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HRV Status zones (Red, Green, Orange) should change according to my age?

EranShenhar
over 2 years ago

Hello,

I am 54 years old, and I am always on the "Low"/"unbalanced" (Red/Orange) zones of the HRV Status, I tried to improve everything I do but still, it is low.

Today I found a chart that shows that HRV status is age dependent & I don't think Garmin (Fenix 7) takes that into consideration when reporting HRV.

Can someone confirm my diagnostic above?

Anyway, if this is right I hope Garmin will update that on the next update, I think it is supposed to be as they do with Heart rate zones (Age dependent)

Thanks 

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    The hrv zones are not fixed. They are based on what the watch detected in the past. So when hrv is low for you, it means it is low compared to the readings of your last x weeks. So if it is low for a longer time, your zones should eventually adjust to this low value and you will be balanced again.

  • 0 over 2 years ago
    EranShenhar said:

    Hello,

    I am 54 years old, and I am always on the "Low"/"unbalanced" (Red/Orange) zones of the HRV Status, I tried to improve everything I do but still, it is low.

    Today I found a chart that shows that HRV status is age dependent & I don't think Garmin (Fenix 7) takes that into consideration when reporting HRV.

    Can someone confirm my diagnostic above?

    Anyway, if this is right I hope Garmin will update that on the next update, I think it is supposed to be as they do with Heart rate zones (Age dependent)

    Thanks 

    I'm 72 years old and I think the graph you found is whack!

    Here's what I'm seeing:

    I don't know all the science behind HRV, but it is evident that there are various ways to arrive at "HRV" that may not be the same raw number. It does not make much sense to try to compare the Garmin HRV numbers with anything else - better to use it as your own individual set of results.

    As  stated, your individual zones will adjust over time to put you in the "Balanced" zone.  The more data you acquire over time, the more valid the Garmin numbers will be for your individual state of fitness.

    HTH

    Edit to add:

    Just below that graph you found is this:

    HRV IS HIGHLY INDIVIDUALIZED

    Heart rate variability is an extremely sensitive metric. It fluctuates greatly throughout the day, from one day to the next, and from one person to another. People often wonder “What should my HRV be?” and “How does my HRV compare to others?”

    Younger people tend to have higher HRV than older people, and males often have slightly higher HRV than females. Elite athletes usually have greater heart rate variability than the rest of us, and within that subset endurance athletes regularly have higher HRV than strength-based athletes. But, none of this is absolute. There are plenty of extremely fit and healthy people out there whose HRV is regularly in the 40s. What constitutes a healthy heart rate variability differs for everyone.

    Better questions to ask are “What is a good heart rate variability trend for me?” and “What can I do to make that happen?”

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to gaijin

    Thank you for answering

    Since the first day my watch started showing me the HRV values it was 35-40 milliseconds so it is always kind of low and always in the red/orange area (but according to my age it suppose to be green)

    After all, these are milliseconds between heartbeats, it is not Garmin's invention it is a clinic's research and according to this research the milliseconds between heartbeats in the majority of the cases will go down as you get older, so I think Garmin should stick to the majority and adapt these zone to the user age.

    As for you, I guess you are 72 y/o with a heart of a lion ;) keep up the good work!

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to EranShenhar

    www.garmin.com/.../

    EranShenhar said:
    Since the first day my watch started showing me the HRV values it was 35-40 milliseconds so it is always kind of low and always in the red/orange area (but according to my age it suppose to be green)

    To be clear, the HRV "zone" depicts the range of values your rolling 7-day HRV average reached over a rolling 3-week period. It is a bit complex since the watch shows you a bunch of numbers:

    a) the average HRV value during the previous night

    b) the current 7-day average of (a), including the last night,

    c) where (b) sits in the range of values it covered over the last 3 weeks. This range is the HRV Baseline. The position of (b) in that range defines your HRV status.

    So they are no population-based comparison at all in Garmin's world. Only your own history.

    https://www.garmin.com/en-US/garmin-technology/running-science/physiological-measurements/hrv-status/

    NB: in addition to being an individual number, there are many "flavors" of HRV metrics. RMSSD is one of the many time-domain measures (there are maybe 10 of these metrics used), in addition to frequency-domain measures of HRV.

    The time-domain measures have themselves different flavors based on how long the time is to calculate averages and other statistical dimensions: For example 24h or 5mn typically for SDRR, 5mn, 2mn, 60s even 10s for rRMSSD in training), etc.

    For a good overview of these metrics, check out: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5624990/

    So it is easy to end up seeing apple and oranges, and not being sure what type of fruit they really are :-)

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Etupes25

    Thanks for all that info, I hope I can keep the apples coming ;) loved the punchline

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    I'm 53. I find Garmin's HRV adaptability to trends to be excellent. I can definitely see the behaviours that tend to adversely affect my sleeping HRV and those that can lead to me get increased (positive) HRV readings.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Etupes25
    Etupes25 said:
    So they are no population-based comparison at all in Garmin's world. Only your own history.

    Garmin’s page seems to indicate otherwise 

    https://www.garmin.com/en-CA/garmin-technology/health-science/hrv-status/

    “Your personal baseline is dynamic and changes slowly over time following trends in your normal overnight HRV values. If your personal baseline drops below age-based standards associated with good health, then your HRV status is classified as poor. When this happens, your baseline range is no longer displayed. This is to avoid scenarios where your HRV might be considered both balanced and below healthy norms”

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to flowstate

    OK, I stand corrected. Thank you for pointing that out, I had not seen that and had been wondering how Garmin prevents a death spiral in the baseline.

    Saying "no population-based comparison at all" is not correct with regards to how Garmin create a lower boundary for the baseline.

    But it doesn't apply to the topic of the post which is whether the colors should change with age, and whether one should compare the nightly HRV with population standards (one should not).

    - red: low

    - orange: unbalanced

    - green: balanced

    "Your own personal history, then, is the single-most meaningful frame of reference for interpreting HRV data. Given this fact, documenting your personally normal range of HRV values is a necessary first step in making your HRV data actionable."

    The population benchmark is a safeguard to avoid that the baseline, not the nightly HRV average, is bad and cannot/shouldn't be used. Without this safeguard, the Garmin system of averaging could end up masking some potential abnormal HRV. At that point you don't have a baseline range any longer and your your HRV status becomes poor (red color).

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Etupes25

    I agree 100%. Didn’t mean to derail your point, just wanted to clarify that (since I was also unaware of that detail until I searched for it.)

  • 0 6 months ago

    Interesting note regarding ablation for AFIB and Aflutter. I had this procedure done ..before the procedure my HRV was always around 75.four days After the procedure my HRV went up to an average about 90 and has stayed there..