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We've all taken our pulse before. When you complete a self-assessment of your health, you put your index and middle fingers on the thumb side of your wrist or the notch in your neck, you count the beats for 10 seconds, and you multiply by 6. Simple, right? If that pulse, also called heart rate, is strong and steady and between your target numbers, then you are fit and healthy. Really? Are you? While heart rate can be a good, quick indicator of how your body is functioning, there is a little more to it than just a simple pulse. Your heart rate actually varies from beat to beat and the amount of variability can be a predictor of potential health problems. Tracking your heart rate can be key to wellness monitoring at home. Let's discuss how the heart rate varies and how this can be an indicator of your overall health.

 

What is heart rate variability?

 

When you take your pulse, the number of beats per minute is a quick indicator of how hard your heart is working. If you are sitting at your computer, the number of beats per minute should be lower. If you are working out at the gym, the number of beats per minute should be higher. If the number of beats per minute is extremely high or low, you know that something is wrong. Your doctor takes your pulse every time to go in for a check-up, either by using two fingers like you do or by using a heart rate monitor on your finger. Checking your pulse is one of the basics of health evaluation.

 

What you can't measure when you take your pulse is heart rate variability. Heart rate variability is the difference in the amount of time between heart beats. Also called cycle length variability and RR variability, heart rate variability is calculated by measuring the time intervals from beat to beat. If you have ever watched a heart monitor or the output of an electrocardiogram (ECG), you will have seen the little up and down lines that mark each heart beat. If you look closely at that output, you will see that the spaces between those lines is not regular and equal, but varies just a little bit. That is heart rate variability.

 

Heart rate variability is a normal physiological phenomenon. Your body goes through a very fast but very complex analysis to determine when each heart beat should start. This includes many factors, but the primary inputs come from your autonomic nervous system. This system, which includes the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, regulates involuntary functions of your body like your heart rate, blood pressure, intestinal activity, and glandular functions. It all happens automatically without your knowledge and it is perfectly normal.

 

It is important to point out that heart rate variability does not mean heart arrhythmia, which is an abnormal heart beat irregularity. Heart rate variability is a normal indicator of your body's ability to adapt to different physiological situations, whereas heart arrhythmia is pathological and is usually a symptom of a heart condition such as atrial fibrillation.

 

Why is analysis of heart rate variability important?

 

Heart rate variability is important to check as a part of wellness monitoring, as changes in your heart rate variability can point to hidden disease. When your body is healthy and functioning as it should, your autonomic nervous system will make sure to regulate your heart rate so that your heart beats at the optimum time for each beat. The normal variation in the time between beats is a good indicator of overall health. A normal level of variation between heart beats tells you that your body is readily able to adapt to physiological situations and has a better ability to resist the development of disease. If your heart rate variability decreases, however, this indicates that your body's ability to adapt has declined and resistance to disease may be more difficult. Studies have shown that heart rate variability decreases when conditions such as diabetes, endocrine disorders, or psychiatric conditions are present (Omerbegovic, 2009).

 

With this fact in mind, periodic analysis of your heart rate variability will help you to monitor your body's ability to resist disease. It will also give you an early warning signal if you are at risk for developing a health condition. This early warning could lead you to early detection and treatment of a serious health problem. In the past, only doctors with the right equipment could monitor heart rate variability. Now, however, modern medical technology makes it possible for you to self-check your own heart rate variability at home. By using an online health measurement system to check your heart rate and other indicators, you will be able to monitor your health status and detect potential problems very early. As we all know, the earlier a health condition is treated, the better the outcome.

 

If you would like more information on heart rate variability and how you can monitor it yourself at home, please visit QuantiHealth at www.thequantihealth.com.

 

Reference:

 

Omerbegovic, M. (2009). Analysis of heart rate variability and clinical implications. Medical Archives 63(2); 102-105, accessed online 12/10/2016, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19537668.