Today, I’ve got a wild one for you—something that crawls out of the murky depths of biohacker obsession and haunts my inbox like a bad trip.

The inspiration for this diatribe is that I got a few solid questions on my newsletter yesterday about using HRV to determine your recovery capacity and the Oura ring vs ithlete, so I wanted to add some more context.

Also, the price on the HRV Education Course is going up to $299 to match the other courses; however, you can still get in at the significantly lower price below yet.

The new price takes effect when the clock strikes 1 minute past midnight this Monday night, PST, but you can get in at the much lower price below now.

>> HRV Education Course <<

"Hey, doc, my HRV sucks via the Oura ring. What do I do?"

Ah, yes. Heart Rate Variability—HRV, the Holy Grail of your body’s stress response, or as I like to call it, the neurotic meter of the nervous system. And the short answer, my friend, is... it depends...

...But that’s as satisfying as a clear squirrel piss warm beer at sunrise, so let’s dive deeper into this rabbit hole and shake out a few things you can actually do.

Background: I’ve been on the HRV train for over 12 years, dragging athletes and clients along for the ride, and the research behind it—oh man, we’re talking 84 dog-years of poking the beast that is the autonomic nervous system (ANS).

A volatile cocktail of factors influences HRV—big hitters like micronutrition, aerobic capacity, sleep, calories, breathing patterns, and the dark, unspeakable shadow of past trauma. Yeah, it all matters.

People love to forget that your aerobic system is like a bouncer at the stress club—its job is to keep the chaos under control.
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That’s why I’m a big fan of a seated, one-time AM test to figure out what’s going on via ithelte. Do it in the morning, fresh as a daisy, or hungover like a college sophomore—whatever, just get the data.

Now, let’s talk about Oura. Oura’s HRV readings are legit, using time-domain methods and backed by research and I like Oura. I use it for my own online M3 1-1 clients for sleep and heck I even do a ton of sleep analysis work for the smart mo-fos Dr Andy Galpin, Dan Garner, and the crew at Rapid Health Optimization..
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..but here’s where it gets dicey—with Oura it is measuring while you’re in dreamland aka horizontal, and that’s a whole different ball game.

If your resting heart rate is crawling around like a propranolol-ed sloth, you might hit parasympathetic saturation—basically, your HRV won’t budge much day to day.
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That’s why I like a single-point measure first thing in the AM—it’s a better snapshot of how badly you beat yourself up the day before, especially if your resting heart rate is very low.

In short, if your resting heart rate on Oura is in the 50s or higher, you are probably fine to use it as a rough guide. However, if your resting heart rate is in the 40s at night, you wont' be able to gather much useful info from it due to parasympathetic saturation.

There you have it—a quick and dirty answer to a complex beast of a question on HRV. It’s not pretty, but my job is to spit you the truth after well over a decade of published research and thousands of HRV data points in real time with maniacs like you.

Much love and HRV,

Dr Mike

PS: Want more? Enroll below in the HRV course. Don't worry - there is very very little of that 4 letter word (MATH) involved and it is super practical.

>> HRV Education Course <<

Note that the price goes up to $299 as of 1 minute past midnight this coming Monday night, so hop to it while it is significantly cheaper now.
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Mike T Nelson CISSN, CSCS, MSME, PhD
Associate Professor, Carrick Institute
Owner, Extreme Human Performance, LLC
Editorial Board Member, STRONG Fitness Mag

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​​Mike T Nelson is a PhD and not a physician or registered dietitian. The contents of this email should not be taken as medical advice. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any health problem - nor is it intended to replace the advice of a physician. Always consult your physician or qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health