The rhythm of your heart changes with every single beat. The variability between beats is a good indicator of your overall wellness and adaptability. A heart rate with less variability between beats suggests that the person is older, or suffering declining health. Heart rate variability is a very important fundamental rhythm which reflects the resilience of our hearts battery pack. It's all about energy. If your heart rate variability is low, then you deplete your battery pack more quickly, than someone with higher variability.
Heart Rate Variability predicts disease and lonjevity Researchers can measure your rate rate variability, and guess within about 2 years of your age, IF you are following a healthy aging process. If environmental pollutants, trauma, stress, disease etc have played a factor in your life, then your heart rate may have less variability. Low variability leaves you more prone to disease, faster aging, less fitness etc. Essentially it makes you less adaptable to the stresses of life.
Emotions are reflected in the rhythms of the heart
As you can see in the chart, a positive emotion brings about more rhythmical and varied heart rate output. A stressed heart rate is more erratic with less variable rhythm. Note the stress pattern starts to lose it's appearance of rhythm, and it's pattern itself looks stressed!
Your Heart Rate Is Powerful Information Although our Polar Heart rate system can't measure Heart rate variability, we can see the similarity to what we aim for with our exercise charts. With the Polar Team system we witness on a daily basis how emotions and stress can influence your heart rate. A stressful day, usually means that your heart rate chart is not as dramatic in terms of peaks and trophs as it may normally be, because of the stress in your system making you less efficient.
Stress matters, whether it's emotional or lifestyle based (sleep, pain, nutrition, hydration.) A healthy heart and great heart rate variability ensures you have a greater readiness for the challenges of life, whatever they might be.