On the Utility of Heart Rates

Any form of exercise that raises your heart rate and leaves you slightly breathless, if done on a regular basis, is extremely beneficial.

~ Mark Richardson

I have a routine that I have followed more often than not for the last 13 years as I go to bed.

I put on my cheapest, most simple heart rate monitor, and lay down. Then, I watch my heart rate decrease to to the lowest level possible without being asleep.

In the 13 years it has become the most reliable barometer of wellness I have ever had. Days before I ever actually experience symptoms from being sick my resting heart rate will only decrease to a level 10 beats per minute above normal. When I am in shape, my resting heart rate is approx 37 BPM laying down. When I am sick, it will not drop below 50 usually.

When I am overtrained, my heart rate tells me.

When I am stressed about work, and about to have a terrible night of (no) sleep, my heart rate confirms this.

Our cardiac output, the simple rythmic beating of our heart, is the function of biochemical processes embedded deep inside our cellular make-up. Our physical selves are composed of a fantastically complicated and intricate network of responses and feedback loops that inhibit and stimulate and constantly "sense" the environment in order to best suit us for what might happen next.

This is, at its essence, Survival.

However, we as humans do not depend upon these series of sensations and responses any longer for survival. Our psyche has, and continues to, uncouple from our physical selves. We think our way through every day knowing full well (most of us) that we are not in peril, that we are not threatened by starvation, and that water is plentiful and safe. We (largely) do not have to spend energy on the worry about being fit to reproduce and pass on our genes for the lineage's survival. Our physical biochemical response is dulled and unresponsive.

So what, then, have we become?

As I lay down with my heart rate monitor and watch the numbers change, my mind races. I think about a demanding meeting at work occuring the next day and the number sky rockets, often two-fold. Tension, perspiration, my breathing increases.

Deep breath. The thought evaporates. I remember the warm, soothing feel of the sun on my face as I sit on the dock at the lake, listening to the water, the dock moving slightly, and my heart rate plummets. My respiratory rate decreases. My breathing is intimately linked to my heart rate. Oxygen and carbon dioxide are powerful drivers of cardiac function. Thoughts are powerful.

"Picture yourself vividly as winning, and that alone will contribute immeasurably to success."

~Harry Emerson Fosdick

With thoughts I can induce changes in the theater of biochemistry occuring inside me. There is still some link to my primal sense of survival, after all. Do people who visualize their physical efforts actually, in essence, train "virtually" by causing a biochemical reaction? If you picture success, does the biochemistry inside of you follow suit and "wire" you for victory?

I lay there, watching the numbers fall. I find it meditative to focus on these numbers and clear my mind. In all honestly, it is one of my favorite moments of the day. One of the few times outside of training when I feel free of the bonds of thought.

And, naturally, my heart rate drops.