A healthy heart doesn’t beat like a metronome.
How to Improve Your Heart Rate Variability
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Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
Everyone feel for your pulse. Hold out your hand, thumb up, and feel for the knobby bone at the top of your wrist. Now, slide your hand down and across the front of your wrist. Do you feel those strands of spaghetti? Those are the tendons in your wrist. If you press lightly between the knobby bone and that first tendon, you should feel your pulse. Got it?
Okay, now what we’re going to do is feel what happens to our pulse when we take a deep breath. We’re going to try it twice. Try to feel what happens to your pulse when you inhale, and when you exhale. All right, here we go—slow inhale…slow exhale. One more time…in…out.
What happened when you breathed in and breathed out? You should have felt your pulse speed up when you inhaled and slow down when you exhaled—that’s called heart rate variability, a measure of the control our vagus nerve has over our heart. And it’s a good thing. A healthy heart is not a metronome.
Low heart rate variability predicts greater risk of heart disease and death from several causes. High-risk patients with lower variability in heart rate have twice the risk of dying prematurely. Is there anything we can do to positively impact heart rate variability? Voluntary slow breathing, at about six breaths per minute, is a technique that’s been used for thousands of years as an essential part of many meditative and relaxation practices. It can benefit several heart rate variability parameters, offering a low-tech, low-cost technique.
Speaking of low-tech, low-cost: What about exercise? Aerobic training at least twice a week positively influences heart nerve control.
What about what we eat? Those eating plant-based diets have better overall heart rate variability. Vegetarians, for example, don’t tend to have only better blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugars; they also have better heart rate variability. The vagus nerve toning effects of plant-based diets may help explain part of their cardioprotective effect. Any plants in particular? While no significant association was seen between heart rate variability measures and the intake of fruits and vegetables in general, the consumption of green leafy vegetables seems to stand out, perhaps helping to explain why eating just half a serving of greens a day may cut our risk of having a heart attack by up to 67 percent! So, boost nerve control to your heart by any greens necessary.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Shaffer F, McCraty R, Zerr CL. A healthy heart is not a metronome: an integrative review of the heart’s anatomy and heart rate variability. Front Psychol. 2014;5:1040.
- Dekker JM, Crow RS, Folsom AR, et al. Low heart rate variability in a 2-minute rhythm strip predicts risk of coronary heart disease and mortality from several causes: the ARIC Study. Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities. Circulation. 2000;102(11):1239-1244.
- Fang SC, Wu YL, Tsai PS. Heart rate variability and risk of all-cause death and cardiovascular events in patients with cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis of cohort studies. Biol Res Nurs. 2020;22(1):45-56.
- Young HA, Benton D. Heart-rate variability: a biomarker to study the influence of nutrition on physiological and psychological health? Behav Pharmacol. 2018;29(2 and 3-Spec Issue):140-151.
- Laborde S, Allen MS, Borges U, et al. Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: a systematic review and a meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2022;138:104711.
- Grässler B, Thielmann B, Böckelmann I, Hökelmann A. Effects of different exercise interventions on heart rate variability and cardiovascular health factors in older adults: a systematic review. Eur Rev Aging Phys Act. 2021;18(1):24.
- Pinto AM, Khatib HKA, Sanders TAB, Hall WL. Heart rate variability and long chain n-3 PUFA dietary intake and status: a comparison between matched vegans and omnivores. Proc Nutr Soc. 2015;74(OCE5):E307.
- Fu CH, Yang CCH, Lin CL, Kuo TBJ. Alteration of cardiovascular autonomic functions by vegetarian diets in postmenopausal women is related to LDL cholesterol levels. Chin J Physiol. 2008;51(2):100-105.
- Fu CH, Yang CCH, Lin CL, Kuo TBJ. Effects of long-term vegetarian diets on cardiovascular autonomic functions in healthy postmenopausal women. Am J Cardiol. 2006;97(3):380-383.
- Park SK, Tucker KL, O’Neill MS, et al. Fruit, vegetable, and fish consumption and heart rate variability: the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89(3):778-786.
- Rastogi T, Reddy KS, Vaz M, et al. Diet and risk of ischemic heart disease in India. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;79(4):582-592.
