Practices and Applications of Heart Rate Variability Monitoring in Endurance Athletes

Abstract Heart rate variability reflects fluctuations in the changes in consecutive heartbeats, providing insight into cardiac autonomic function and overall physiological state. Endurance athletes typically demonstrate better cardiac autonomic function than non-athletes, with lower resting heart ra...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of sports medicine 2023-01, Vol.44 (1), p.9-19
Main Authors: Lundstrom, Christopher J, Foreman, Nicholas A, Biltz, George
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Athletes
Exercise - physiology
Heart
Heart rate
Heart Rate - physiology
Humans
Physical Endurance - physiology
Physiology
Review
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Heart rate variability reflects fluctuations in the changes in consecutive heartbeats, providing insight into cardiac autonomic function and overall physiological state. Endurance athletes typically demonstrate better cardiac autonomic function than non-athletes, with lower resting heart rates and greater variability. The availability and use of heart rate variability metrics has increased in the broader population and may be particularly useful to endurance athletes. The purpose of this review is to characterize current practices and applications of heart rate variability analysis in endurance athletes. Important considerations for heart rate variability analysis will be discussed, including analysis techniques, monitoring tools, the importance of stationarity of data, body position, timing and duration of the recording window, average heart rate, and sex and age differences. Key factors affecting resting heart rate variability will be discussed, including exercise intensity, duration, modality, overall training load, and lifestyle factors. Training applications will be explored, including heart rate variability-guided training and the identification and monitoring of maladaptive states such as overtraining. Lastly, we will examine some alternative uses of heart rate variability, including during exercise, post-exercise, and for physiological forecasting and predicting performance.
ISSN:0172-4622
1439-3964
DOI:10.1055/a-1864-9726