Hi all,<p>I have read that heart rate variability (HRV) is a good indicator of well-being, health, and energy levels.<p>With the arrival of the New Year, I want to get my energy, health, and well-being in check. A couple of questions for others, if anyone has any experience of monitoring and tracking this data?<p>1) Is HRV a good proxy for general well-being, or are there other metrics that should be considered / integrated?<p>2) How have you tracked and monitored HRV, and any other metrics that you think are important to energy / well-being?
I am an enthusiast for Garmin smart watches and bands, even if I think the heart rate monitoring and pulse ox is less than perfect. (Sometimes the pulse ox reads around 82% around 10 pm at night when I am awake, certainly not experiencing sleep apnea, and not struggling to breathe or feeling any distress.)<p>Garmin devices measure stress based on HRV. When I look at the numbers in real time I think they are often accurate but I see my lowest stress levels when I am having a lazy weekend where I feel really low energy (certainly not 'great'.)<p>If I look at my charts of stress over the day the notable thing is that there are gaps: yesterday 7 hours of of 24 were gaps, all during the waking hours.<p>I don't find the stress readings averaged over a long period of time (weeks, months) to be meaningful.<p>Still I like having a slim timepiece, making GPS tracks, heart rate monitoring, step count, music, etc. You can get great deals at<p><a href="https://g.factoryoutletstore.com/" rel="nofollow">https://g.factoryoutletstore.com/</a><p>Having tried a few I have a preference for the Vivosmart bands and the Vicoactive watch. I am wearing a Vivosport right now and like it the least of the bunch mostly because despite a nice color screen the U.I. is not so good. (Sometimes it's hard to navigate away from whatever screen it is on to see the time.)
I don’t know of any consumer device that measures HRV accurately or consistently, Garmin and Apple included. You can wear a Garmin on one wrist, and an Apple Watch on the other, as I did, and you will not get the same results between them.<p>HRV is best measured by qualified medical people with professional equipment.<p>Here’s a better/cheaper/simpler way to do roughly the same thing:<p>- Get yourself a paper calendar and a red Sharpie.<p>- Run or walk x miles every day.<p>- After your run or walk, draw a big red X on that day. Also draw an emoji covering your general mood, if you’d like.<p>- Strive for 7 X’s every week. Settle for 5 or more. Never skip more than one day at a time.
I have a Garmin Fenix 6 Pro and it does a pretty good job tracking my HRV, but I am not sure if the best measure (at least for me) to track my well being. I find just step counting and "activity minutes" to be a better metric for me. Basically if I force myself to walk, bike, etc I end up having a better week then if I do not. I also try not to read to much news.