HeartMath

Has anyone used any of the HeartMath products? I have had a lot of triggers for any myriad of irregular heart beats over the years and this was recommended by a couple people one being a physician of mine. When watching reviews on it, it focuses on HRV. They don't address afib but I'm wondering if it would be a useful tool for me on an every day basis to calm anxieties which can trigger things. But it isn't free. I do have an Apple Watch which calculates HRV so I wonder if this is more than that. I searched on the search bar and also googled "heartMath fibbers" and didn't see that this was discussed before.

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bettylou4488
Has anyone used any of the HeartMath products? I have had a lot of triggers for any myriad of irregular heart beats over the years and this was recommended by a couple people one being a physician of mine. When watching reviews on it, it focuses on HRV. They don't address afib but I'm wondering if it would be a useful tool for me on an every day basis to calm anxieties which can trigger things. But it isn't free. I do have an Apple Watch which calculates HRV so I wonder if this is more than that. I searched on the search bar and also googled "heartMath fibbers" and didn't see that this was discussed before.

Back in the day, before Kardia, Apple Watches and all manner of monitoring your heart (like 2004) I got one of their "Freeze Framer" devices as it would show beat to beat heart rate. I really used it for looking at beat to beat heart rate variability. Afib would show up on this as would premature contractions. I got it when I was in a 2.5 month episode. The basis of their program is to get you to breathe at 5.5 to 6 breaths a minute and then optimize this breathing rate to maximize HRV, especially respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) {"Respiratory sinus arrhythmia is a common finding. It is a normal alteration in cardiac rhythm generated from the stimulation of the vagus nerve and changes in cardiac filling pressures during respiration." Source} RSA basically means the heart rate speeds up on the inhale and slows on the exhale. With slow breathing (4-6 breaths per minute) this RSA HRV can be increased and looking at the output of their software, it gives you instantaneous feedback so you can play with your breathing to maximize/optimize this. Now, you can slow breathe when you are in afib, but any HRV output while in afib or with a bunch of ectopics is worthless. I have their modern version, which gets your heart rate from an ear clip sensor and works with a phone (there are both bluetooth and wired versions). I do a lot of slow breathing (for general purposes, not for afib, always through my nose and diaphragmatically at 5 breaths per minute with 4 second inhales and 8 second exhales. I also try to keep my inhales very quiet so I'm training CO2 tolerance at the same time). I think slow breathing is good for calming people. I have a friend, Nick Heath, who is a PhD & a type 1 diabetic. He found that slow breathing improved his glucose control and started a site with a huge amount of info on this. The link is a search on the site for slow breathing. There is a free app for both iOS & Google that will time it for you. The Coherent Breathing selection is set up for 5 seconds inhale and 5 seconds exhale for 5 minutes. These can be changed. The Custom selection allows you to set values for inhale duration, inhale hold time, exhale and exhale hold time as well as total time. You can use this to time your breathing for free (links at the bottom to the Apple & Google app stores).

I've attached an excerpt from the late Hans Larsen's book talking about HRV (in my excerpt) and near the end, Heart Math specifically.

I should note that while you are breathing, Heart Math has some mental exercises they encourage that you do at the same time to enhance the breathing impact. There are YouTube videos on these techniques. You'd probably get most of the benefit by timing your breathing in the 5-6 breaths per minute range and looking at some of the videos to learn their mental techniques. If you are having afib or ectopics, the HeartMath output will be dominated by the arrhythmia not the base instantaneous HRV.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2023 08:40PM by GeorgeN.

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GeorgeN
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Thanks so much George! I am going to check out all those resources. I need help in this area and I think these resources could get me started!