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Conrad Bernier's avatar

When we do morning hrv I believe you tell us to breath normally however it appears that just by concentrating on exhale we can increase our hrv. Why shouldn’t we do that?

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Marco Altini's avatar

hi Conrad, thank you for your message.

When the goal is to assess our resting physiology, as in a morning measurement, we do not want to artificially impact the data (otherwise you could also just swallow repeatedly: https://marcoaltini.substack.com/p/a-quick-note-on-continuous-heart ).

On the other hand, if you want to possibly train your parasympathetic system using a slow breathing exercise, as in HRV biofeedback, then breathing at your resonant frequency is ideal to acutely increase your HRV. See this blog to learn more about this application: https://marcoaltini.substack.com/p/heart-rate-variability-hrv-biofeedback

Hence:

- for a morning assessment of your resting physiology, relax and breathe naturally (we do this just once per day, first thing in the morning)

- to train your parasympathetic system via a biofeedback exercise, use slow breathing (we can do this anytime, outside of the morning assessment)

I hope this clarifies

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