How to Improve HRV Quickly

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a key measure that indicates the level of recovery in your system. A higher HRV indicates a well-balanced autonomic nervous system, suggesting adaptability to stress, reduced stress levels, better recovery, and overall good health. The best way to improve HRV quickly is to focus on activating your parasympathetic system while minimizing the influence of the sympathetic system responsible for the fight-or-flight response. This five most powerful levers to improve HRV are:

• Sleep
• Breathing
• Balanced Exercise
• Rest
• Nutrition

Why do these work? Well, the dynamic between the parasympathetic and sympathetic systems can be likened to the concept of Yin and Yang. However, just like in the Chinese Medicine, it’s not about eliminating one but rather finding the right balance for your lifestyle. Often, we’re overly stressed, so most people would benefit from a higher HRV, indicating that their Yin (parasympathetic = rest, relaxation) is more active.

However, there are times when we need our Yang (sympathetic = active, agile). In these instances, relying solely on numbers (the higher, the better) doesn’t apply. That’s why other metrics are also crucial, like HRV fractal variability measured through algorithms such as DFA (detrended fractal analysis).

That is why sleep and relaxation are very important, but so are exercise and proper nutrition that provide the necessary elements and avoid inflammation that leads to stress (and lower, less fractal HRV).

Let’s look into each strategy in more detail.

 

Breathing: A Quick HRV Win

Breathing is by far the most effective quick method to enhance HRV. Heart rate variability is closely tied to respiratory variability: inhaling reduces the parasympathetic influence, while exhaling increases it, leading to variability in the heartbeat.

There are multiple techniques that can increase HRV, the most popular among them are:

Resonant Breathing

Finding a breathing speed, usually around 5 seconds for inhalation, 5 seconds for exhalation, where HRV is increased the most. This can be done at home or using special devices, like the new Ohm lamp. Some evidence shows that it takes about one month of regular practice for 20 minutes a day to achieve lasting results.

Deep breathing

This is a simpler approach where you perform deep long relaxed breaths with longer exhalations (e.g. 6-7 seconds or exhale, 4-5 seconds for inhale) for about 5-10 minutes. Not as effective for high HRV as the resonant breathing, but is easier to do. You can do it yourself or using the apps like Calmaria or Apple Watch’s native Mindfulness app.

Fractal Breathing

This type of breathing mimics the natural dynamics found in living systems. It is designed to entrain HRV to have fractal properties (self-similar across different time scales), which means better integration of all the different systems in the body. It’s quite hard to get fractal breathing on your own, but you can use the SomaSync app, which has a fractal breathing entrainer and measures your HRV. After a while, you will learn the pattern and can do it on your own. Usually it’s enough to do 2-3 sessions per day 2 minutes each. In this case, you’re optimizing for HRV fractality (bring the alpha component close to 1), but the value of your HRV will also go up.

 

Relaxation: Best Long-Term Effects

Relaxation is the practice that will probably have the best long-lasting long-term effects. Having a few moments in a day where you take a break and relax is beneficial not only for HRV but also for the whole body. It allows you the time to recover and activates your parasympathetic system, which is especially useful during the day, when your sympathetic system tends to take over.

Following practices such as Yoga Nidra or Andrew Huberman’s Non Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) protocol are both great choices. Self-administered Cranio-Sacral Therapy is also a very good way to reduce stress.  But you can also just lie down and relax for 20 minutes, resting and feeling your body, not using any devices, not talking to anyone, not reading.

 

Exercise: The Right Balance

Exercise is an important tool to maintain dynamic equilibrium in our body. Without exercise our systems lose elasticity and unlearn to respond to external stress and to interact. Too much exercise means too much stress, so rest is also important.

Evidence shows that combining short intense moments of high-intensity exercise in Zone 4 HR (e.g. 2 minutes at about 150 bpm for a 40-year old male) with mild Zone 2 HR activity (e.g. about 115 bpm for 4 minutes) and rest (2-4 minutes) can have the most beneficial effects on resilience, cardiovascular system, recovery, and HRV.

During the exercise, it is important to focus on variability, making sure that you load different groups of muscles, move at varying speeds, and replicate organic movement dynamics rather than focusing on repetitive exercises with the same strength load.

In terms of the frequency and timing, it’s good to have 1 or 2 days of rest per week and dedicate at least 20-30 minutes a day to the exercise. Obviously, if you exercise in the evening, your sympathetic system kicks in, so it’s harder for it to reduce its grip during the onset of sleep. Early mornings can also be problematic due to cortisol spikes leading to inflammation. That’s why between 4 and 6 pm is the most optimal choice for most people.

 

Nutrition: Avoid Inflammation

The thing about nutrition is that most dietary habits cause inflammation and stress for the body. Too much sugar or carbs, bad quality oils, not enough protein or fiber can all trigger the sympathetic system and make recovery difficult and lower your HRV, while also reducing its fractality (which means you are not only stressed but also less adaptive and resilient). That’s why the best way to positively affect HRV through nutrition is to

• reduce sugars to about 50 g a day for active people
• eat a balanced diet with a focus on proteins, fibers, and fats
• eat at least 30 different kinds vegetables and legumes per week
• ensure adequate liquid intake
• adequate magnesium intake (glycinate or threonate) — helps to relax
• vitamin D and Omega fats (fatty fish 2-3 times a week + exposure to sun)

 

Sleep: The Most Powerful HRV Booster

Good sleep is crucial for overall health. During sleep, parasympathetic activity increases, allowing the body to recover, clear waste, repair tissues, and slow the heartbeat. A solid 7-8 hours of sleep is generally very beneficial.

HRV often reaches its peak during sleep, reflecting recovery, while transitioning to a more random state, indicated by a DFA alpha below 0.75, can occur during anaerobic exercise, signaling recovery.

However, you won’t get high and optimal HRV from one night’s sleep, so it is a long-term process and not everyone can afford to have a good night’s sleep every day. That’s why other approaches should be adopted for the short and mid-term.