Heart Rate Variability

The variation between your heartbeats, and what the research says it reveals about recovery.

Your cycle, pregnancy, the postpartum period and menopause each leave a measurable mark on your baseline.

Below 60 has a clinical name and is usually harmless. What decides it is not the number, it is how you feel alongside it.

Stress, a bad night, a coffee or a cold will all do it. A few other things are worth a conversation with your doctor.

Two fingers and a clock will do it. Four other methods will do it with less effort, or more precision, or both.

The clinical range is the same for every adult. Where people actually sit inside it is not.

The adult range is 60 to 100 beats per minute, but that hides a lot. Here is what is normal at every age, and what moves the number.

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