How to make sense of your HRV

Experiment

Is measuring HRV by placing your finger over the smartphone camera (also known as finger-over-the-camera) an accurate and viable alternative to chest straps?

Why we need your help

Measuring HRV with a smartphone camera would offer our community a convenient way to take HRV readings anytime and anywhere.

Previously, this method did not meet EHRV’s standard for accuracy, but with recent advancements in signal processing and machine learning we think it may now be viable for our community.

By working with the EHRV community, we can gather a large enough sample size to have complete confidence in the results.

How you can help

Try to take a 1-minute Research Reading each day for the next 10 days. But…even a single Research Reading would help us!

You can do this by starting a Research Reading and following these steps:

Put on your chest strap as usual.
Gently place your finger over your rear-facing camera
Sit back and relax for 1-minute

The app will guide you step-by-step through this process. The image below shows where Research Readings can be found in the Elite HRV app.

Why do I need to wear a chest strap?

Simultaneous measurement of HRV using finger-over-the-camera and a chest strap tells us if finger-over-the-camera is as accurate as a chest strap. If finger-over-the-camera proves accurate, we’ll be able to offer this method to our community, as a convenient, accurate alternative to chest straps.