Author Archives: sweetwaterhrv

Brand New Instructional Videos for SweetBeatLife

Our wonderful engineer has taken the time to create instructional videos that will make your transition into the SweetBeatLife update* seamless. Several of our users have been asking for the ability to download old sessions from SweetBeat into SweetBeatLife. We are happy to announce that this feature will be available with the newest update, along with data tables and the ability to turn data on and off in the correlation feature. More videos to come – subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay tuned!

Starting Out With the Stress Monitor

Understanding the Correlation Metrics and Functions

Correlation – Available Data and Tables                                                                                           

Downloading Sessions from the Server

Note: The sessions must be uploaded to your account in order to download them into SweetBeatLife.

*The newest update of SweetBeatLife has been submitted and is awaiting approval.

Slides: HRV for Improved Sports Performance

In case you missed it, here is the HRV for Improved Sports Performance slideshow! Put together by our very own CEO and co-founder, Ronda Collier. Some of you have read the HRV Measurement Explanation slides and found them very useful. This is one step further in detail. We want our users to get the most out of their metrics!

Many of our support questions can be answered by simply browsing through these slides.

 

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SweetBeatLife & Restwise: Ultimate Recovery – 15% OFF!

Thanks to the popularity of our new partnership with Restwise, we have the pleasure of extending a limited time, 15% OFF discount for the intelligent recovery system! Right now you can sign up for a free trial of Restwise and receive 15% OFF when your first month ends! This offer has been extended for one more week, so act fast! 

To try Restwise free for 30 days, subscribe to one of the plans on their website using your Paypal account, a credit card, or debit card. After the free 30 days, automatic payments will start and continue until you cancel the subscription, which you can do at any time from your PayPal account or by emailing support@restwise.com. (If you cancel during the first 30 days, you will not be charged.) Sign up for a free trial now and receive 15% off when the trial expires. See prices on the Restwise plan page. 
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If you have a RestWise account and SweetBeat/SweetBeatLife, please follow these instructions to authorize the export:

1) Login to your account on our website. 
2) Scroll down until you see the RestWise banner. 
3) Enter your RestWise account information and click “connect”.

IMPORTANT: When you run a session on SweetBeat or SweetBeatLife, it is important that you save the session with the pre-existing tag “HRV”. This ensures that your heart rate and heart rate variability numbers export to RestWise.

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Announcing Our New Partner in Intelligent Recovery – Restwise

We believe that sharing data between multiple devices and software providers is a vital key to understanding and creating meaningful feedback. Over the last few years, we have found several partners who feel the same way. Through collective design we have brought our users the most comprehensive view of their health and fitness.

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The partnership between Restwise and SweetWater Health offers athletes the world’s most accurate, comprehensive picture of global fatigue state outside of a laboratory. Users of SweetBeat and SweetBeatLife will be able to export their heart rate (pulse in Restwise) and heart rate variability to Restwise with ease.

What is Restwise?

Restwise design was driven by two principles: simplicity and accuracy.  The biggest challenge in recovery monitoring is getting athletes to adhere to the protocol, so the process needs to be fast and easy.  But it also needs to paint a reliable, global picture of recovery state. To achieve these goals, Restwise combines several bio-markers, each of which is easy to record and is clearly supported by sports science, into a single algorithm. Restwise takes less than a minute to complete, and it has been validated through work with UK Sport and through years of successful field use.

If you have a Restwise account and SweetBeat or SweetBeatLife, please follow these instructions to authorize the export:

  1. Login to your account on our website.
  2. Scroll down until you see the Restwise banner.
  3. Enter your Restwise account information and click “connect”.

IMPORTANT: After you finish a SweetBeat or SweetBeatLife session, it is important that you save the session as the pre-existing tag, “HRV”. This ensures that your latest heart rate and heart rate variability numbers export to Restwise.

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A message from Restwise to their users:

Heart Rate Variability in Restwise Your Enter Data page has a new field: HRV, which stands for heart rate variability. HRV is a relatively new recovery marker, but there is a rapidly growing body of evidence that it is a reliable indicator of central nervous system fatigue.

Why are we adding HRV now? There are two reasons.  First, you asked for it. When we initially designed Restwise we chose markers that give you the most accurate picture of your global fatigue state possible in the least amount of time.  Completing Restwise takes less than a minute, whereas getting a reliable HRV reading takes 3 – 4 minutes.  We simply did not want to require users to spend this much time. But enough of you have said you are willing to invest a few more minutes to get a more complete picture of your recovery state that we are now providing this option.

The second reason is that we have found a great partner, Sweetwater Health. They offer a simple, accurate, and affordable way to capture HRV. If you take HRV using the SweetBeat or SweetBeatLife iPhone apps, your HRV and pulse numbers will automatically load to Restwise, where you can chart HRV against your Restwise Total Recovery Score, Load, and other individual inputs.

