Category Archives: Heart Rate Variability

Heart Rate Variability

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!

My Sugar Rehab: Day 89, Adrenal Fatigue – Guest Blog by the Swiss Nutritioneer

It’s time for an update on my adventure to my optimal self and the fight against my sugar addiction. It is now day 89 without me having a relapse. Yay!

Usually, I can eat a meal, get up from the table without having any desert and still feel happy and satisfied. This is huge. Risky for me are now only days when I eat too much fruit or wait too long with preparing my next meal. Then grasping a “healthy bar” (too much sugar) or a piece of cheese (personal sensitivity: can trigger cold sores) is still very tempting.

Otherwise I eat gluten free without any regrets (when I eat gluten, it can cause depression or self-doubt within 2 days) and I don’t buy anything that comes with an ingredient list.

All is well that ends well? Unfortunately not.

My own heart measurement (SweetBeat App, 60Beats chest strap) has shown that my HRV (heart rate variability) and HF / LF (high frequency, low frequency) values ​​are less than optimal. Both are measured to determine

  • the personal stress tolerance,
  • the biological (real) age,
  • the vital reserves,
  • the physical and mental fitness,
  • the recovery and regeneration capability,
  • and the respiratory function.

On the contrary, my values are ​​by far the worst that I have ever measured on a test subject. Oops, that was a shock, and my active cycling comeback scheduled for this spring had to be cancelled. My journey to my optimal self is thus far from over.

Well, my dear heart was always my weak point. What to do next was the big question. Being professionally involved with health solutions proves to be very helpful at such occasion. I used my Swiss Nutritioneer analysis system, as described in my online practice. The findings were as follows:

– Adrenal fatigue in the 2nd stage (caused by chronic stressors)
– Resulting catabolic dominance in the body
– Assumed compensation by adrenaline
– Chronic adrenaline acts like “poison” for my heart

The real headache was to identify my main stressors. After a meeting with myself that included a sheet of paper, a pen, a quiet place in the sun and the willingness to question everything, I was able to determine these factors quite clearly. There are two emotional stressors in my current life that cause enormous, chronic stress (multiple simultaneous projects with their organizational and financial requirements). By the way, the three main causes of chronic stress are listed here, if you need help to identify yours.

As a result, I created the following, optimal program for me:

  1. Nutrition
    Self-experiment applying Dr. Terry Wahl’s diet protocols. (Watch her TED Talk: Defeat multiple sclerosis and other diseases with healthy food! 17 min.)
  2. Remove emotional stressors
    – Change my attitude towards these ongoing projects (book recommendation Eckhard Tolle, The Power Of Now.) I plan to write an additional blog post about what worked for me to stay in the moment instead of worrying about future events or regret things happened in the past)
    – Breathing exercises using the Inner Balance App and the necessary ear sensor.
    – Freeze frame technique (book recommendation The Heartmath Solution)
    – Laugh! There is hardly a more powerful weapon against chronic stress than laughter. One Chuck TV episode in the evening works very well for me. You’ll have to find out what works best for you.
  3. Movement
    – Explosive, super short one rep max strength exercises of the strongest muscle groups in the body (chest press, leg press, shoulder pulls, calf raises), which trigger an anabolic hormone response.
    – HIIT (high intensitiy interval training): Extremely short but full gas sprints of max. 6 seconds with 2 minutes rest in between. A total of 6 to 12 sprints. (boosts anabolic hormones)
    – Overall, no workout longer than 15 to 20 minutes and no cycling (too much of a catabolic effect)
    – Work less, surf more. Or translated for landlocked countries: less work, more hobby;)
  4. Monitoring progress
    Every morning, using HRV and LF / HF 3-minute test (SweetBeat App)

Obviously, my next chapter on the journey to my optimal self and faster cycling is opened…

 

Visit iTunes to download SweetBeat!

To read the original article and more from the Swiss Nutritioneer, visit his website!

Rene von Gunten is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and the Nutritional Therapy Association and also holds a diploma in Nutritional Balancing Science from the Westbrook University. Rene is a graduate of the renowned mentorship program in functional medicine by Dr. Kalish.

 

HRV and Snowboarding by Lifestyle Magnet! [VIDEO]

Jono, also known as Lifestyle Magnet, is one of our SweetBeat users. He is a real quantified selfer! Read below to see how he has used his data to maximize his snowboarding experience.

Snowboarding and HRV

“In this video I want to show how I have been experimenting with HRV and Snowboarding. It is the beginning of the season and the muscles are not quite in shape yet. But, the excitement to be on the snow is at an all time high, as in MAJOR stoke! Using an app called Alpine Replay and the SweetBeat HRV app I was able to determine where I was on the slope in relation to what my HRV was doing. When I first looked at the session chart of my snowboarding session and noticed the up-and-down lines for my HRV, I immediately assumed that the bottom of each of the bumps was what corresponded with the bottom of each run. To me it made sense: the body is engaged physically as you descend the mountain and then you recover sitting on the chairlift on your way back up again. Your mood is also elevated as you go up on the lift in anticipation of the next run. However on closer inspection I notice that my HRV continues to get less, or go lower after the run is over. It only starts going up sometime on the chair lift ride back up to the top of the mountain. During the preparation time right before the run as I am adjusting my bindings, my HRV starts to drop and continues to drop throughout the run. What will be interesting will be to see if the speed of recovery changes as the season progresses and I get more in shape.”

