How to check your heart rate variability (HRV) on Fitbit

all your heart rate stats on Fitbit

You likely pay attention to at least a few of your Fitbit’s health metrics every day, but there’s one little gem of data called heart rate variability or HRV that too often gets overlooked.

Knowing your heart rate variability (HRV) and how it changes over time provides key insight into how your heart functions and how your body responds to physical or mental stress, illness, exercise, and activities of daily living. HRV is also a key metric in how your body recovers after straining from workouts, sickness, and other stressors.

Luckily, most Fitbits track HRV daily (overnight), showcase trends upwards or downwards over time, and help you get a quick snapshot of your overall well-being and how much stress your body is under.

Find your HRV in the Health Metrics tile, which is is available for customers with a compatible device and does not require Fitbit Premium membership.

In a hurry?Updated in a hurry

If time is short and you don’t need a thorough step-by-step, follow these quick instructions and check out your HRV metrics from your Fitbit!

  • In the Fitbit app, open the Today tab and tap Health Metrics. Scroll down to the section Heart rate variability (HRV.)

What is heart rate variability? Fitbit HRV in milliseconds

In simple terms, your heart rate variability (HRV) is the time in milliseconds between each heartbeat.

Our hearts do not steadily beat like a metronome.

Instead, our autonomic nervous system varies the timing between each beat, balancing its two branches: the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) and parasympathetic (rest-and-digest).

Your HRV is personal

Everyone’s HRV depends on various factors, including age, gender, hormone levels, sleep quality, physical fitness, diet and nutrition, lifestyle choices (such as caffeine, alcohol, and drug use), and genetics.

So, don’t compare your HRV to anyone else’s HRV!

A normal HRV can fall anywhere from below 20 to over 200 milliseconds between beats. Because there is no standard HRV, you need to look and compare your HRV to yourself and not others.

That’s why knowing your baseline HRV is essential and then looking at the variations (higher or lower) based on that baseline. In general:

• A higher HRV (relative to your baseline) is associated with greater parasympathetic responses (rest-and-digest.) A higher HRV points to greater cardiovascular fitness, better resilience to stress, quicker recovery, and more restful sleep.

• A lower HRV (relative to your baseline) is associated with greater sympathetic responses (fight-or-flight.) Lower HRV points to stress (good and bad), overtraining, illness, and even depression or anxiety.

For more information on Fitbit and HRV ranges by age and gender, see this recent clinical study on Fitbits.

How Fitbit tracks your HRV

If your Fitbit tracks your resting heart rate and breathing rate, it can also track your HRV.

Fitbits use their heart rate sensors to track your HRV when you sleep and do not offer a way to track HRV during the day.

Fitbit chooses to track HRV overnight because, during the daytime, many other outside factors influence HRV, including workouts and even things like how much caffeine you drink.

Additionally, measuring your HRV when relaxed and sleeping tends to show a higher and more accurate measure of your body’s recovery from the day’s activities, stress, and other factors.

So you must wear your Fitbit to bed to track HRV. Additionally, HRV tracking only kicks in when you sleep for at least 3 hours.

How to check your HRV (heart rate variability) on Fitbit

The Health Metrics dashboard includes HRV information for the Google Pixel Watches and most Fitbit devices, including the Versa Series, Charge series 2 and above, Inspire series HR and higher, Luxe, and Sense series along with older models like the Blaze and Alta HR. 

To gather this data, you must wear your device for at least a full day, including sleeping at night. Fitbit records your HRV during the night only, when sleeping for a minimum of 3 hours.

  1. Open the Fitbit app.
  2. Tap the Today tab.
  3. Choose the Health Metrics tile. Health Metrics Fitbit app
  4. Scroll down to the section Heart rate variability (HRV.) HRV info in Fitbit App Health metrics
  5. Review the graph of your nightly average heart rate variability (by milliseconds.)
  6. Tap LEARN MORE to see additional details, including your trends and HRV history.

If the graph shows no recent data, wear your Fitbit when you sleep for several nights, making sure you sleep at least 3 hours or more. no HRV data in Fitbit app

Are you concerned about your HRV numbers from your Fitbit?

If you see daily fluctuations in your HRV, this is usually normal and expected. So keep wearing your Fitbit overnight and look for overall trends upwards or downwards.

  • Do you see an upward trend? That’s awesome and a good indication that your heart health and overall resilience are improving.
  • Seeing a downward trend? That might be a concern. Look for things that might have influenced that trend, such as drinking or taking recreational drugs, a new medication, a recent illness, a traumatic or stressful life event, etc.
  • Are you getting a sudden and significant drop? If your HRV suddenly plummets, it’s possible that your body is experiencing strain, overtraining, stress, or that you might have a potential illness or injury. 

If you are worried about a declining HRV, reach out to your healthcare provider for follow-up and let them know your Fitbit has recorded some concerning HRV data.

Remember that while your Fitbit offers you guidance, it is not a substitute for medical care and approved health diagnostics.

Are you not getting accurate HRV on your Fitbit?

To calculate your HRV, Fitbit currently uses its optical sensor, not an ECG, to calculate your HRV.

You need to wear your Fitbit snuggly to get good readings, so its sensors directly contact your skin. Additionally, wearing the watch a few inches above your wrist bone tends to give better readings.

If you wear your Fitbit loosely, with a bit of room between the watch and skin, you won’t get good heart rate and HRV recordings.

