I started tracking my HRV (heart rate variability) ever since I interviewed Salim Najjar and HOLY SHIT.
It has had a profound impact on my productivity.
My guest on The Optimist this week was Salim Najjar, known as the HRV guy.
After two family members got cancer, he decided to dedicate his life to optimizing his health and teaching others how to do the same.
One of the biggest things he landed on was heart rate variability: the slight variation in time between heartbeats. It's a measure of how well your body can adapt to stress and physical activity.
So we started our conversation with a simple question: What is a good HRV score?
Salim’s response revealed that this question misses the mark:
- There is no optimal range for HRV because there is no ceiling to how good HRV can be. You can keep improving your HRV throughout your entire life.
- Tracking your HRV means knowing your own personal baseline (your average HRV over 30 days).
- Once you know your baseline, you can look at your waking HRV on any given day to see how far above or below that baseline you are. Then you can use that info to understand how your nervous system recovered from yesterday, and plan the intensity of your day today.
Whether you’re new to HRV tracking or a body hacking pro, this episode of The Optimist has something for everyone: https://theoptimistpodcast.com/