The short answer is that we are measuring the overall effects of stress on your body. More specifically, we are measuring your heart rate patterns while you are at rest to determine your stress levels and how capable your heart/body is of handling stress.
The image to the left is one our patients are very familiar with. This diagram shows the results of the HRV test. Ideally, you want your dot to be in the green section as close to the center line as possible.
To be to the left of the center line means that the Sympathetic portion of Autonomic Nervous System is more active. To explain, the main function of the Sympathetic Nervous System is to control our flight-or-fight response. For our results to be more Sympathetic means that our bodies are in a state of stress. We are ready to fight or run away, to varying degrees.
To be to the right of the center line means that the Parasympathetic portion of the Autonomic Nervous System is more active. Since, our Autonomic Nervous System controls our organs, tissues, and glands, when our Parasympathetic Nervous System is more dominant we are in a relaxed "rest and digest" state.
Our bodies optimum health (homeostasis) lies on the center line. At rest, our bodies should be neither stressed or overly-relaxed. We need to be able to activate our fight-or-flight (stress) response or our restful state at a moment's notice. When we are in a state of constant stress, our bodies have a hard time switching to our relaxed functional mode, and vice-versa.
The other component of the HRV test is the heart's variability:
"An increase in variability is synonymous with the increased adaptability to environmental stimuli. A decrease in variability has been linked to any number of pre-degenerative or morbid, deteriorating physiologic states."
(David Fletcher, "Heart Rate Variability: Linking today's technologies with timeless, healing principles")
Chronic stress will reduce the heart rate's variability. Lowered variability means that you are not as capable as you could be of handling stress.
The Heart Rate Variability scan looks at your body's overall stress response. The other two scans we perform in the office (Static EMG and Rolling Thermal) delve more deeply into site-specific issues in the body. This is why we need all three scans to better understand exactly what is going on in our bodies. With both big-picture and more specific details in front of us, we can take better care of you and monitor your health over a lifetime.
If you have not had an HRV scan or have not had one recently, please call the office to get your scheduled.
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