Finally, remember that your Fitbit is not a diagnostic tool. It’s rather a guide. Rather than focus on a number, look at your baseline and identify trends–downwards or upwards.

Are you looking for daytime and nighttime HRV measurements?

Unfortunately, Fitbits, along with many other wearables, do not track daytime HRV. 

If you want to track both, consider purchasing a Whoop Strap, which captures your HRV while awake and asleep.

Want to improve your HRV? improved HRV in Fitbit app

Yes, you can increase HRV no matter your age! Be patient and keep a routine; your HRV won’t improve overnight–be in it for the long haul.

Stop smoking or using tobacco products. Okay, we all know how detrimental smoking is to your health. Among other negative outcomes, smoking adversely affects your heart rate variability (HRV), suggesting dysregulation of cardiac autonomic function. On the other hand, you see improved cardiac regulation once you stop smoking. 

So, if you consume these products, work with your doctor to be nicotine and smoke-free.

Exercise regularly. If you don’t get a lot of exercise, try getting out and about and doing a little cardio workout. You don’t have to train at a gym. Find something that you enjoy and try to incorporate that into your everyday routine.  

Allow time for recovery. Traning is great. Overtraining is not! Working out intensely every day without allowing your body to recover is a big no-no. So take the time to rest and recover.

Maintain a healthy diet. Studies show that nutrition matters with HRV. Poor nutrition, especially food with high amounts of saturated or trans-fat or high glycaemic carbohydrates, reduces HRV. 

When you also eat matters; eating late at night or just before you sleep tends to lower your HRV. So skip the late-night snacks!

Hydrate. Our bodies need water to work. Your blood quickly circulates to deliver essential oxygen and nutrients when you’re sufficiently hydrated. Aim to drink about one ounce of water per pound of body weight each day.

Get a good night’s sleep. Our bodies do most of their repair and recovery work when we rest and sleep. Recent studies show that poor sleep quality adversely impacts your HRV.

So get into a good sleep habit by focusing on the quality of your sleep–that means limiting distractions! We recommend using bedtime mode or sleep mode on your phones and smartwatches to limit any interruptions!

Limit or abstain from alcohol. Recent studies indicate that alcohol consumption negatively impacts HRV. Alcohol intake was associated with increased sympathetic regulation and a decrease in parasympathetic regulation. Drinking alcohol also prevented sufficient recovery.

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A. Beth Whittenberger
I started my love affair with computers way back in elementary school with the Apple II. Since then, I've worked with technology in my career as a media educator and videomaker. I have an MFA in media making from Temple University, where I also taught undergrads as an adjunct faculty member. Additionally, I was a writer, content producer, and editor on the popular tech blog AppleToolBox. So I know a thing or two about teaching others and creating how-to guides! After a cancer diagnosis, I turned to mobile technology like my Apple Watch to help me monitor my health throughout my chemotherapy treatment and later, to regain my wellness once in remission. I love sharing how to understand and use mobile tech, like smartwatches and phones, as a tool for empowerment to live our best and healthiest lives! Connect with me on LinkedIn!

9 COMMENTS

  1. Fitbit Versa 2 only records you HRV when you sleep.

    So the 16-18 hours during the day when it’s recording your HR it is not producing HRV data or graph.

    So if you have an arrhythmia or stressor during the day the Fitbit won’t pick it up.

    How that makes any sense what so ever is absolutely beyond me.

  2. My HRV is between 17 and 23. I’m 47, very fit, and train several hours per week. According to all my research, my HRV is very low. Is this something to worry about?

    • Hi Matthew,

      A low HRV could indicate a lot of things, from stress (all types–physical, emotional, mental) to not allowing your body sufficient recovery time between workouts. Many people think of HRV as a simple measurement of fitness, but they’re wrong–there’s a lot of things that go into HRV outside of physical activity.

      Ironically, worry about your HRV can actually lower it! So please don’t spend anytime worrying. Instead, we recommend you try some meditation or breathing exercises–these can make a huge difference to your HRV over time.

      You can do these activities on your own, use your Fitbit and the Fitbit app, or even some third-party apps on your phone or tablet.

      To help you with this, your Fitbit offers a Mindfulness tile in the Fitbit app and the Relax app on your Fitbit device that can guide you through some of these exercises. There’s also some additional stress features on certain Fitbits, such as the EDA scan app and the stress management score to show how your body responds to stress based on your heart rate, sleep, and activity level data.

      To learn more, see this article:

      Complete Guide to Fitbit Sense Stress Management features

      Final message: Don’t worry about it. Instead focus on improving your whole body health (body, mind, and spirit) and see if your HRV starts to trend up.

      Remember, that with HRV you look at how it’s trending (up or down) not on the exact “score.”

  3. Where can I find a longer history of my HRV…app only shows a weeks worth of data…I’d like to see a month graph

    • Hi Jacke,

      When you open Health Metrics in the Fitbit app’s Today tab, at the top choose Trends rather than Today. Then, at the top choose 7-day, 30-day, or 90-day periods and scroll down to your HRV. Review the graph, then tap Learn More. Underneath the graph, tap the History tab to review week by week and choose View More at the bottom to see more weeks.

    • Hi Mark,

      Look in the Fitbit app’s Health Metrics tile. For most models with the exception of the Sense and Versa 3, tracking HRV is a Fitbit premium feature.

  4. Excellent summary of all the need to know info on this subject. Thanks to the author for putting it into an easy to understand terminology.

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