Heart Rate Variability

Heart rate variability (HRV) testing is used in Omegawave technology as a method to identify the functional state of the cardiac system. This includes the athlete’s ability to adapt to stress, functional reserves, and readiness to execute physical activity at different volumes and intensities. Omegawave’s HRV assessment determines:

• Activity of the sympathetic and parasympathetic regulation mechanisms
• Tension index
• Standard deviation of the aspirate waves (breathing influence)

HRV compares the athlete’s values to norms that have been established through the testing of thousands of world-class athletes. Omegawave’s expert system generates information on the athlete’s current functional state.

HRV is one of the most effective methods for identifying the functional state of the cardiac system. Analysis of the athlete’s heart rhythm is necessary for the following reasons:

1. To understand the physiological mechanisms of the heart’s adaptation to physical loads in a hyperactive state and to verify conclusions based on collected data.
2. For early identification of possible pathological and pre-pathological changes in rhythm.
3. Because studying heart rhythm can provide important information about adaptation processes happening not only in the cardiac system, but in the regulatory mechanisms of the autonomous nervous and central nervous systems.

More About HRV

This assessment method is based on the concept of biological cybernetics and the theory of biological systems regulation. According to this concept, heart rhythm regulation is a function of the interaction of two governing channels: autonomous and central.

The autonomous channel is a governing structure with a core element: the sinus node, a cluster of specific cells located directly in the heart tissue with a high level of automatism. When the body is functioning normally, the sinus node is the main autonomous generator of heart rhythm. The sinus node’s functioning defines the myocardial activity.

The central channel of regulation is a governing structure that includes consecutive levels of neuro and humoral regulation.

At rest, a healthy individual’s heart rhythm is primarily regulated by the autonomic channel, while the central channel of regulation fulfills the control function.

At the extreme conditions associated with large physical and/or psycho-emotional loads, higher levels of regulation activate. The central channel starts to impose its own heart rhythm regulation program on the sinus node. The more demanding and extreme the conditions, the more this highest level of the hierarchical structure controls the sinus node.

In the state of rest, such a rigid, centralized influence on the autonomous regulation usually correlates with increased tension, exhaustion, breakdown in adaptation, and occurrence of pathological and pre-pathological states.

Under normal conditions, autonomous and central regulation indicate physiological adaptability in the variable intervals between consecutive heart contractions. Thus, the heart rhythm contains the information about adaptation processes. The method of heart rate variability decodes this adaptation information.

Also relevant to the evaluation of adaptation is assessing the interaction between sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the vegetative nervous system (vegetative homeostasis). A disturbance in the vegetative balance of the cardiovascular system is an early indication of a disturbance in adaptation processes. In athletes, decreased work capacity and performance stagnation result from a disturbance in adaptation to training volumes and intensities.