1. A Heart-y Habit
Willpower, Habits, and Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Show-and-Tell Session
Quantified Self Conference
June 2015
Mark Leavitt
mark@markleavitt.com

2. A Heart-y Habit
Willpower, Habits, and Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Show-and-Tell Session
Quantified Self Conference
June 2015
Mark Leavitt
mark@markleavitt.com

3. Three things I was taught
“Eat all your food”
“Be careful, don’t get hurt”
“Study hard, go to college”

4. Fifty years later
Had eaten lots of food
(weight 195#, BMI 29)
Never got hurt
(because I was completely sedentary)
Definitely followed the college advice

5. So my challenge was to…
Extinguish lifelong bad eating habits
Build new exercise habits

6. So my challenge was to…
Extinguish lifelong bad eating habits
Build new exercise habits
…by trying to use what I’d learned in college

7. My QS “virtuous feedback loop”
Plan
Track
Analyze
Refine

8. What I track
Plan
Track
Analyze
Refine
Activities
Weight
Strength
Health
Heartbeat

9. The heart’s accelerator and brake pedals
Sympathetic (“speedup”) system:
• Fight, flee, or fume!
Parasympathetic (“pause”) system:
• Relax, refresh, and rebuild

10. Slower
Faster
Heart rate variability (HRV) is a good sign
-- the pedals are not stuck
0.64 sec 1.0 sec

11. HRV research findings
• Predicts recovery from illnesses
• Measures fitness/resilience
• Correlates with willpower tests
• Certain HRV measures increase in
mindfulness/meditation practice

12. HRV research findings
• Predicts recovery from illnesses
• Measures fitness/resilience
• Correlates with willpower tests
• Certain HRV measures increase in
mindfulness/meditation practice
Could HRV measure my day-to-day willpower?

13. Stage I: Commercial HRV sensor
• Daily 3-8 minute session
• emWave2
– Initially, at fingertip
– Later, used ear clip
• Some issues and hassles
• Upload, hack, extract, merge

14. Stage I: Commercial HRV sensor
• Daily 3-8 minute session
• emWave2
– Initially, at fingertip
– Later, used ear clip
• Some issues and hassles
• Upload, hack, extract, merge

15. Stage II: DIY wireless HRV sensor
• More accurate (EKG-based)
• Tiny, pocketable, months of battery life
• No sound or lights to disrupt session
• Wireless (Bluetooth LE)
• Memorizes session data
• Upload directly to my tracking software

16. Stage II: DIY wireless HRV sensor
• More accurate (EKG-based)
• Tiny, pocketable, months of battery life
• No sound or lights to disrupt session
• Wireless (Bluetooth LE)
• Memorizes session data
• Upload directly to my tracking software

17. Stage III:
HRV sensing
integrated
into my PC
workstation

18. Stage III:
HRV sensing
integrated
into my PC
workstation

19. What have I learned ?

20. My HRV during meditation
HR = 57
HR = 72
Wide, smooth variations
synchronized with
breathing are the goal

21. Over 3 years, I made progress

22. Over 3 years, I made progress

23. Time-domain HRV measurements
don’t detect this well
r = -0.19
N = 677

24. My HRV does correlate with strength training
r = 0.60
N = 134

25. My HRV does correlate with strength training
r = 0.60
N = 134

26. My HRV does not correlate with my weight
r = 0.04
N = 134

27. My HRV does not correlate with my weight
r = 0.04
N = 134

28. Bottom line?
HRV appears to measure my WILL power
“I will lift these weights”

29. Bottom line?
HRV appears to measure my WILL power
“I will lift these weights”
But not my WON’T power
“I won’t eat these cookies”

30. Thanks for listening.
I look forward to your questions!
Contact info:
Email: mark@markleavitt.com
Twitter: @markleavitt
Website: markleavitt.com