Heart Rate Variability: Harnessing Your Own Personal Superpower | Inna Khazan | TEDxBostonCollege

I was incredibly shy as a kid painfully shy to the point that my best friend in school Natasha had to accompany me to talk to our teachers about the smallest

things sometimes she literally had to speak for me because I couldn't get the words out the years went by I came to the US I

learned to speak English and Natasha remained over 4,000 miles away she could no longer speak for me I had to figure out a way to speak up for

myself so whenever I had to go talk to one of my terrifying teachers or ask a question of a stir Clerk or approach a stranger on the street for directions

this was way before cell phones and GPS I instinctively did what I saw Natasha do before a tough conversation I took a breath

this helped me feel more grounded and allowed my mouth to make words breathing remained my way of preparing to

speak in college I fell in love with the study of psychology in part because it helped me understand some of my own experiences and helped explain behavior of people around

me I went on to graduate school became a clinical psychologist it turns out psychologists teach a lot of

breathing when you're feeling scared overwhelmed unable to speak the one clear thought running through your mind

this is awful now what turning to the breath feels right but why does it help us feel more grounded in the face of a

challenge the breath is a gateway to your own personal superpower that acts as your best friend helps you r rise to

the challenge and be at your best the breath stimulates something called heart rate variability not to be confused with

heart rate heart rate variability is key in allowing your body to respond to stress in healthier more helpful

ways we can use the breath to train heart rate variability to gain flexibility and resilience in the face of a

challenge heart rate variability is that superpower that we all carry with us and can learn to harness when it matters

most heart rate reability is the change in time that passes from one heartbeat to the next if you were to take your pulse go

ahead do it with me on your wrist or on your neck you would feel a Thump Thump Thump each one of those thumps is a

heartbeat it's the left ventricle of your heart Contracting sending oxygenated blood out to your body on the EKG it is represented as the

r Peak if you were to count those thumps or heartbeats you would probably count somewhere between 60 and 80 of them in a

minute that is your heart rate but the time that passes from one heartbeat to the next is changing all the

time sometimes the space between heartbeats gets longer the heartbeats are coming further apart and your heart rate is slowing down and then space

between heartbeats gets shorter your heartbeats come closer together and the heart rate is speeding

up if your heart were to beat with 882 millisecond intervals at all times your heart rate would be 68 beats per minute

and if your heart were to beat with 674 millisecond intervals at all times your heart rate would be 89 beats per minute just like the time interval that

passes from one heartbeat to the next is changing all the time so does your instantaneous heart rate your heart rate is speeding up and slowing down down increasing and

decreasing all the time you'll see a plot of this on the next slide those increases and decreases of your heart rate are heart rate

variability the greater your heart rate variability or HRV the healthier and more resilient you are let me be clear heart rate

variability is not an increase in your heart rate when you're going for a run heart rate variability is a Beat to be change in your heart rate that happens all the time at rest or any

other time your heart rate averaged over a number of Beats may be the same but heart rate variability the way in which

your heart rate accelerates and decelerates over that period of time may be higher or

lower here you see two people's heart rate the average heart rate for both of them them is the same about 70 beats per

minute what differentiates them is heart rate variability the red signal is the plot of instantaneous heart rate the way your heart rate goes up and down representing

heart rate variability the blue signal is the breath and we'll come back to that in a bit for the person on your

left the heart rate varies from a high of about 885 down to a low of about 65 beats per minute for each cycle for a

maxim heart reability of about 20 bits per minute for the person on your right the heart rate varies from a high of

only about 72 down to low about 67 beats per minute for each cycle for a maximan HRV of only about

five many people believe that a healthy heart works pych metronome beating with the same Pace all the time that is in fact not so it may seem

counterintuitive but a heart that beats with the same Pace all the time has trouble being flexible and responsive to the changing demands of our daily

lives this counterintuitiveness is similar to how we think about skyscrapers we tend to think of them as solid and immovable but in fact they're built with

a lot of flexibility they're designed to sway in the wind the taller the building the more sway it has this is necessary in order for it to withstand the force of

the wind your heart is built with similar innate flexibility if you were faced with sudden danger and your heart rate needed

to increase quickly in order for you to be able to run away your heart would have a much easier time doing that if your heart rate was already cycling

through large increases and decreases we're much better able to withstand the force of the winds that come at us if our hearts are flexible

and agile heart rate variability is important because it determines your body's ability to regulate itself it tells us how well you're able to respond

to stress research shows that high high heart rate variability is strongly associated with better mental and

physical health greater resilience in the face of challenges better mental and physical performance people suffering from

conditions like anxiety depression trauma chronic pain headaches high blood pressure gastrointestinal

disorders benefit from heart rate variability training HRV training also helps us improve physical endurance and reaction speed

ability to make decisions and problems under pressure and respond quickly and appropriately to sudden changes in our

environment when life throws curveballs at us imagine that you're preparing for an important meeting with a person who may be

difficult you know the diff the meeting would be difficult and you think you are prepared you know what you want to say and how you want to

act and as the meeting starts it is indeed difficult but unexpectedly you are not able to follow through on what you had intended your heart is beating

out of your chest your stomach is tying itself in knots and your thinking is cloudy and you see yourself suing and seeing and doing and saying things you

did not intend to say or do even as there is a voice in the back of your head say no no no don't do that don't say that you watch yourself going

