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HRV baseline for users with low HRV

KacperG
11 months ago

Hello,

My HRV is always at low levels (20-30). I used Whoop before (for 2 years) and I considered levels above 30 as good. Their app has never considered it a problem, as they acknowledge that HRV is an individual metric: https://www.whoop.com/us/en/thelocker/what-is-a-good-hrv/

However, Garmin seems to not accept my differentiation in that area. It has never set my baseline and keeps marking it as "poor", basically telling me that I am never fully recovered, flashing those red alerts at me every day. 

I'm a 34 old male, in decent shape - not a pro athlete, I am definitely aiming up but I already know that I can't expect any miracles in terms of my HRV levels. I have consulted it with a doctor and he agrees. I couldn't find any particular reason indicating that there is some "health issue". My HRV will never get to 80 as it "should" according to Garmin.

I think Garmin approach is currently wrong and it should be fixed within an app. This is pretty annoying and definitely not helpful in anyway.

 

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to KacperG

    Then this is all is all quite confusing. The description of "your HRV is below the normal range but is improving" leads me to believe that the watch has actually established a baseline, but it's not showing in Garmin Connect.

    Does the HRV widget on the watch show a nominal band, or is it full of explanation marks as well?

    Edit:

    KacperG said:
    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

    Well, that's the explanation. Maybe a meditation retreat is in order Smile

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to 2529455

    Yeah, this is their explanation but I doubt that it is a valid approach (compared to Whoop: https://www.whoop.com/us/en/thelocker/what-is-a-good-hrv/)

    But we'll see, maybe it will actually force me to treat this more seriously and I'll be able to make a radical improvement in few months/years? But it would be helpful to find a case study that someone actually have done it. 

    This is what I see on my watch (since February): 

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to KacperG

    Just out of interest, have you had your inflammatory markers checked (Interleukin 6 etc)? Its a long shot, but it might be worth checking if there's an allergy or some ongoing infection which is causing a sympathetic response and very regular heart rate.

    It's highly like that you're a perfectly healthy outlier given you've consistently seen these averages over the past couple of years.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to KacperG
    KacperG said:
    Baseline should be established after 3 weeks

    I had not picked up that GC does not show thresholds if HRV is below age and sex related norms. That’s unfortunate of course. However, the classification that Garmin give for you having poor HRV fits within the published norms for your age and sex, that Whoop or others might choose to use different labels is entirely up to them. The simple fact is that if your HRV is really that low for your age and sex then that is what it is. If you believe the numbers to be wrong then you should look to have your HRV measured by a health professional and take professional advice as required. 

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to Dr Phil

     What do you mean by threshold? The grey area visible on your screenshots? This is baseline. And that is exactly the issue described in my initial post - the fact that Garmin decided that I can't have one. 

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to 2529455

    Thanks, I'll add that to my next bloodwork list. I have never checked these.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to KacperG

    Baseline - a line serving as a starting point, the thresholds show a range between which data can vary. Like having low HRV defined as poor by one company or good by another, it’s a label.

    Before worrying whether not there are underlying issues have your HRV checked professionally and seek advice about what to do to raise it if needed from professionals. Well-intentioned advice here about possible medical or drug related problems is just that - well-intentioned. If your doctor says your HRV is what it is then that is what it is. However, if you do have a history of inactivity and/or are overweight then simply making positive changes to improve those factors will make a difference. But seek professional guidance to avoid problems caused by sudden changes.

  • 0 11 months ago in reply to KacperG

    Hi Kacper! Your HRV index may increase when you stop taking antidepressants, among other things, duloxetine is a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor which is a chemical mediator of the sympathetic nervous system and affects HRV.

    It's necessary to evaluate whether the benefits of taking a drug outweigh the risks (panic attacks or severe depression) so in any case follow the advice of your psychiatrist.

    High anxiety and stress are often associated with an overactive response of the sympathetic autonomic nervous system or difficulty in its inhibition. This characteristic can interfere with the ability to relax and favor the maintenance of an anxious and stressful state (hyperventilation, chest breathing, elevated heart rate, reduced cardiac variability, muscle tension and excessive sweating).

    Regular exercise will lower your resting heart rate and improve your anxiety or depression.
    There are some studies on topics such as anxiety, depression on the HRV index but perhaps it is preferable to read a more complete study on HRV and decide for yourself which topic to delve deeper into among the quotes below.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5624990/

    https://meridian.allenpress.com/biofeedback/article-abstract/45/1/2/113558/The-Application-of-Heart-Rate-Variability?redirectedFrom=fulltext

  • 0 11 months ago

    For the record. Without any improvement on my HRV values, Garmin has finally established a baseline for me (21-28) and stopped displaying "Poor HRV" notices. So both Garmin docs & email support were wrong about that. It took the app almost 3 months (11 weeks) to establish a HRV baseline for me.

    Thanks everyone for the advice. If I could somehow summarize it: it's always good to aim for the higher value (compared to your history) but there is no actual scientific evidence that low baseline is any indicator of compromised health. In my opinion Garmin should stop comparing HRV to age averages at all, as this approach seems to be wrong and misleading. 


     

  • 0 10 months ago

    For me its the same. Garmin has an issue calculating the HRV for some cases. Not sure what algorithm they used but it does not work for everyone. My nightly HRV is 18-25 (really?) and if I measure it with 'Heath snapshot' it is about 40-60. I contacted Garmin about it but they just ignored it and advised to reset the watch which did not help at all.