HRV (heart rate variability) is a measure of the health of our nervous system function. It’s not just a measure of your actual heart rate or resting heart rate, but a measure of the different length of time that occurs between each beat of your heart. The more regular or metronomic your heart beat, the unhealthier or fatigued your system is; the bigger the variation in time between each heart beat, the healthier or more well-recovered your system is.

Whoop or the Oura Ring are two common methods to measure HRV. I’m on Team Whoop, and check in with my recovery and sleep scores each morning, trying my best to live a life that promotes healthy overnight recovery. I’ve noticed things that encourage good recovery and hence a healthier functioning nervous system include a good night’s sleep, a regular bed time, zero alcohol, a chiropractic adjustment, massage therapy, and low exercise strain the day before. Meanwhile, excess alcohol, poor sleep and excessive exercise tend to promote a poorer recovery.

If you take a look at my recovery scores below, it’s interesting to note there’s a 6% benefit on the days I visit the chiropractor. However, you can also see below that the score noted by other “similar members” is neutral at 0%. When I get an adjustment, I’m pain-free and doing it for performance and wellbeing benefits rather than to manage pain or symptoms. So my theory is it’s possible those “similar members” may be using a chiropractor to help with the latter, hence their system is under stress and they receive less benefit in their recovery score than I do.

Most people use Whoop for training and testing their recovery scores, or for sleep analysis to determine the hours of REM or deep sleep. As a training tool, I tend not to place too much focus on the scores, but if I get a super-low reading, I’ll maybe put off a large ride or training session to the following day to avoid maximum overload. If its ‘game day’, I’ll try not to let it negatively impact my mental preparation for the event, knowing I’ve done all I can to prepare properly.

I find the main benefit is to encourage me to minimise the activities I know negatively impact my function or performance. I’ll aim to have a night out on the booze when I know I have a lighter or non-race day the next day, and I’ll try to get to bed at 10pm as opposed to 11pm to aid my overnight recovery.

Do you use a Whoop? Let us know your experience by leaving a comment on this Instagram post.