Click here to watch the video!

Get started with SweetBeat now!

We encourage all of our users to share their stories! Comment below if you are interested in sharing with us!

Beyond Training: Mastering Endurance, Health & Life by Ben Greenfield

Download the free chapter now!!

Ben talks about his new book in the video, “How To Achieve Your Peak Performance Without Destroying Your Body.”

Download SweetBeat (see in the video at 1:55)!

About the Book: “You have amazing physical goals. You want the best body you can get. You want to look, feel, and perform like a champion.

So you beat up your body with tough training, day after day, week after week, month after month. As a result, you’re held back by frustrating issues like brain fog, broken gut, hormone depletion, heart problems, and damaged joints – limited to living at a fraction of your peak capacity and powerless to tap into your full potential and achieve your dreams – potentially destroying your brain, heart, gut and metabolism in the process.

But what if you could get an incredible physique, do an Ironman triathlon, compete in Crossfit, run a marathon, become a powerlifter, do extreme exercise, play any sport you want and achieve amazing feats of physical performance without destroying your body?

Now you can, with Ben Greenfield’s brand new book “Beyond Training: Mastering Endurance, Health & Life“.

Contrary to popular belief, it truly is possible to be healthy on the outside, to look amazing, and even to compete in teeth-grittingly hard events like Ironman triathlons and Crossfit – and still be healthy on the inside too. And this book gives you every training, nutrition, and lifestyle solution you need to do it, including:

  • The 2 best ways to build endurance fast without destroying your body
  • Underground training tactics for maximizing workout efficiency
  • The best biohacks for enhancing mental performance and instantly entering the zone
  • How to know with laserlike accuracy whether your body has truly recovered
  • 26 ways to quickly recover from workouts, injuries and overtraining
  • The 25 most important blood and saliva biomarkers and how to test them
  • 5 essential elements of training that most athletes neglect
  • 7 stress-fighting weapons to make your mind-body connection bulletproof
  • Proven systems to enhance sleep, eliminate insomnia, and conquer jetlag
  • 40 high-calorie, nutrient-dense meals that won’t destroy your metabolism
  • Done-for-you tools to customize your carbs, proteins and fats for your unique body and goals
  • 9 ways to fix a broken gut, create toxin-free life, and detox your body
  • A complete system to safeguard your immune system and stomach
  • Potent time-efficiency tips for balancing training, work, travel, and family
  • Training and meal plans so that you easily and immediately implement everything you discover

Whether you’re a triathlete, marathoner, CrossFitter, swimmer, cyclist, ultrarunner, recreational athlete or any other extreme exercise or regular exercise enthusiast, this is the last system for training, endurance, health, and life you will ever need.”

HRV Talk: Debbie Potts interviews Ronda Collier on HRV testing – Fit Fat Fast Podcast

Enjoy this great podcast from Debbie Potts and Ronda Collier. For a brief overview, read below:

The Fit, Fat, Fast Podcast!

“Was it Socrates or Michael Jackson who said “Keep on with the force, don’t stop. Don’t stop ’til you get enough”?  Regardless, that’s the way Jon thinks about testing Heart Rate Variability.  You can’t get enough of it! You see, testing HRV might be one of the most accurate and powerful biofeedback devices you can do in the comfort and privacy of your own home.  HRV tells you so much about your autonomic nervous system which in turn tells you how your body is regulating heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, cortisol production and so much more.  Understanding your autonomic nervous system is key to understanding a whole host of health parameters and HRV is the window into that.  Debbie sits down in this episode to talk all about HRV testing with Rhonda Collier, founder of Sweetwater Health and the Sweetbeat App which is pretty much the industry standard for testing HRV.  There’s a ton of great information….enjoy!

To listen to the podcast, go to the Fit Fat Fast website!

Download SweetBeat on iTunes!

 

 

Heart Rate Variability: A Guide to Effectively Using HRV for Training and Health with SweetWater Health’s Ronda Collier – Podcast by Tawnee Prazak

Below is a short explanation of the podcast and a link to listen!

“Expert Ronda Collier, CEO and co-founder of SweetWater Health and the SweetBeat app, joins the show to give a detailed chat on heart rate variability (HRV) and how to understand it, use it for training, use it to monitor and lower stress and more. On the show we explain what HRV actually is and what it measures, including details on the nervous system, the components of HRV and stress including high-frequency waves, low-frequency waves, rMSSD, and how to make sense of and interpret those. We also discuss what numbers are “good” and “bad” and what you want to see based on age/gender, when to measure HRV, how athletes can use it for their training programs, stress vs. HRV on the SweetBeat app, psychological components to HRV, other HRV apps available what you need to get started with HRV, and much more including a couple specific questions from listeners.”

To listen to Tawnee’s full podcast, click here.

Download SweetBeat and use HRV for Training, now!