On Heart Rate Variability and "Readiness"

The goal of this post is to provide some clarity and general considerations on heart rate variability (HRV), readiness and wearables. I will try to clarify why comparing HRV and readiness scores is of little use and what you should be comparing (if anything) for a more meaningful assessment of how these devices work. Most importantly, we will see how you can benefit from the data for both HRV and readiness.

What are we talking about?

HRV is a measure of physiological stress. For today's wearables and apps, it typically represents parasympathetic activity due to how it is measured (at rest, while sleeping or first thing in the morning) and computed (relying on high frequency changes captured by rMSSD). This means that a lower HRV with respect to your historical data, is associated with higher stress.

Readiness is a made up construct that most apps or wearables provide. The goal of readiness is to combine multiple parameters (one of them typically is HRV), to determine your level of recovery or ability to tackle the day (whatever that means in your case).

Why does this matter?

Due to the novelty of some of these metrics for consumers, issues in science communication, and whatnot, there is much confusion on either of them, to the point that often I see people comparing HRV from one wearable with readiness from another. While understandable (the tools are supposed to do the same thing, measure our recovery), this is like comparing apples with pears, it does not make much sense. 

This is an important aspect to address because wearables and apps can be extremely helpful in better understanding physiological responses to the various stressors we face, but not all devices are equal, nor differences between the output of one or the other device necessarily mean that they cannot be trusted. 

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