Motion graphics by Avo Media
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
Everyone feel for your pulse. Hold out your hand, thumb up, and feel for the knobby bone at the top of your wrist. Now, slide your hand down and across the front of your wrist. Do you feel those strands of spaghetti? Those are the tendons in your wrist. If you press lightly between the knobby bone and that first tendon, you should feel your pulse. Got it?
Okay, now what we’re going to do is feel what happens to our pulse when we take a deep breath. We’re going to try it twice. Try to feel what happens to your pulse when you inhale, and when you exhale. All right, here we go—slow inhale…slow exhale. One more time…in…out.
What happened when you breathed in and breathed out? You should have felt your pulse speed up when you inhaled and slow down when you exhaled—that’s called heart rate variability, a measure of the control our vagus nerve has over our heart. And it’s a good thing. A healthy heart is not a metronome.
Low heart rate variability predicts greater risk of heart disease and death from several causes. High-risk patients with lower variability in heart rate have twice the risk of dying prematurely. Is there anything we can do to positively impact heart rate variability? Voluntary slow breathing, at about six breaths per minute, is a technique that’s been used for thousands of years as an essential part of many meditative and relaxation practices. It can benefit several heart rate variability parameters, offering a low-tech, low-cost technique.
Speaking of low-tech, low-cost: What about exercise? Aerobic training at least twice a week positively influences heart nerve control.
What about what we eat? Those eating plant-based diets have better overall heart rate variability. Vegetarians, for example, don’t tend to have only better blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugars; they also have better heart rate variability. The vagus nerve toning effects of plant-based diets may help explain part of their cardioprotective effect. Any plants in particular? While no significant association was seen between heart rate variability measures and the intake of fruits and vegetables in general, the consumption of green leafy vegetables seems to stand out, perhaps helping to explain why eating just half a serving of greens a day may cut our risk of having a heart attack by up to 67 percent! So, boost nerve control to your heart by any greens necessary.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Shaffer F, McCraty R, Zerr CL. A healthy heart is not a metronome: an integrative review of the heart’s anatomy and heart rate variability. Front Psychol. 2014;5:1040.
- Dekker JM, Crow RS, Folsom AR, et al. Low heart rate variability in a 2-minute rhythm strip predicts risk of coronary heart disease and mortality from several causes: the ARIC Study. Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities. Circulation. 2000;102(11):1239-1244.
- Fang SC, Wu YL, Tsai PS. Heart rate variability and risk of all-cause death and cardiovascular events in patients with cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis of cohort studies. Biol Res Nurs. 2020;22(1):45-56.
- Young HA, Benton D. Heart-rate variability: a biomarker to study the influence of nutrition on physiological and psychological health? Behav Pharmacol. 2018;29(2 and 3-Spec Issue):140-151.
- Laborde S, Allen MS, Borges U, et al. Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: a systematic review and a meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2022;138:104711.
- Grässler B, Thielmann B, Böckelmann I, Hökelmann A. Effects of different exercise interventions on heart rate variability and cardiovascular health factors in older adults: a systematic review. Eur Rev Aging Phys Act. 2021;18(1):24.
- Pinto AM, Khatib HKA, Sanders TAB, Hall WL. Heart rate variability and long chain n-3 PUFA dietary intake and status: a comparison between matched vegans and omnivores. Proc Nutr Soc. 2015;74(OCE5):E307.
- Fu CH, Yang CCH, Lin CL, Kuo TBJ. Alteration of cardiovascular autonomic functions by vegetarian diets in postmenopausal women is related to LDL cholesterol levels. Chin J Physiol. 2008;51(2):100-105.
- Fu CH, Yang CCH, Lin CL, Kuo TBJ. Effects of long-term vegetarian diets on cardiovascular autonomic functions in healthy postmenopausal women. Am J Cardiol. 2006;97(3):380-383.
- Park SK, Tucker KL, O’Neill MS, et al. Fruit, vegetable, and fish consumption and heart rate variability: the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89(3):778-786.
- Rastogi T, Reddy KS, Vaz M, et al. Diet and risk of ischemic heart disease in India. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;79(4):582-592.
Motion graphics by Avo Media
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Title
How to Improve Your Heart Rate Variability
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
For more on heart health, check out:
- How Not to Die from Heart Disease
- Should We All Take Aspirin to Prevent Heart Disease?
- Fully Consensual Heart Disease Treatment
- Benefits of Garlic Powder for Heart Disease
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