Week 46: Facts and myths about wearables and HRV
A conversation with Henrik Børsting Jacobsen, Dan Quintana and Fredrik Mentzoni
hi there 👋
I hope everything is well.
I was invited to discuss wearables by Henrik Børsting Jacobsen who is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo and who runs the Mind-Body Lab (which also comes with a podcast).
We had a good chat, which you can find at the link below.
Can wearables really unlock the secrets of your health? In this episode, we delve into the science behind heart rate variability (HRV) and the growing impact of wearable devices on health and personalized medicine. The discussion covers how wearables track metrics like HRV to assess stress, sleep, and recovery while also examining both the benefits and the challenges of interpreting this data accurately.
Todays host, Henrik Børsting Jacobsen, is joined by three experts in the field of wearables and HRV: Marco Altini, a researcher and founder of HRV4Training; Dan Quintana, an associate professor in health psychology at the University of Oslo; and Fredrik Mentzoni from Olympiatoppen where he integrates wearables into elite athletic training.
Together, they break down how these devices can provide useful insights but also caution against common pitfalls in interpretation.
And here is a link to Spotify:
Thank you Henrik, and I hope you can find the conversation useful.
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See you next week!
Marco holds a PhD cum laude in applied machine learning, a M.Sc. cum laude in computer science engineering, and a M.Sc. cum laude in human movement sciences and high-performance coaching.
He has published more than 50 papers and patents at the intersection between physiology, health, technology, and human performance.
He is co-founder of HRV4Training, advisor at Oura, guest lecturer at VU Amsterdam, and editor for IEEE Pervasive Computing Magazine. He loves running.
Social:
Hi Marco, excellent panel and conversation, very down to earth to the everyday questions we ask ourselves with all this data. Thank you.
.
I measure 4-5 days a week my HRV with a garmin hrm dual pro heart rate band and eliteHRV (must try yours), and what I do is for 5min sit in the mornings just after waking up while doing nasal breathing 4s/6s inhale/exhale. I do this because I read that it is an exercise that helps to improve your HRV. My question is: is the data and trends valuable if I always use that pattern and keep all variables constant? Or would the data be better if I let go of the breathing pattern and measure breathing naturally?
Another question is whether you have tried Muse Headband to study sleep phases. In the podacst you mention that watches don't actually measure that and that the calculation to approximate it is inaccurate, Muse as such does measure the electrical activity of the brain. I just wanted to know if you know anything about how reliable Muse data can be.
Thanks y saluti,
Antonio