Improved mental performance means:
- Faster and better decision-making (executive function)
- Improved mental stability
- Better stress tolerance and resilience
All of the above are closely tied to improving not just brain health, but overall health as well.
When stress load on other organs is high, – from mental or physical stresses – it directly impacts the nervous system and the brain’s own capacity and functioning.
This is because the brain is intimately connected to many other organ systems, like the nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular and digestive (gut) systems.
HRV removes much of the guesswork from the process of improving mental performance. This is because HRV is actually not just measuring your heart, but directly measuring your nervous system.
Thousands of published clinical studies have linked lower HRV to:
- Decreased cognition
- Brain trauma, like concussion or post-traumatic-stress-disorder (PTSD)
- Anxiety, worry, depression, schizophrenia and many other mental disorders
- Neurodegenerative disorders
Tracking HRV removes the guesswork from your goal. You’ll be able to tell if you are making progress with mental performance and with your overall health.
It only takes a few minutes per week.
You can start by tracking your HRV for a few days, without making any changes in your lifestyle.
Afterwards, you can make a health change, or adopt a mental performance practice. Keep tracking your HRV to see if it changes after one to two weeks.
If it does, you’re on the right track! If HRV does not change, you might switch to another change, or see if something else is holding you back.
Curious to learn more? All you need is a compatible HRV sensor like our favorite (link) or one of these (link), and the Elite HRV app (link).