Most individuals who take their sport or training very seriously have likely heard of heart rate variability (HRV). Thanks to devices such as the Polar RS800 (Formerly S810) wrist-watch/heart rate monitor and eventually ithlete, the first (to my knowledge) commercially available smart phone HRV application, HRV data can be collected easily and affordably. The recent accessibility of HRV tools has resulted in greater usage, more data and of course greater popularity.
What most folks aren’t aware of however is that HRV is not a solitary figure or value. In fact, numerous HRV parameters exist that are supposedly representative of different autonomic variables. Below is a brief list and description of popular HRV analysis methods and values (many more values exist than described).
Time Domain Analysis: This method includes statistical and geometrical analysis of R-R interval data. Common statistical time domain values include:
- SDNN – Standard Deviation of Normal to Normal intervals.
- RMSSD – The square root of the mean squared difference between adjacent N-N intervals.
*Note: NN or “normal to normal” is used to denote that only “normal” beats originating from the sinus node are measured. Impulses from other areas within the myocardium (non-sinus node impulses) are termed ectopic beats. Ectopic beats disturb normal cardiac rhythm and can therefore affect HRV. Generally 3 or more ectopic beats within a short-term measurement meets criteria for exclusion in many research papers.
Frequency Domain Analysis: This method is considerably more complex than time domain analysis and often requires longer measurement durations. It assesses how variance is distributed as a function of frequency.
- HF – High Frequency Power: A marker of Parasympathetic Activity
- LF – Low Frequency Power: A marker of both Parasympathetc and Sympathetic Activity
- LF/HF – Low Frequncy/High Frequency Ratio: Once thought to represent the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity however this remains a hot topic of debate.
As you can see, saying something along the lines of “My HRV is low today” is really vague. I’m sure I’ve been guilty of this in the past. More often than not, most people are referring to their RMSSD value as this is the same parameter provided by ithlete and BioForce (among other HRV tools).
The RMSSD is commonly used as an index of vagally (Vagus Nerve) mediated cardiac control which captures respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), the frequent changes in heart rate occurring in response to respiration (Berntson et al. 2005). During inhalation, heart rate speeds up. During exhalation, heart rate slows down. RMSSD is an accepted measure of parasympathetic activity and correlates very well with HF of frequency domain analysis (discussed above).
PhD candidate and HRV researcher James Heathers provides a good explanation of why we would want to track changes in RMSSD vs. other HRV values throughout training here. I’d like to add that RMSSD is one of the few meaningful values that we can acquire with ultra-short measurement durations. It’s generally accepted that a 5 minute recording is the gold standard for HRV analysis (Task Force 1996). However, 5 minutes is entirely too long if we expect compliance from athletes or individuals. Thankfully, ample research exists that shows that ultra-short (60 seconds or less) RMSSD values (randomly selected from within a 5 minute recording) highly correlate with RMSSD from the standard 5 minute ECG recording (Katz et al. 1999; Mackay et al. 1980; Nussinovitch et al. 2012; Nussinovitch et al. 2011; Salahuddin et al. 2007; Smith et al. 2013; Thong et al. 2003). Unfortunately no research exists that tested the suitability of ultra-short RMSSD in athletic populations so my colleague Dr. Mike Esco and I went ahead and did this very recently in athletes at rest and post-exercise (paper currently in peer review). I will let you know what we found once it gets published.
Why does my HRV score (from ithlete or BioForce) look different from the values in research?
I hope you are not comparing your ithlete or BioFroce scores to data you see in published research. Simon, the creator of ithlete, decided to modify the RMSSD value collected by ithlete to make for a more intuitive and easily interpretable figure for non-expert users. The value you see from the app is the natural log transformed RMSSD multiplied by 20 (lnRMSSDx20). This modification essentially provides a figure on a 100 point scale (though ithlete scores above 100 are possible in highly fit individuals, though not common).
*Note: lnRMSSDx20 is a patented formula and therefore those interested in using this commercially must acquire a licence.
Wrap-up
To be clear, RMSSD is only one HRV parameter. By no means was this article suggesting that other HRV values are meaningless. The purpose of this blog was to simply provide an explanation of the what and why of RMSSD since so many people are using ithlete and BioForce lately. Certainly, ECG derived HRV remains the gold standard and likely multiple HRV parameters provide a more complete picture of training status verses just one. However, for the purposes of convenience in non-expert users, the RMSSD provides an easily acquired and interpretable figure in a short period of time that reflects parasympathetic activity which is quite useful for monitoring the effects of training and in the manipulation of training loads.
References:
Berntson, G. G., Lozano, D. L., & Chen, Y. J. (2005). Filter properties of root mean square successive difference (RMSSD) for heart rate. Psychophysiology,42(2), 246-252.
Camm AJ, Malik M et al. (1996) Heart rate variability: Standards of measurement, physiological interpretation and clinical use. Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology. Circ 93(5): 1043-1065
Katz A, Liberty IF, Porath A, Ovsyshcher I, Prystowsky E (1999) A simple bedside test of 1-minute heart rate variability during deep breathing as a prognostic index after myocardial infarction. Am Heart J 138(1): 32-38
Mackay JD, Page MM, Cambridge J, Watkins PJ (1980) Diabetic autonomic neuropathy. Diabetol 18(6): 471-478
Nussinovitch U, Cohen O, Kaminer K, Ilani J, Nussinovitch N (2012) Evaluating reliability of ultra-short ECG indices of heart rate variability in diabetes mellitus patients. J Diabetes Complic 26(5): 450-453
Nussinovitch U, Elishkevitz KP, Katz K, Nussinovitch M, Segev S, Volovitz B, Nussinovitch N (2011) Reliability of ultra‐short ECG indices for heart rate variability. Ann Noninvasive Electrocardiol 16(2): 117-122
Salahuddin L, Cho J, Jeong MG, Kim D (2007) Ultra short term analysis of heart rate variability for monitoring mental stress in mobile settings. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 4656-4659
Smith AL, Owen H, Reynolds KJ (2013) Heart rate variability indices for very short-term (30 beat) analysis. Part 2: validation. J Clin Monit Comput E-Pub Ahead of Print
Thong T, Li K, McNames J, Aboy M, Goldstein B (2003) Accuracy of ultra-short heart rate variability measures. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 3, 2424-2427
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