I’ve read that it indicates your heart’s ability to handle stressful stimuli, but I don’t understand why. Seems like you’d just want a steady heartbeat. Why isn’t high variation the same as arrhythmia?
ETA: a couple of articles I’ve read on the subject. They all say basically the same (no)thing.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/heart-rate-variability-new-way-track-well-2017112212789
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/21773-heart-rate-variability-hrv
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate_variability
In: Biology
Did you know your Motor Cortex is directly connected with the action planning part of your brain, in fact, it’s integrated. It’s actually quite holistically done so throughout your brain. Now, why am I saying this? Well, this process is extended to a healthy heart that can react to various stimuli to get whatever has to be done, DONE.
There’s a network in your brain called the Cingulo-Opecular Network, it is made up primarily of the anterior insula/operculum, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and the thalamus. This network is generally related to your overall general alertness (“OH MY GOD THERES A THREAT OVER THERE. HEART! TIME TO RUN)”. This network and your Cingulo Cortex (the headquarters of general muscle control and response) has axons and dendrites going to and from many nodes within different networks of your brain and they all collaborate to determine what your heart rate should be for THAT moment.
Have you ever wondered how your heart can respond and immediately know your muscles might need more oxygen? Maybe your feeling a little frisky.. and that entails exercise! Variable control is part of the system and a lack of control is not something we associate with a good and clean running nervous system.
If you have a handicap on that variability, it could be a bad sign. Is something preventing hormonal responses? Are the local heart cells responding correctly? Are they distressed or dysfunctional? Is there a genetic factor lowering your body’s receptiveness to particular peripheral system stimuli? Is there an issue in a neural preventing an afferent signal to your hypophysial tract? What about a neurochemical shortage somewhere in your Salience network, or an over expression, and that’s causing a lack of variability?
If your nervous system is a dance and something is literally offbeat- it’s worth checking everything is in check!
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