Heart rate variability (HRV) has gained a lot of attention recently because of its value as an indicator of mental and physical health. It can tell us a lot about someone’s physiological state, quantifying their energy levels and even predicting when their heart might stop beating.[1]

Given the mind-body system, this might be a useful way of measuring physiological improvement resulting from meditation practice. Could HRV become a way to quantify signs of progress in meditation or hone one’s meditation skills through biofeedback training? Here’s the science behind HRV and how meditation affects it.

What is Heart Rate Variability?

HRV measures the changing length of intervals between your heartbeats over time. So while heart rate is measuring your beats per minute (bpm), HRV tracks the variance in your bpm.

For example, let’s say your heart rate is 60 bpm. That doesn’t mean it actually beats once every second. You might see 0.9 seconds between beat on the inhale and 1.1 seconds per beat on the exhale.