For most of my life, I trained by feel. I ran, lifted, recovered, and adjusted based on intuition, energy, and experience. That changed when I discovered I have a hole in my heart. Suddenly, understanding what was happening inside my body stopped being optional and became essential. That moment is what led me to track my heart rate variability, or HRV, every single day for 120 days.

This wasn’t about chasing perfect numbers or biohacking for the sake of optimization. It was about learning how my body responds to stress, recovery, training, sleep, and life itself. Over four months of consistent tracking, patterns emerged that fundamentally changed how I approach training, rest, and long-term health. In this post (and in the YouTube video linked here and the podcast episode linked here), I will share with you what actually happened when I tracked my HRV for 120 days.

Why I Started Tracking My HRV

After my heart diagnosis, I became deeply curious about my cardiovascular system. I wanted to understand how my nervous system behaved day to day, especially as an athlete with asthma who trains at high volumes. HRV kept coming up as one of the most reliable indicators of internal stress and recovery, so I decided to stop guessing and start measuring.

Tracking HRV gave me a window into my parasympathetic nervous system, the part of the body responsible for rest, digestion, and recovery. Instead of relying on motivation or discipline alone, I now had objective data showing when my body was ready to perform and when it needed rest. That shift alone changed how I viewed consistency and longevity.

What Heart Rate Variability Actually Measures

Heart rate variability is not your heart rate. Heart rate measures how many beats your heart has per minute. HRV measures the time variation between each heartbeat. Those tiny differences matter more than most people realize.

When your body is relaxed and resilient, the time between heartbeats varies more. That variability is a good thing. It signals adaptability and strong nervous system function. When your body is stressed, overworked, or under-recovered, heartbeats become more uniform, which lowers HRV.

In simple terms, HRV shows whether your body is operating in a calm, recovered state or a stressed, defensive one. That information is invaluable when you are trying to balance training, work, relationships, and recovery.

Chill Mode vs Alert Mode Explained

I think about HRV as a signal telling me whether my body is in chill mode or alert mode. Chill mode means high HRV and greater variability between beats. It tells me my body is regulated, resilient, and ready to handle stress.

Alert mode shows up as lower HRV and more uniform heartbeats. That doesn’t mean something is wrong, but it does mean my body is asking for more care. When I ignored those signals in the past, I often paid for it later through fatigue, poor sleep, or plateaus.

Understanding this distinction helped me stop forcing productivity or training on days when my nervous system clearly needed rest. It also gave me confidence to push harder on days when my body was truly ready.

How I Tracked My HRV Every Morning

Consistency mattered more than the tool itself. I measured my HRV first thing every morning under the same conditions to eliminate noise. That daily snapshot gave me a reliable baseline to compare trends over time.

I used an HRV tracking app and logged additional notes about sleep, training intensity, mood, and stress. Those notes turned raw numbers into actionable insights. HRV alone is helpful, but HRV paired with context is transformative.

The key lesson here is that HRV works best when you treat it as a long-term relationship, not a one-off metric. A single day means very little. Patterns over weeks and months tell the real story.

Understanding HRV Numbers and Ranges

HRV is measured in milliseconds, which represent the time difference between heartbeats. You may also see RMSSD, which is a calculation that reflects short-term variability between beats and is commonly used for recovery tracking.

Over time, I learned the general ranges. Very low HRV often reflects high stress and low recovery. Moderate HRV is common in average healthy adults. Higher HRV typically shows up in active or highly trained individuals with strong recovery capacity.

What matters most is not how your numbers compare to someone else’s. What matters is understanding your personal baseline. Your low and high values tell you far more than population averages ever will.

My 120-Day HRV Results and What Changed

Across 120 days, my lowest recorded HRV was 52 milliseconds, which still fell within the typical healthy adult range. For someone training at a high level, that represented a low recovery day for me, not a failure.

My highest recorded HRV reached 360 milliseconds. At first glance, that looks incredible. Over time, I learned that extreme spikes can sometimes indicate nervous system fatigue or measurement artifacts rather than peak recovery. Context always matters.

The most meaningful change wasn’t the highs. It was the consistency. My low-end values gradually improved month over month, meaning even on my worst days, my recovery baseline was getting better.

Month-by-Month Trends That Surprised Me

In the first month, my HRV ranged widely. That variability showed me just how reactive my nervous system still was. By the second and third months, my averages climbed significantly, and the daily swings became less extreme.

By month five, my lowest HRV reading was higher than my early averages. That told me my nervous system had become more resilient. Stress affected me less, recovery improved faster, and training adaptations stuck longer.

This progression happened without consciously chasing HRV. Simply tracking it made me more aware of sleep, workload, and recovery. What you measure tends to improve because your behavior naturally adjusts.

Why Very High HRV Is Not Always Better

One of the biggest misconceptions is that higher HRV is always better. In reality, extremely high readings can sometimes signal overreaching or nervous system imbalance.

I experienced days where my HRV was extremely high, yet I felt exhausted. Without context, I might have pushed harder. Instead, I listened to my body, reduced training, and prioritized rest.

HRV should guide decisions, not override intuition. When numbers and body awareness align, training becomes sustainable instead of destructive.

How HRV Changed My Training and Recovery Decisions

On low HRV days, I rested more or trained lightly. On higher HRV days, I felt confident pushing intensity or volume. Over time, this approach reduced burnout and increased performance consistency.

Instead of forcing discipline, I practiced responsiveness. That shift helped me avoid injury, maintain motivation, and improve long-term results.

HRV gave me permission to rest without guilt and train hard without fear. That balance is where real progress lives.

Why Tracking Beats Guessing Every Time

Before tracking HRV, I relied heavily on motivation. Motivation is unreliable. Data provides clarity.

Tracking HRV helped me separate emotional fatigue from physiological stress. Some days felt hard but were actually good training days. Other days felt fine but showed signs of deeper fatigue.

This awareness changed how I approach not just training, but work, relationships, and recovery as a whole. Your nervous system does not care about your schedule. It responds to cumulative stress.

The Bigger Lesson from 120 Days of HRV Tracking

The biggest takeaway from tracking my HRV for 120 days is that recovery is a skill. It can be trained, supported, and improved over time.

Movement, tracking, and accountability form the foundation of sustainable health. HRV gave me a feedback loop that made those pillars tangible.

You don’t need to be an elite athlete to benefit from HRV tracking. You just need curiosity, consistency, and a willingness to listen to your body.

Final Thoughts on Tracking Your HRV

If you are considering tracking HRV, commit to it for at least a few months. Learn your baseline. Watch trends, not daily fluctuations. Pair numbers with notes and self-awareness.

HRV did not replace intuition for me. It sharpened it. It helped me train smarter, recover better, and live with more energy.

Tracking my HRV for 120 days didn’t just change my performance. It changed my relationship with my body.