[The Knowledge Project Ep. 176] Dr. Leah Lagos and Joe Mazzulla: Control Your Heart, Conquer Your Stress

Shane Parrish: When I was thinking about where to start this, I think we need to start with what is HRV, and why does it matter?

Leah Lagos: HRV, I believe, is a biomarker that everyone should understand and know. It is a biomarker of resilience and adaptability. The larger your HRV, the more control you have over your autonomic response to stress before, during, and after a stressor. [Editor’s note: HRV stands for heart rate variability, which a measure of the variations in time between consecutive heartbeats. HRV is controlled by the autonomic nervous system.] You can take someone who’s [in the] top 1% of the world in what they do, and if they don’t have the physiological control to operate at that top 1% consistently during stress, before the stress occurs, [or] after it happens, they don’t have that control. They’re operating at a fraction of themselves instead of their best self. HRV in and of itself, the science of it, is [that] we’re looking at the time in between heartbeats, and more time is better. Less time shows a less resilient autonomic nervous system. Clinically, when a client meets with me, we use a different parameter than, say, the Oura Ring, which is looking at the time interval between beats.