An HRV-Hackers Guide to Living Fully for Every Beat

HRV is a topic I've been interested in for a while as a Biohacker. I've completed over 300 HRV training sessions with HeartMath's devices; which has made me a better meditator and generally, a cooler cat. HRV is a particularly pragmatic metric for the Biohacker thanks to the abundance of science done on the topic and the advent of consumer-grade devices you can use to track yours.

The Pulse Cure, by Dr. Torkil Færø, is the most recent (and, in my opinion, approachable and actionable) book on the topic. The book is the result of a study group of 198 Norwegian volunteers that Dr. Torkil (as he refers to himself on his popular Instagram account) led in using HRV wearables. It is punctuated by a number of anecdotes from Dr. Torkil's Garmin watch study group. For example: Melina, 41, adds

Don’t get stressed out thinking that you have to follow all of the scores and data every single day. Go at your own pace! Eventually you won’t need to track all the data. You will learn when it is the right time to check your status. (p. 94)

Tusen takk (Norwegian for “a thousand thank-yous”), Melina!

HRV may seem nerdy and complicated, but one thing is guaranteed when you start self-quantifying it; unexpected edifying findings. You'll quickly learn some surprising things about how the way you eat, drink, sleep, exercise, socialize, or work impacts the state of your autonomic nervous system and with it, your energy reserves, health, and - ultimately - your longevity. Whether you've just heard of HRV or you're well-acquainted with it, this book will guide you to the health transformation that awaits when start measuring what's now so easy and affordable to measure.

About the author

Dr. Torkil Færø is an impressive guy, a doctor practicing medicine in Norway and abroad for decades, a traveler who has visited over 80 countries, and an "octo-glot" (a word I just invented for someone who speaks 8 languages). In our interview, he shares some life lessons from his time serving as a doctor in wartorn Angola in the 90s, a conflict I read about in "Cry Havoc" by Simon Mann. As a hardcore Biohacker, he's not your ordinary doctor, he writes about why medicine is often wrong...

1. Medicine is not an exact science: the body’s ‘universe’ is so diverse and complex that it is not possible to get a full overview of it and it is difficult to find exact answers to questions about it.

2. Medical facts have a half-life of five years: what we once believed to be true now proves to be false, and what will turn out to be correct at some point has not been discovered yet. (p. 20).

And adds...

The way we practise medicine is backwards: we wait until people become ill before we ‘heroically’ intervene. (p. 17)

"The doctor of the future will be oneself."

Albert Schweitzer, German doctor, theologian, organist, musicologist, and philosopher (p. 12).

A "doctor of oneself" - that's what we call a biohacker!

I'm proud to announce that Dr. Torkil is part of the expert client consulting team for our new flagship program, Anakainōsis.

Why do we need HRV monitors?

Why do we need to use monitors? We need them because our bodies speak softly, and we are poor listeners. (p. 83)

Good point. We often stoically soldier on through the stress and overwhelm that life throws at us, not listening, and we pay a high cost in preventable health conditions. How do you start listening better...?

Quantify your "body budget" with an HRV-measuring Garmin smartwatch

The book pulls no punches in pitching what I am now convinced is currently the best HRV wearable - Garmin's line of fitness tracking watches.

Each of us has a certain amount of physiological energy that is available to us to be used for physical and mental tasks. I call it a body budget. (p. 26)

I would recommend that you try to get the energy level of your Body Battery up to at least 80 in the morning and not under 20 in the evening most days of the week (the scale goes from 5 to 100). (p. 88)

This is a brilliant feature! It lets you know if you've got the biological reserves to push hard on a given day (but it shouldn't be your only source of self-knowledge - don't use it as an excuse to be a wimp!)

The most affordable models of heart rate monitors are sufficient for most users, but the big advantage of using the more expensive Garmin models is that they can assess the efforts you make during exercise. This is especially useful for those of you who do not work out regularly because you may have a greater need for recovery after exercise than you think. The watches can also estimate your fitness level and your biological age, which are among the most important factors for having good health in the future. (p. 87)

A big, practical advantage of Garmin watches is that the functions can be set so that with a touch of a button you can find out your stress level in the present moment. (p. 88)

Having done over 300 HRV training sessions with HeartMath's devices clipped to my ear, I really like the idea of an HRV tracking watch...

The issue with many HRV devices is that you only give biofeedback data when you're using them. Whereas, a watch is just a watch - you can sleep, swim, eat, or even make love with it on (just be careful with the lube!)

The book moves on to discuss several other popular HRV wearables...

About the Oura Ring

it is especially good at assessing sleep quality and the different phases of sleep. The Oura Ring also shows a recovery score that tells you if you are ready for a challenging day or not. Each morning you can look at your scores in the app connected to it and, based on what they say, make better decisions when you are looking at the day’s tasks ahead of you, such as whether you should take several small breaks or allow yourself to go for an extra run. (p. 89)

Dr. Torkil compares the Garmin to the ring, which he recommends highest if sleep is something you struggle with

When it comes to assessing my sleep phases, I rely mostly on the Oura Ring, which gives a fair indication of the night’s sleep quality and recovery. The Garmin watch proved slightly less precise in its assessment of sleep phases but offers a better picture of the quality of recovery. (p. 129)

About the WHOOP band

What WHOOP is especially good at is comparing the scores of your morning recovery with your stress levels during the day in order to be able to recommend how much you should exercise and exert yourself. (p. 90)

If you're a biohacker ballin' on a budget HRV smartphone apps are a decent option

It is possible to use a mobile phone to take short readings by having the camera phone and the torch function work together to get your heart rate variability. Go to the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android) and search: Heart rate variability camera. A variety of options will appear. HRV4Training (hrv4training.com) is a good one, but I have not tried all the alternat