Dr. Andy Galpin

It's really, really clever stuff. It's just like really fascinating research. I use that Optimal HRV app I told you earlier. It's five bucks a month. The studies oftentimes will use another app called Paste Breathing. That is just simply an app that helps you watch the app and breathe in and out at the right time.

All right, so on that Optimal HRV app, you can do this test that I'm about to take you through as well as the training. It's why I like it so much. So I can send people that polar strap, I can send them this app, say, do this resonance test, and then our training program is based upon the results of this particular test. It's telling you how long to inhale and exhale.

All right, so on that Optimal HRV app, you can do this test that I'm about to take you through as well as the training. It's why I like it so much. So I can send people that polar strap, I can send them this app, say, do this resonance test, and then our training program is based upon the results of this particular test. It's telling you how long to inhale and exhale.

Remember earlier where I've said kind of like five in, five out, or six in, six out's a good starting place? That's true. But the individual response to people is different, and this is a phenomenal way to figure out which cadence is best for you. The test takes about 12 minutes. And effectively what happens is you start at a breath rate of about seven breaths per minute.

Remember earlier where I've said kind of like five in, five out, or six in, six out's a good starting place? That's true. But the individual response to people is different, and this is a phenomenal way to figure out which cadence is best for you. The test takes about 12 minutes. And effectively what happens is you start at a breath rate of about seven breaths per minute.

Now, depending on the study you'll find, most will actually start you at about six and a half. I think the optimal HRV, if I remember correctly, starts at six and a half. And then some have gone all the way down to as low as three breaths per minute, but most are gonna start you at like six and a half breaths per minute and drop you to four or so breaths per minute.

Now, depending on the study you'll find, most will actually start you at about six and a half. I think the optimal HRV, if I remember correctly, starts at six and a half. And then some have gone all the way down to as low as three breaths per minute, but most are gonna start you at like six and a half breaths per minute and drop you to four or so breaths per minute.

Here's exactly what I'm talking about. You breathe for two minutes at this specific cadence. Let's say six and a half seconds in, six and a half seconds out. And you do that for a total of two minutes. While you're doing that, it's measuring your HRV. What it's trying to identify is when your HRV gets the highest. So you're breathing in and out at seven, at six and a half breaths per minute.

Here's exactly what I'm talking about. You breathe for two minutes at this specific cadence. Let's say six and a half seconds in, six and a half seconds out. And you do that for a total of two minutes. While you're doing that, it's measuring your HRV. What it's trying to identify is when your HRV gets the highest. So you're breathing in and out at seven, at six and a half breaths per minute.

And then you go from six and a half to six. So every two minutes, you lower your breathing rate by half a breath per minute. Now, for some people, when they go from six and a half to six, their HRV goes down. And some people, it goes up. And then you go from six to five and a half to five, all the way down, like I said, someone's down to three. At some point in that spectrum,

And then you go from six and a half to six. So every two minutes, you lower your breathing rate by half a breath per minute. Now, for some people, when they go from six and a half to six, their HRV goes down. And some people, it goes up. And then you go from six to five and a half to five, all the way down, like I said, someone's down to three. At some point in that spectrum,

your HRV will be its highest. Where that lands is totally dependent upon the person. So let's say we do the test and my optimal HRV happens at six breaths per minute and yours happens at four. That's called our resonance frequency. I now know you will get the highest HRV right now when you breathe at four breaths per minute.

your HRV will be its highest. Where that lands is totally dependent upon the person. So let's say we do the test and my optimal HRV happens at six breaths per minute and yours happens at four. That's called our resonance frequency. I now know you will get the highest HRV right now when you breathe at four breaths per minute.

So then you're going to spend more time breathing at four breaths per minute where I'm going to do six. That makes sense, right? So we're looking at how can I actually optimize my inhalation exhalation strategy to get the highest impact on my HRV? Well, it turns out this strategy is highly effective. I'll go over more of those details here in a moment.

So then you're going to spend more time breathing at four breaths per minute where I'm going to do six. That makes sense, right? So we're looking at how can I actually optimize my inhalation exhalation strategy to get the highest impact on my HRV? Well, it turns out this strategy is highly effective. I'll go over more of those details here in a moment.

But when we're defining high HRV, it's really actually important that the highest HRV score, like you're going to see on your wearables, is not what we're necessarily talking about here. There's three criteria that are used to determine best HRV score, and that RMSS thing is the lowest one. Highest on this is what's called low frequency power.

But when we're defining high HRV, it's really actually important that the highest HRV score, like you're going to see on your wearables, is not what we're necessarily talking about here. There's three criteria that are used to determine best HRV score, and that RMSS thing is the lowest one. Highest on this is what's called low frequency power.

This is another way of kind of defining and measuring your vagal nerve power. This is primitive. This is a thing we're optimizing for rather than that actual HRV score. Another really interesting one is looking at your HRV amplitude. I've talked about that before. It's the difference between kind of your maximum heart rate and your minimum heart rate in one breath cycle.

This is another way of kind of defining and measuring your vagal nerve power. This is primitive. This is a thing we're optimizing for rather than that actual HRV score. Another really interesting one is looking at your HRV amplitude. I've talked about that before. It's the difference between kind of your maximum heart rate and your minimum heart rate in one breath cycle.

Remember, when you breathe in, heart rate goes up. When you breathe out, it goes down. And so let's say when you took a breath in, you went to 80 and you took a breath out and it went to 40. 80 minus 40 is 40. So therefore your amplitude is 40. One thing that you'll see is people that are really well-trained physically have a really big amplitude.