What’s next? HRV does not yet affect the algorithm, but it will soon. We will also update our apps to capture and display HRV. Meanwhile, if you want to get a better understanding of HRV, listen to Ben Greenfield’s 20-minute Podcast featuring Sweetwater CEO Ronda Collier. 

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Don’t have a Restwise account?

We are working with Restwise to provide our users with a free trial using their intelligent recovery system. Check back soon for instructions on how to sign up!

Other partners in data-sharing:

  • Our newest application, SweetBeatLife, includes the ability to import data from Fitbit, MapMyFitness and Withings for correlation with the app’s metrics. To authorize these fitness devices to work with SweetBeatLife, please read over, “Starting Up With SweetBeatLife”.
  • Both SweetBeat and SweetBeatLife work with AchieveMint, the dashboard that earns you money. To authorize your AchieveMint account go to your app’s account settings and select AchieveMint login. You can create an AchieveMint account from there or enter your already existing AchieveMint email.BlueBirdieIcon                                                                     SweetBeatLife

The “Geek” Screen – Understanding the SweetBeatLife Metrics

Update: The HealthPatch is no longer available to consumers. We are disappointed by this news, but are continuing to search for consumer patch partners. This article has been edited to exclude the old HealthPatch metrics.

The new SweetBeatLife “stats” screen, more widely referred to as the “geek” screen, shows all the metrics used in the algorithm calculations. These are the metrics explained in order from top left to bottom right:

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Low Frequency (LF) – The low frequency metric shows the real-time power level of your sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system in raw form.

High Frequency (LF) – The high frequency metric shows the real-time power level of your parasympathetic (rest and recover) nervous system in raw form.

LF/HF – Stress is associated with a high LF with respect to HF, or a high LF/HF ratio. By selecting the settings wheel in the top right corner, you can choose your “Stress Sensitivity Level”.

TIP: If you find that your stress level is always in the blue or the red, then you most likely need to change your “Stress Sensitivity Level”. If you are always in the blue, this means you need to base your stress level on a smaller ratio (high sensitivity level). Challenge yourself by moving up a level or two. If you are in the red, then you might need a higher ratio (lower sensitivity level). A good indication that your stress management techniques have worked is when you need to change your sensitivity level to a higher sensitivity level.

Root Mean Square of Successive Differences (rMSSD) – In other words, the square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of the successive differences between adjacent RR Intervals. I swear that’s in English. I suggest checking out our library and reading our HRV Measurements slides (slide 15) to thoroughly understand the different domains. The important thing to remember is thatrMSSD is a time domain standard and is just one of the several parameters that measure heart rate variability.HRVtrainingss

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) – HRV is the variation in the time interval between one heartbeat and the next. If only it were that simple; read our HRV backgrounder to learn more. In SweetBeatLife, HRV is a real-time scaled version (between 1-100) of rMSSD and represents the state of the autonomic nervous system and its ability to respond/react and recover from internal and external stressors. These stressors include orthostatic (standing and sitting), environmental and psychological.

TIP: The HRV for Training function of SweetBeatLife uses a special algorithm to customize your reference line and manage your training.

Heart Rate – Heart rate is the speed of the heartbeat, more specifically in this case, it is a real-time measure of your beats per minute.

*Respiration – Breathing correctly is an important factor in stress management and HRV for training. This is why we include a breath pacer. There are many different theories on which kind of breathing is best for your health. We use a specific pace meant to balance your nervous system.

TIP: The breath pacer featured on the relax screen within SweetBeatLife is proven to help balance the autonomic nervous system.

RR – On an EKG the heart rate is measured using the R wave to R wave interval (RR Interval). The RR metric is shown in real-time and quite necessary for the measurement of HRV.

TIP: Only heart rate monitors that are Bluetooth low energy (BTLE) and record RR Intervals can be used with SweetBeatLife for accuracy purposes. Pulse oximeters (watches, finger sensors, etc.) measure heart rate by pulse detection, which is not accurate enough for HRV. Please visit our compatibility chart for help and visit our health sensors page to purchase one.

 

*Steps – Another metric that may be familiar to you if you have ever used a fitness tracker. Your steps can be imported and tracker through your other wearables: Fitbit & Withings.

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SweetBeatLife on iTunes!

Starting Up With SweetBeatLife!

We’ve finally reached the next level in real-time monitoring. If you’re an elite athlete, professional trainer or fitness enthusiast looking for more meaningful data, now’s the time to up your performance with our newest application, SweetBeatLife. The new application uses StatsScreenstate-of-the-art sensor technology by our partners at Vital Connect, who created HealthPatch with extreme precision and accuracy.

IMPORTANT: The Vital Connect HealthPatch can only be purchased through our application or on our supported health sensors page. SweetBeatLife is the only application using the HealthPatch at this time! If you are unsure whether your device is compatible with SweetBeatLife or the HealthPatch, please check out our compatibility chart.

