RUNALYZE - Data analysis for athletes

Glossary: Heart rate variability (HRV)

Heart rate variability (HRV) is the physiological phenomenon of variation in the time interval between heartbeats and is measured by the variation in the beat-to-beat interval (commonly stated as R-R interval). It is well known that HRV is directly related to the body's interdependent regulatory systems and can be a powerful measure for an athlete's recovery status.

Metrics for HRV

  • RMSSD
    Root mean square of successive differences. This value is said to be a strong indicator for parasympathetic activity and thus large values indicate a better recovery status.
  • lnRMSSD
    Natural logarithm of RMSSD. The logarithm is used to achieve a better scaling.
  • SDNN
    Standard deviation of R-R intervals
  • 5 min-SDANN
    Standard deviation of the average R-R intervals calculated over 5 minutes
  • pNN50
    Proportion of successive R-R intervals that differ by more than 50 ms
  • pNN20
    Proportion of successive R-R intervals that differ by more than 20 ms

References

  1. Heart Rate Variability Explained, hrvtraining.com
  2. Heart Rate Variability For Training, marcoaltini.com

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