My Week In Numbers: Tracking My Heart Rate Variability.

Never underestimate the impact of external stressors and nutrition on your health.

The past 10 days, have been one of growth and change for me.  On a professional level and on a personal level.  There were signs where I hadn't been taken optimal care physically and mentally.  Don't get me wrong, it was nothing drastic or detrimental to my health, but continued over time it could very well have been. But when I made these minor adjustments, it showed up in my HRV. Here's what I learned.

Nutrition
So as someone who is plant based there are certain supplements that is advisable to take if I want to maintain health and stay strong (which clearly I do). In fact I even did a podcast about it
(episode CSW#13).

I stuck with the majority of my supplement regime, and subconsciously because my actual nutrition intake was generally on point I let other areas slip.  So what did I notice?

• A dip in energy
• Irritability
• Mood Swings

To correct that I reintroduced  Vitamin supplement (B12 specifically) and made sure that I got my zinc and magnesium  in.  These are involved in many of the body's processes, but collectively play an important role in energy production, hormone production, aid cardiovascular health, and serve as a muscle relaxant among other things. 

I ensured that I was consistent with my BCAA supplementation and reintroduced my daily green drink packed with vitamins and minerals which assists to reduce systemic inflammation, and aids methylation, which is a catalyst for many of the body's metabolic processes.

Utilising nutrigenomics, and understanding how that can be combined with Heart Rate Variability has been a magical experience, as it cuts out so much of the guess work.


External Stressors
Whether a professional, family, friends or intimate relationship, if it is a "negative" situation that is ongoing, and your body's resiliance is compromised and not being supported by your nutrition then this will show up in your health and HRV reading. It will tax your sympathetic system.

This past week, I addressed and resolved situations where relationships (across the board) had become stuck and suffered. Impacting both my physical and mental wellbeing.

Dr Eldred Taylor goes into this and much more on the Elite HRV podcast.  More specifically about when you notice that you are not sick, but you are not well or performing optimally.


Relaxation
Getting treated more regularly, and the correct type of physical therapy for that condition I was in on that specific day (using HRV readings) made a significant impact on my HRV reading too.   

Socialising with friends, and going to interesting events that I would not normally have gone to, plus scheduling "me time" not just saying I'll do it, but block it out the diary made a considerable difference too.

Training & Sleep
These things were consistent and didn't change. But by making the minor adjustments in the other areas, I noticed that the past week I stayed much more in the green. Even with increased training load, and volume, my ability to recover and regenerate was vastly improved.

On November 26th in central London, myself and Thomas Olivier from Gensmart Academy will be delivering an exciting seminar on how nutrition impacts your gene expression,  how you can leverage that for better health and performance, and how you can combine that with Heart Rate Variability Tracking so that you can thrive.

Come join us.