HRV Biofeedback

Heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback pairs slow, paced breathing — typically around six breaths per minute — with a live readout of the beat-to-beat variation in heart rate, training the user to raise it deliberately.

What published research reports

A meta-analysis of 24 studies published in Psychological Medicine (2017) reported that HRV biofeedback training produced large reductions in self-reported stress and anxiety across the pooled studies, while noting that many included studies were small and called for more well-controlled trials. HRV itself is used in the sports-science literature as a marker of autonomic nervous system state; consumer wearables estimate it with varying accuracy, as documented in the device-validation review covered under Biohacking Equipment.

References

• Goessl VC, Curtiss JE, Hofmann SG. The effect of heart rate variability biofeedback training on stress and anxiety: a meta-analysis. Psychol Med. 2017;47(15):2578–2586. PubMed