down that unhelpful trajectory as if on Otter mode with the one clear thought in your mind oh no now

what and the answer to that question is specific to each individual person there is no one siiz fits-all solution but but there is one common

denominator that runs through my response to my own challenges and my work with other people as a psychologist that is heart rate variability

training I've worked with numerous people using HRV training helping them navigate their way through anxiety depression consequences of trauma chronic pain medical

conditions I use HRV training successfully with people looking for a professional Edge whether it be getting better at presenting in front of others staying

collected and focused in a high stakes negotiation or being at your best in a championship game most of us are looking for that

personal or professional Edge and heart rate reability training gives you exactly that if you were to find yourself in that difficult meeting after

a couple of months of HRV training you would find that it's easier to respond in a helpful way things might still go wrong and you would still feel

stressed but your heart would not beat out of your chest your to stomach would not tie itself in knots and your thinking will remain remain clear enough

to figure out how to respond when I talk about HRV training May many people ask me why do I have to do anything about my heart on my

nervous system aren't they designed to work on their own if you're wondering the same you are indeed correct your heart and your nervous system do do their own thing on their own and they do

a good enough job most of the time but there's a butt one way to wrap your mind around this is to think about a DSLR camera one of those fancy cameras with a bunch of

buttons and controls many of these cameras have an utter function so you can set the camera on auto mode point and shoot and you

will take decent pictures but if you wanted to take really good pictures then you need to train and learn how to use all those buttons and

controls your heart and your nervous system will do a good enough job on their own much of the time but if you want to be at your best as much of the

time as possible then heart rate reability training will give you that edge the breath is the foundation for HRV

training the breath drives the heart rate as you breathe in your heart rate goes up as you breathe out your heart rate goes

down for each one of us there exist an optimal rate of breathing that promotes maximum heart rate variability this skill is called

resonance frequency breathing resonance is a physics SC concept that describes the property of an oscillating system in which

stimulations at specific frequencies produce maximum illation amplitudes your cardiovascular system is

one such oscillating system the breath stimulates the heart and heart rate and residance frequency breathing produces

maximum oscillations of the heart rate maximum heart rate variability an easier way to think about this system is to compare it to pushing a child in

the swing there are lots of different ways to push that swing you can push it infrequently with a lot of force it will go up but not smoothly come down and not go up much after that you can push it

with short frequent bursts and it will go up just a bit and come right back down in both of these scenarios the child would not be

pleased or you can find a regular measured way of pushing the swing allow to go up as much as possible and come down as much as possible each time maximizing the Delight of the

child your breath stimulates the heart rate in the same way as a person pushing That Swing residence frequency breathing allows your heart rate to go up as much

as possible on each inhalation come down as much as possible on each exhalation over time training your nervous system to become more flexible and more

resilient for most of us resident frequency breathing rate is somewhere between 4 and 7even breaths per minute up until recently if you wanted

to do HRV training you needed to find a certified professional who would use their uh clinical grade equipment to measure your HRV determine your resident frequency breathing rate and do training

with you weekly in the office and while there's still great reasons to see a trained professional recent technological advances now allow you to bring HRV

training home there exist a number of devices that connect to phone apps allowing you to make HRV training accessible and

easily available at home depending on which app you choose you'll be able to do some or all aspects of HRV training from measuring your HRV and

tracking its progress over time to determining your resident frequency breathing rate to doing HRV training with bio feedback since it is not possible for us

to determine all of your resonance frequencies right now let's practice breathing at six breaths per minute that rate gets close enough to

Residence frequency for most people we'll use low and slow breathing as a guide we'll practice slow and slow breathing first and then we'll add in a breath Pacer that will Pace your

breathing at six breaths per minute with 4 seconds in and six seconds out to breathe low and slow we're going to shift the breath from the chest to

the belly take a normal size comfortable slow breath in as if you're smelling a flower there is no need for a particularly big or deep breath and then

you're going to Exhale slowly and fully either through the nose or through purse lips as if you're blowing out a candle so let's try that together breathing in

as if you're smelling a flower breathing out as if you're blowing out a candle in

out and adding in a Pacer breathing in as the ball goes up breathing out as the ball goes down in

out in and out if this is not feeling entirely comfortable right now that is okay you've just gotten a two-minute crash course and something that takes people

quite a bit longer to master with some practice I promise you this will feel better I encourage you to practice your residence frequency breathing every day start with 5 minutes a day for a week

then 10 minutes a day for the second week 15 minutes a day for the third week and then settle at 20 minutes a day after the fourth week on remember there is no need for

Perfection doing some bre breath training is always better than none and there is also no need to breathe at your residence frequency all the time this breathing skill is reserved for your

practice times and for times of increased challenge when you'd like to remind your nervous system to regulate itself this works just like a strength workout as long as you get to the gym on

a regular basis you'll maintain gains and continue making progress without having to carry your dumbbells or kettle bells around and if after a couple of months of working out your friend asked you to

help them move a couch it will be easier for you to lift that couch with regular HRV training over several weeks you'll find that it's easier for you to respond to challenges

as they come your way I started my HRV training over 20 years ago in graduate school and it's been instrumental in the growth and

development of that little girl too terrified to speak to me being here with you today so the next time you find yourself

facing a difficult situation asking yourself a question now what with a couple of months of HRV R training under your belt the answer will

be much more easily available take a few slow comfortable breaths at your residence frequency remind your body to regulate

itself and face your challenge thank you