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OT: "Heart Rate Variability (HRV) gives us an idea about the state of our autonomic nervous system"

This answered a big medical doubt I have had for the past week.

For ages my heart rate has been at a stable 95-105 resting BPM with very little variability, which is quite high and understandable given my low fitness. I've recently radically changed my diet, and in 2 weeks my resting BPM has gone down to around 65 (!), changing rapidly up to 100 BPM if I move unless I'm staying completely still.

I was unsure of what this radical change meant, but apparently whatever I was doing before was very bad for me, and whatever I'm doing now is much better. Given that my diet change has also put my anxiety in remission, it makes sense that there's a strong connection between less overstimulation in the brain and more relaxed circulatory system.

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HRV describes the steadiness (or not) of the timing between beats, as measured in milliseconds. It sounds like you are describing something else here, like your resting rate and how much/quickly it responds to exercise.

For an example of HRV, let's say you're showing a heart rate of exactly 95 BPM for a one minute period, which means an average of one beat every 0.6316 second. If the actual beats were very close to occurring exactly once every 0.6316 sec like clockwork, then you have a low HRV.

At some later time, you also measure 95 BPM during a one minute period, but this time you find the period between beats is much more variable. Sometimes it is 0.627 seconds, and sometimes it is 0.641 seconds. The beats aren't falling like clockwork, they are all over the place.

The second example is a high HRV, both examples having the same heart rate.

Accurate beat-measuring equipment is required to calculate HRV (e.g. a heart-rate watch and an app).

Ah good, thanks for the clarification.

Would you mind sharing your diet changes?

Gone 100% carnivore

Would very much like to try this for myself, but I would rather look for a more sustainable diet. Do you think it was a matter of missing nutrients, or rather intolerance of some sort to the carbohydrate sources?

Massive inflammation due to multiple unknown factors, making me even more intolerant to the simplest of food and spices. Carnivore is basically the ultimate elimination diet.

Oh yeah, and my brain works noticeably better than it has for the past 15 years. It's 100% reproducible for me, but I just need a lapse of judgement, the wrong food, and it's back to the dark pit of doom and extreme tiredness.

How do you know it's the increase of meat and not another factor, such as prior consumption of grains or such?

I never said it's the increase of meat in my diet that makes me feel better, but more likely the elimination of everything else. Grains were not the only factor, though a big one for me.

Also, ketosis is a superior state of being than the carb/insulin/blood sugar rollercoaster IMO.

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