How Heart Rate Variability Might Indicate Your Well-Being

Heart rate variability is a measure of the time between heartbeats, giving a glimpse into the health of your autonomic nervous system (ANS).

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• HRV measures the variations in time between your heartbeats — a function controlled by your autonomic nervous system (ANS)

• HRV is typically analyzed using an electrocardiogram, or EKG, which can reveal that something’s off with your ANS

• If you have low variation between heartbeats, it may signal that you’re stuck in fight-or-flight mode, …