First, November’s High Protein Kitchen is out. This month is Thanksgiving Strong: five weeks of protein-counted meals, a turkey that does triple duty and a true flex day built in for the holiday. ​Grab the free preview here​ and that also puts you on the list to get next month's free version automatically.

Now for the thing I’ve been deep in all month: HRV.

Quick refresher if HRV is new to you: heart rate variability is the tiny change in timing from one heartbeat to the next and more variation generally means your rest-and-recover nervous system has more say.

In a pooled analysis of nearly 22,000 people without known heart disease in Europace, those with the lowest HRV had about 35% higher risk of a first cardiovascular event (an association measured on clinical ECGs, not wearables). HRV naturally drifts down with age, but the habits that help most are the ones you’d guess: moving every day, strength training, protecting your sleep, drinking less alcohol and a few minutes of slow breathing.

The reason I dug into this more is because one chart on page one of Google says a woman my age should be at 45 to 65. So I read the research to find out what a good HRV actually is for women over 40 and what I found changed how I read my own numbers (which I initially assumed were most definitely bad). There is the same amount of variation in the charts for men, so this applies to all of us.

​Oura has my 2026 average at 22 ms. My Whoop says 25. Elonga gave me even a different reading based on the way it interprets the data (full review). It has been my favorite new tool since it takes just three minutes in the morning and I don't have to wear it all day and gives just the right amount of data.

Four published HRV charts put a woman around 50 anywhere from 26 to 65 ms, which is quite a spread! The number on its own tells you very little. It's much more important to track your own trends over time since what's normal for you isn't what's normal for everyone.

What actually helps me is knowing why a morning is bad: am I stressed, or just not recovered? Then I use that information to inform how hard to train, whether I could use some stress reduction and what recovery activities I may need to add for the day.

I don't want to go into the whole reason why there is so much variance in these charts in this newsletter, but if you do want the full scoop, I wrote all about it here.

Hit reply and tell me what your ring, band or watch says about you, and whether it’s ever made you worry. I read every one and I always write back.

Have a great weekend and a happy Halloween...we're off to a friend's house to help hand out candy and see all the fun costumes.
Cheryl

P.S. If you’ve been on the fence about Elonga, the free sensor offer ends tomorrow, October 31. Get Elonga here. They have a 30 day money back guarantee and a five year warranty, so learning more about your HRV is risk free.'