ADD CENTRE - Neurofeedback

 

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. 

 

 

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