Where you fall on the continuum of wellness, or
homeostatic balance, and how efficiently you can respond, recover, and adapt
to change, is in essence, a measure of the functional state of your body or
your degree of physical fitness.
While the rhythmic beating of the heart at rest was once
believed to be monotonously regular, we now know that the rhythm of a healthy
heart under resting conditions, as well as stressful conditions, is
surprisingly irregular.
The heart rate and rhythm are largely under the control
of the autonomic nervous system and heart rate variability serves as an
important indicator of both physiological resiliency and behavioral
flexibility, reflecting the individual's capacity to adapt effectively to
stress and environmental demands.
The principle is aptly illustrated by a simple analogy:
just as a shifting stance of a tennis player about to receive a serve, or a
boxer about to fend off attacks from his opponent helps to facilitate swift
adaptation, in healthy individuals, the heart remains similarly responsive and
resilient, primed and ready to react when needed.
Both healthy and pathological processes will immediately
and continually provoke Autonomic Nervous System events. Our changing heart
rhythms being under direct autonomic control, not only affect and reflect the
heart, but also reveal the dynamic interactions between physiological, mental,
emotional, and behavioral processes.
Therefore, an HRV "wave portrait" can serve as
a "fingerprint" of one's autonomic regulatory activity.
