Significant change in HRV -- any thoughts?

I've been using Epix 2 to track HRV since I got it. HRV values have always, without exception, hovered around 30. Months and months of this same level.

Over the last week or so, my HRV values have nearly doubled. Overnight values have gone into the 50s and 60s. Nothing really has changed in terms of my lifestyle or training. 

Here's a screenshot:

Has anyone experienced this kind of change? Thoughts on what it might mean? Could it be an issue with the device?

Thanks.

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  • Click the box below that graph to show Overnight Averages and post again - more clues needed.

  • Hi, gaijin --
    Here's the image with the Overnight Averages plot:
    https://imgur.com/a/02He9Rx

  • Hi, gaijin --
    Here's the image with the Overnight Averages plot:
    https://imgur.com/a/02He9Rx

    So... What happened on April 13?  Can you identify any significant change in your daily habits?

    I have not experienced such a dramatic change - here's my HRV status for the last 4 weeks:

    The one night dip on April 17 was due to a lot of drinking that night - one month after a death in the family...

    The preceding 4 weeks look like this:

    Family member's illness, hospitilization and finally death on March 17... Recovery followed.

    So... there were assignable causes for any trend irregularities.  Can you assign no such causes for your trend change?

    HTH

  • No, nothing. No changes in lifestyle or training as noted in the original post. It doesn't make sense. There's something either underlying physically happening or there's an issue with the device. Has the algo changed?

    I just scrolled through the entire history of readings back to January. There isn't a plot dot over 31 until the change noted in the OP...

  • picking up an illness - at the moment my stress and HRV status (lot more up and down) are struggling as hayfever starts and pills haven't fully kicked in yet.

  • Have you tested to just hold light button pressed until watch goes black? That can sometimes fix strange things. (you won't lose any data but sync it first or data between last sync and restart will be missing in Connect)

  • In the Daily Summary of Garmin Connect Web, go to the HRV Status and click on the button View Details - it then shows a detailed HRV data graph for the entire night. You can browse through the concerned days, and see whether the HRV value is more or less stable during the night, or whether it fluctuates. It may give you some more clues. Also do couple of Health snapshots when resting during the day, and compare the HRV results with those during the night. If in doubts, consult a physician, and have your HRV measured professionally.

    BTW, you should be rather glad your HRV rose - normally, that's a positive sign. HRV of 60 is a quite normal and healthy HRV average, especially if you are younger than some 40 years. You should be rather concerned about the previous period, when your HRV was pretty low.

    See the common HRV averages by age below in the graph taken from whoop.com

      

  • I have had a similar change in my HRV values. In fact I was also around 30ms in average. But I am pretty sure what caused my increased HRV value.

    2nd of Mars I got Covid (again). And immediately HRV value started to increase. Ten days later my 7-day average had gone from 28ms to 65ms. 

    Now almost 2 month later my 7-day average range between 40-65ms.

    M

  • But I am pretty sure what caused my increased HRV value.

    2nd of Mars I got Covid (again). And immediately HRV value started to increase.

    As I wrote, increased HRV is a positive sign of low stress. It is the low HRV that means high stress, not the high HRV ! Well, in fact there is more complexity behind it, but generally, having the HRV of 30ms if you are younger than some 45 years, quite likely means that you are under strong stress or fatigue, and in a bad state. Oppositely, the HRV of 40-65 ms is well within the standard range for a person of ~45 years, but still rather low if you are younger than ~35.

  • Well it is as I said anyway. 

    I am 52 years old. I think I live under quite a lot of stress. Not sure, my life feels "normal" to me. But according to my Epix I have an average stress of 41 over a year. Range between 30-50 per week. Body battery never goes 100. Most of the time I start the day with 40-60 Body Battery. Body battery 99% of the time reach 5 during evenings.

    HRV has been around 30ms since the watch started to track it. But as of Mars 2nd it is as I said 40-65ms. It also "swings" more. All other data is like before. Consuming alkohol seems to push HRV down and I suppose that goes with what you said that stress push HRV down.

    Maybe my Covid just was a coincidence. It just was so spot on in time.

    M