slow-paced diaphragmatic breathing (less than 10 breaths per minute) has been shown to increase heart rate variability15. Another option is to inhale for four seconds, hold your breath for two seconds, and exhale for four seconds.
“Meditation can do wonders; not only may it improve your HRV during the session, but over time, the practice can teach you how to quickly adapt to stressful situations,” says Deehan.
Add one yoga class to your weekly routine
Doing 60 minutes of hatha yoga once per week for eight weeks was associated with a significant increase in HRV for 9 out of 12 participants. Although this is a tiny study pool, adding a yoga flow to your weekly routine could provide many health benefits—here are a few other promising ones.
Assess your relationship with stress
Finding techniques to manage stress and improve your work-life balance is another way to increase your HRV. “Are you in a relationship that is causing stress? Does your job require long hours? Are you a caregiver?” asks Deehan. “It may be impossible to make drastic changes at this time, but if you can identify the stressors, then perhaps you can figure out how to carve little pockets of calm within the storms.”
Don't expect significant, consistent changes overnight
Measuring HRV
The gold standard for measuring HRV is a multi-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). Obviously, ECGs are not accessible to the general public and are cost-prohibitive.
There are single-lead ECG or photoplethysmography (PPG) wearable devices you can purchase to measure your HRV at home, though these devices have varying degrees of accuracy16. Here are six heart rate variability monitors thought to be the most accurate.
“Wearable trackers like the Oura Ring and the WHOOP offer metrics surrounding HRV,” says Reed. Deehan also recommends the HRV4training app, which allows you to measure your HRV using your camera phone.
Reed says that because HRV reflects acute and longer-term health behaviors and stressors, it’s important to look for trends over time rather than obsessing over data on any given day.
It's also important to be consistent about when you're measuring HRV. “The key here is to... keep the same routine each day because very small changes can affect your HRV—like doing the dishes your kids left in the sink, or doom-scrolling, or consuming caffeine," says Deehan. She recommends measuring HRV right after you wake up to account for these shifts.
Deehan adds that if you do use multiple methods to measure HRV (e.g., a fitness tracker and a camera phone), it's best not to try and compare the numbers to each other. "Different algorithms and sensors can give different values," she says.
Summary
Why is everyone talking about HRV all of a sudden?
If you’ve noticed a lot more people talking about heart rate variability lately, you’re not alone.
Measuring heart rate variability (HRV) has become a trending topic over the last few years, with hashtags like #heartratevariability and #heartratevariabilitytraining having 1.9 million and 66.7 thousand views on TikTok, respectively. And according to Google Trends, there’s been a steady surge in popularity for this topic since 2016, with a significant jump in searches in 2022 and 2023.
Xianghong Arakaki, MD, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Head of the Cognition and Brain Integration Lab (CBIL) at Huntington Medical Research Institutes, says there are a few reasons for the increasing buzz around this metric.
“We are more aware of our health than before and are aware of improving overall health for prevention before symptomatic disease occurs,” Arakaki tells mindbodygreen. “And HRV has a tight link with cardiovascular condition, cognitive status, and overall health."
Arakaki adds that the tech developments around wearable devices also make it easy to monitor HRV non-invasively, and scientific publications on HRV have increased almost exponentially in recent years.
“I believe that HRV is now the gold standard of measuring health because of the 20,000+ research papers on HRV17 in different populations,” says Manto.
Summary
What's next for HRV research?
Heart rate variability is likely being influenced by factors we don’t yet know about, Deehan notes. Researchers are currently looking to do more research on how our microbiome, diet, or environmental pollutants may influence HRV.
“I’ve been tracking mine for years on multiple devices, and sometimes I can understand the fluctuations (like my recent travel or if I have a few glasses of wine at dinner), but sometimes it goes up or down, and I am unable to tie it to anything specific,” explains Deehan.
“I went on a 7-day silent meditation retreat and thought I’d see it increase—it didn’t. It responds to so many different complex factors that sometimes it’s hard to interpret," she notes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I increase my HRV fast?
While you may see slight changes in your HRV day-to-day, a consistent change to your HRV may take weeks or even months.
Why is my HRV so low?
You might have consistently low HRV scores for several reasons, including modifiable factors (like your health behaviors) and unmodifiable factors (like age and acute or chronic illness). If you have specific concerns about your HRV or HR data, it’s a good idea to work with an exercise physiologist or medical doctor.
What is a good HRV by age?
Generally speaking, a higher HRV is more favorable than a lower one. Still, even so, HRV is highly variable between people, so it's important to avoid getting hung up on your number compared to someone else's.
What are the best exercises to increase HRV?
Both strength training and aerobic exercise can positively impact HRV. Striving to meet the physical activity recommendations is important, as is getting ample rest and recovery.
The takeaway
Heart rate variability is a valuable metric to track if you want to keep tabs on your overall health because it provides insight into how your nervous system functions. Some ways to improve your HRV include working out 150 minutes a week, eating a balanced diet with plenty of leafy greens, staying hydrated, spending time outdoors, and getting enough deep sleep. Just don’t get too hung up on the day-to-day fluctuations, and remember to compare your HRV data to your baseline, not someone else’s.
17 Sources
- https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00240/full
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36243195/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9502641/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8598208/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2903986/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6848126/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36471860/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36727300/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5186762/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20418480/
- https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/lifes-essential-8
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5882295/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6416511/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21288543/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30245619/
- https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2021.585870/full
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%22heart+rate+variability%22&sort=
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