The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson

and is narrated by Brock Armstrong.

How to increase your heart rate variability.

Last week, I introduced the concept of heart rate variability, the variation of heart beat-to-beat intervals.

Far from the metronome we might assume it to be, the healthiest heartbeat follows a fractal pattern,

with varying lengths of time separating each pulse.

A higher heart rate variability, HRV, suggests a relaxed, low-stress,

physiological milieu, while a lower HRV indicates a need for recovery, rest, and sleep.

That's why athletes use HRV monitoring to plan their workouts and rest periods, PR attempts, and delode weeks.

It eliminates the guesswork.

Even if you're not an athlete, the HRV is a strong diagnostic biomarker for general health and resiliency.

Today, we'll be exploring 16 ways to increase it.

The following tips are research-based methods for increasing your

HRV, but they're not deal-breakers. Failing to check one or several or even most of these

methods off won't necessarily result in a rock-bottom HRV. Maybe you have a job you love,

but the commute is long. Maybe green tea makes you jittery and nauseated.

I'm just giving you all the information I have so that you can find a method that works for you.

No one can do them all. I certainly can't. Oh, and I won't go into the normal stuff that positively impacts our HRV, like getting enough sleep and regular exercise.

Those are all important, so keep doing them, but the benefits are implied and don't require

further explication or justification.

Let's get on with it.

Rest.

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