On this week’s episode of Health is a Skill we’re talking all things HRV, or heart rate variability—the shift in timing between your heartbeats. It’s a topic that’s come into the limelight over the last few years, and for good reason: we’re all arguably more stressed than ever before and we need skills to measure, cope with, and manage that stress in a healthy way. Salim Najjar joins Todd for the latter part of this conversation, lending his expertise in nervous system regulation to today’s episode.

Humans have always had the innate ability to manage stress—it’s how we survived and evolved from hunter-gatherers that had to flee from saber-toothed tigers in order to survive. But today we’ve taken that same level of stress and transcribed it onto non-life threatening situations: think a negative email, parenting decisions, using social media, or just trying to get through the day. The result? We’re now more stressed than ever before, and our HRV shows that. Together Todd and Salim discuss what exactly HRV is, what your HRV number means (and why you shouldn’t compare that number with someone else’s), skills for managing your stress, and why putting those skills in place will lead to a longer, healthier, and happier life.

Follow Salim on Instagram at @thathrvguy and learn more about his approach to heart rate variability on his website: https://thathrvguy.com/.

Get access to Todd's free health resource: https://podtodd.com

Learn more about Stark at: https://www.stark.health

CHAPTERS

00:00 The Importance of Health Awareness
03:01 Understanding Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
05:53 The Autonomic Nervous System Explained
08:51 The Consequences of Chronic Stress
11:47 Perception and Stress Management
15:09 The Role of HRV in Emotional Resilience
17:59 Modern Life and Its Impact on HRV
21:12 Using Technology to Measure HRV
24:07 The Journey to Improve HRV
26:56 Somatic Awareness and Emotional Healing
29:46 The Connection Between Doing and Being
33:07 Final Thoughts on HRV and Personal Growth

Your health is a skill you can build. Start with the free resources at podtodd.com or explore team-based health optimization at stark.health