With all the technological advancements and innovations happening around us, wearable fitness and exercise devices have become commonplace in our society. Besides measuring our heartbeats, walking distance, and carbs burned, such devices now allow us to measure our heart rate variability as well.
However, if you’ve never utilized such applications before, you may be wondering – will these apps provide me with accurate results? To solve this dilemma right away, it’ll depend on various factors, and luckily for all individuals that are wondering the same thing, our 2024 guide can help. Let’s look at what you have to know:
Table of Contents
A Few Words About HRV
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In order for you to comprehend how accurate HRV apps are, you must first learn what it actually is. To begin with, you have to know that HRV is defined as a measure that can tell you whether or not there are deviations in the period between each of your heartbeats. Keep in mind, it isn’t the same as your normal heartbeat, which is defined as the number of times your heart beats in 60 seconds.
For instance, if you open any HRV monitoring application, it can be used as a sign that your body is ready for handling workloads such as extensive exercise or continuous work. Because of the info that these platforms gather, most professional athletes opt for using them, particularly since it can tell them if their body is prepared for working out or not. Additionally, by knowing this data, athletes can prevent strains and injuries from occurring.
Now, there are two types of HRV – elevated and low. When it’s high, this is a good sign, mostly because it can tell us that our bodies have recovered well and that they can respond to stress properly. It’s also a signal that you could handle continuous training for a longer period. On the contrary, when the outcomes are low, it can indicate physical, as well as mental stress that is often connected to overtraining, which, of course, suggests that you must relax and recover before going through an exercise session again.
So, Are The Apps Accurate?
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As we noted at the beginning of the article, there is a wide spectrum of factors that could affect the accuracy of the info you obtain from the app you chose to install and use. Because of these factors, one of the most important tasks that you could do is to guarantee that you understand how and during which time you should use the app you opted for. Hence, to guarantee that the data is accurate and that they could help you monitor your fitness, you must keep in mind the following tips:
- You Must Be Consistent – you cannot measure the HRV when you want, instead, it has to measure at the same period of every day. By ensuring this, an app such as Welltory will be capable of comparing those measurements with your baseline, thus, showing your how significant the shifts in your HRV are. Also, the best time of the day to calculate the HRV is in the mornings, as soon as you wake up, so, don’t ignore this.
- Each Individual Will Have Different Outcomes – you would be surprised by the number of individuals that think that everyone has the same heart rate variability outcomes. This, of course, isn’t true, which essentially means that there is no point in comparing your data to the one your partner, family member, or friends received. Your results are unique, individual, and they’ll always be distinct from the ones other people get, so, never compare them.
- The App You Choose to Use – with the increase of HRV apps, it may be difficult for you to find a suitable app to track HRV. Some are completely free, while others will require you to pay a small fee, therefore when browsing through your options, it may be best that you compare each feature, read the reviews left by individuals that have already installed and utilized the app for some time, and don’t forget to try a free demo if a particular organization offers one.
Are There Any Benefits That I Could Gain?
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No guide on this topic would be complete without mentioning the benefits that you can gain. To begin with, you must know that HRV is a crucial indicator of our general fitness and well-being. In fact, it could reveal a wide spectrum of problems that have been linked to a lower HRV, including high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular illnesses, and obesity. Furthermore, it can indicate high levels of stress that could lead to other health conditions as well.
Because of this, learning how you recover from exerting yourself is crucial, which is something the apps in question can assist you with. Since you’ll learn whether or not you’re experiencing high levels of strain and tension, you’ll comprehend exactly what you need to do to alleviate some of the anxiety symptoms you may be experiencing, but more significantly, you’ll learn if you have to observe your blood pressure and cortisol levels.
Since a simple HRV scan can reveal all of these things, athletes choose to use them, especially since a high HRV data can tell them that their performance is good and that they can secure the best possible outcomes which can include their physical skills and abilities, and whether or not their bodies are recovering well after an ample workout session. And, even if you aren’t a proficient athlete, you should utilize these apps since knowing these things could help you with enhancing your general health.
Conclusion
As you were able to learn from our 2024 guide above, heart rate variability applications could be completely accurate, nevertheless, if you want to ensure this, you must remember all the factors that could impact it and do your best to avoid them. By doing so, you’ll obtain accurate readings that you could then utilize to determine how stressed your body is from exercising.
Since you’re now well aware of what HRV is, how you can receive accurate results, as well as how you can benefit from it, you shouldn’t spend any more time reading guides similar to this one. Instead, you should start looking for an HRV application that’ll help you keep your health and body in the best condition possible!
