What is heart rate variability?
Heart rate variability or HRV is the physiological phenomenon of the variation in the time interval between consecutive heartbeats in milliseconds. A normal, healthy heart does not tick evenly like a metronome, but instead, when looking at the milliseconds between heartbeats, there is constant variation. In general, we are not acutely aware of this variation; it’s not the same as the heart rate (beats per minute) increasing and decreasing as we go about our daily business.
How does Nu-Life utilize HRV?
The ECG based method Nu-Life utilizes, takes just 30 seconds and detects the R wave in the QRS complex and calculates the time between R wave by detecting the heartbeat at 1 ms accuracy (1000HZ) to provide a valid HRV analysis for most people of different body types and age groups. Once the ECG data is recorded, the results are uploaded automatically to Nu-Life's licensed HRV software for full analysis including activity of the autonomic nervous system.
HRV software and the ANS connection
The HRV software Nu-Life has licensed is designed to receive the ECG data from
the hardware and analyze that data to determine the state of the sympathetic nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system and the balance between the two. Results and reports are delivered at three levels; the patient view which has an easy to read dashboard, the physician/provider view which includes a graph representation of the PNS and PSNS and the balance, and the research level including histograms and scatter plots utilized by our science and medical team.
Patient follow-up using HRV
The wearable device Nu-Life provides to patients for aftercare and follow-up uses photoplethysmography (PPG) to detect the heartbeat optically by measuring the wave of blood flow, for example from the wrist or ear, and then calculate the inter-beat interval (IBI). This allows Nu-Life to track a patient's ANS activity and evaluate any need for resuming treatment.
