Breathing to Improve Heart Rate Variability (HRV) training.
At the ADD Centre / Biofeedback Institute of Toronto clients do
HRV training because it is an important component of self-regulation skills,
especially self-regulation of emotions. You can quickly calm yourself with the
right breathing technique. Your heart is not a metronome with the same time
between heart beats. Variations in heart rate – called the beat-to-beat
interval - are healthy; in fact, the larger the variations, the better.
Athletes and younger people have higher heart rate variability (HRV) than less
fit and older people.
a.
The easiest way to increase your HRV and have higher, healthy
variations in heart rate, is by pacing your breathing to match your changes in
heart rate. Heart rate increases as you inhale and decreases as you exhale. For
most folks, higher HRV is achieved by doing diaphragmatic breathing at approximately
6 breaths per minute. Each person has their own resonant frequency (the
breathing rate that achieves the highest variability in heart rate) and that is
the breathing rate they should use when practicing to increase HRV. Your
resonant frequency will be explored in your early sessions at the ADD Centre.
i. Women
and/or shorter people (including children) usually have a higher resonant
frequency, and thus a slightly faster breathing rate, which could be as high as
8 breaths per minute. Tall people and/or large men will typically breathe at a
lower rate, sometimes as low as 4.5 breaths per minute.
ii. Most
people find that around 6 (5.5 to 6.5) breaths per minute gives them synchrony
between breathing rate and heart rate changes.
iii. You
will find the best rate to achieve synchrony between your breathing and your
heart rate changes while practicing with HRV feedback and your trainer’s
coaching during sessions at the centre. You can watch the screen and get the
red mountains (heart rate increases and then decreases) in sync with the blue
mountains (inhalation and exhalation).
iv. You
can practice at home, with longer periods of time (10 or even 20 minutes) or
practice for short times frequently during the day. Just breathe diaphragmatically
at a steady rate with a longer expiration than inspiration. Counting to 4 while
letting the air in and then counting 5 to 10 while exhaling works well: 4 in
and 6 out is a good ratio for calming. Inhalation is associated with activation
(sympathetic nervous system) and exhalation is associated with calming
(parasympathetic nervous system). Attach
this breathing practice to routines so that it is done frequently, such as when
you first awaken and before you get out of bed, finishing a meal, driving (a
red light lasts 30 seconds, so you can do 3 breaths), and so on. This is an
example of the attach-a-habit-to-a-habit strategy you will learn in training. You
are attaching the new habit of effortless diaphragmatic breathing to an
existing habit/regular routine.
v. Completely
relax your neck and shoulders and put your hand over your diaphragm (just above
your waist) and feel it moving in and out. With your shoulders completely
relaxed breathe in and feel your diaphragm moving out (belly rising) while you
count 1, 2, 3, pause as you say 4, then let your air out slowly while you count
5, 6, 7, 8, and with all your air out pause while you count 9, 10. Repeat this
breathing and counting.
vi. At
home you can lie on your back and put a book or pillow on your tummy to follow
your own inhale and exhale.
b.
If you want to practice with a pacer, download a free trial of
E-Z-Air from the Biofeedback Federation of Europe (www.bfe.org)
c.
If you wish you can watch how the changes in your breathing
affect your heart rate with an ‘app’ on your iPhone that monitors your pulse.
Some examples are:
i. ISync
beat and Camera HRV– these apps are available for iphone and they allow you to
track your SDNN. SDNN (standard deviation of the beat-to-beat interval) is a
measure of heart rate change or heart rate variability. A higher number (>50
msec.) is better. Athletes may have an SDNN >100 but after a concussion it
might drop as low as the 30 – 50 msec. range.
ii. HRV4
iii. My
calm beat (breathing pacer)
iv. Breathe
2 Relax (pacer with music)
v. and
many, many more if you google search for HRV apps.
More
exact measures can be obtained with Em-wave (from Heart Math) or Thought
Technology’s eVu TPs Package that measures not just HRV but also skin
conductance (for arousal level) and finger temperature (for relaxation).
More
information about the power of HRV training is available in Dr. Leah Lagos
best-selling book, Heart Breath Mind, or watch a You Tube video
featuring Dr. Lagos, a Psychologist and HRV specialist who practices in New
York.
©ADD CENTRES
LTD 2022