Below are some helpful tips for using SweetBeatLife with the HealthPatch and getting started with the new correlation feature, which includes data integration from other popular fitness platforms like MapMyFitness, Fitbit and Withings.

 

Purchasing the HealthPatch inside of SweetBeatLife is easier than ever!

  1. Open SweetBeatLife.
  2. Select the “General” tab on the bottom right.
  3. Select “Buy the HealthPatch”.
  4. Selecting the arrow below each option will drop down a description of that package.
  5. Enter your information and checkout

Tips:

  • If you cannot find “Buy the HealthPatch”, then you might have to go back (< General) to the main screen.
  • Make sure you checkout all of the way. If you do not receive a confirmation email within 24 hours, you have not finished checking out!
  • International users who wish to purchase the HealthPatch, please email support@sweetwaterhrv.com and we will have your request sent to the VitalConnect team. Please be patient as they finalize their international shipping system.

Authorizing Fitbit, Withings and MapMyFitness Data in SweetBeatLife

  1. Sign in to your account on our website. If you do not have an account, yet, please purchase the app and go to General > Account Settings, and sign up for one.
  2. Scroll down – between the small calendar and large calendar you will see a box. The box has clickable links for authorizing Fitbit, Withings and MapMyFitness.
  3. Select whichever platform you want to authorize and sign in to your account for that platform.
  4. Choose which data you want to see in the correlation feature. Do this by opening the app and selecting the Correlation tab > Settings > Select Data.

Tips:

  • Math is not for everyone. That’s why we have added the handy dandy “Help” document in the top right corner of the Correlation screen. Please read this thoroughly!
  • You need at least three days of data on your SweetBeatLife to use the correlation feature.
  • In settings where you “select data” for correlation, the colors coordinate with each other. For example, all of the Calorie outs are orange, even though some of them are labeled different depending on the sensor.
  • Sessions cannot be transferred from SweetBeat to SweetBeatLife (at this time).

Downloading CSV files

Our users have been requesting this and it’s finally here in SweetBeatLife! You can now export your RR-Intervals in a CSV file. Many people enter this file into the freeware Kubios for a deeper look into their nervous system. To read more about this click here.

Did you buy the HealthPatch? Read these instructions before using the HealthPatch.

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Purchase SweetBeatLife!

Questions? Concerns? Please feel free to email us at support@sweetwaterhrv.com and we will get back to you within 24 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Webinar: Heart Rate Variability (HRV) for Improved Sports Performance

SweetWater Health’s co-founder and CEO, Ronda Collier, will be hosting a webinar on May 14, 2014, 5 pm Eastern time via USA Triathlon. Listen in and see if Ronda can answer some of your HRV for Training questions. Sign up now!

Event registration

Most athletes know that getting enough rest after exercise is essential to high-level performance. Still many over-train and feel guilty about taking a day off though scientific research proves that improved performance in competitive sports is achieved by alternating periods of intensive training with periods of relative rest. Standardized training programs produce well documented results, but do not take individual responses into account. In the past decade, college sports teams and world-class athletes have been increasingly using Heart Rate Variability (HRV) to monitor fatigue and recovery from workouts. In this webinar you will be able to understand:

  • The Science and Physiology of HRV
  • Using HRV for Individualized Endurance Training
  • The Relationship Between Stress, Food, HRV and Peak Performance

USAT coaches who wish to earn 1 CEU for this webinar must purchase the webinar at www.usatriathlonuniversity.com and then complete the corresponding webinar exam. Coaches will pay $24.99 to view the webinar and if they wish to earn CEU credit would purchase the webinar exam for $9.99 for a total of $34.98 which includes viewing of the webinar and 1 CEU credit.

Cost: $39.99 for non-members, $24.99 for members

Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Length: 1 Hour

Time: 3-4pm Mountain, 2-3pm Pacific, 4-5pm Central, 5-6pm Eastern

If you cannot attend this webinar at the specified time and date, you can register in advance and the complete webinar recording will automatically be emailed to you after it is completed.

Ronda Collier, B.S.E.E., M.A. Psychology

Ronda has more than 25 years of experience in high technology product development with a proven track record of delivering leading edge consumer electronic products within both privately held startups and Fortune 500 corporations. She spent 3 years as an independent scholar researching non-invasive health monitoring techniques to improve overall personal wellbeing. This research led to the founding of SweetWater Health, L.L.C. in 2011 and the release of SweetBeat, the HRV measurement app in 2012.

Ronda has presented HRV basics and applications at the 2012 and 2013 Quantified Self conference and SweetBeat was featured at the 2012 Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco. In addition, she has been interviewed by several popular podcast hosts, including sports physiologist and author Ben Greenfield, and The Bulletproof Executive’s Dave Asprey. She is known for presenting HRV in a simple and understandable fashion.

Download SweetBeat on iTunes!