# HRV

HRV (heart rate variability) is the variation in time between heartbeats, a marker of how the nervous system is balancing stress and recovery.

Higher than your usual HRV generally suggests good recovery; a drop often follows poor sleep, illness, alcohol or hard training. Compare it with your own baseline, not other people's numbers.

Also called: Heart rate variability.

Related: [Resting heart rate](https://revns.com/dictionary/resting-heart-rate.md), [Recovery](https://revns.com/dictionary/recovery.md)

---

Canonical: https://revns.com/dictionary/hrv
Index of everything: https://revns.com/llms.txt
revns gives training guidance, not medical advice.