If your HRV looks low next to your partner's or a chart's, it probably isn't low. Twin studies put the genetic share of differences between people at roughly 40 to 60 percent, and age, sex, life history and the device you wear account for much of the rest. A number is only low against your own baseline.
Takeaways
- No "normal" HRV exists for healthy adults. A review of 44 studies and more than 21,000 people found individual spreads as large as 260,000 percent on some measures.
- Genes hand you a large share of your number. Twin studies estimate 40 to 48 percent of the differences in RMSSD in one sample and 47 to 64 percent across HRV measures in another.
- Age lowers HRV steadily, and sex changes the pattern. A 55-year-old and a 30-year-old are not on the same scale.
- What you've lived through can show up too. People with posttraumatic stress show lower resting HRV on average.
- Two devices give two different numbers, even on the same night and the same body.
- The useful question is about direction: are you above or below your own usual range, and for how many days?
"My husband's HRV is 85 and mine is 38. What's wrong with me?"
Some version of that question lands in my inbox almost every week. Sometimes it's a spouse. Sometimes a training partner, a teammate, or a coworker with the same ring. Sometimes it's a chart someone found online that claims to show what a good HRV looks like at their age.
After 40 years of coaching I understand the instinct. Comparing is how we've always worked out where we stand. With heart rate variability it's one of the fastest ways to misread your own body.
Heart rate variability (HRV): the variation in time between one heartbeat and the next, measured in milliseconds. Most wearables report a version of RMSSD, a measure that mainly reflects the parasympathetic, rest-and-digest side of your nervous system.
Think of it like running pace
Put two runners on a track at a nine-minute mile. For one of them that's a hard tempo effort. For the other it's a conversation jog. Nobody watching would decide the first runner is unhealthy. They'd assume the two bodies are built differently and trained differently, and they'd judge each runner against that runner's own easy days and hard days.
HRV works the same way. A 38 can be a great morning for one person and a rough one for someone whose usual range sits at 85. The number only tells you something when you know whose it is.
Is there a normal HRV range?
Not one that's useful for an individual. In 2010 a team of researchers set out to fix that, pulling together short-term HRV data from 44 studies covering 21,438 healthy adults (Nunan, Sandercock & Brodie, Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology). They started from the fact that no normative data for short-term HRV existed. What they found was a very wide spread between people who were healthy by every available measure. Several of the studies showed differences from one person to the next as large as 260,000 percent, mostly on frequency-based measures.
The time-based measures most wearables report are steadier than that, but healthy adults still land across a broad band. Two people the same age, in similar condition, can have genuinely different true baselines. Neither one is healthier. Bodies vary.
How much of your HRV is genetic?
A large share. Twin studies compare identical twins, who share all their genes, with fraternal twins, who share about half, to separate inheritance from environment. They keep finding that genes explain a big portion of the differences in HRV between people.
- A Dutch study recorded 24 hours of ordinary daily life in 772 twins and siblings. Genes explained 40 to 48 percent of the differences in RMSSD, the measure most wearables lean on (Kupper et al., 2004, Circulation).
- A study of 1,060 young adult twins put the genetic share at 47 to 64 percent across HRV measures (Golosheykin et al., 2017, International Journal of Psychophysiology).
The estimates move with the method and the measure. The message doesn't. Part of what you see each morning was dealt to you before you ever laced up a shoe. You can't out-train your parents, and you don't need to.
Is my HRV normal for my age?
Your age is one of the biggest reasons your number differs from someone else's, and HRV is expected to come down as you get older. A Dutch analysis of nearly 14,000 ECGs from people aged 11 days to 91 years found the typical value and the lower end of the normal range fell steadily from birth into old age (van den Berg et al., 2018, Frontiers in Physiology). That's a normal feature of an aging body, like losing some flexibility over a decade.
Sex shapes the pattern as well. A meta-analysis of 172 studies and more than 63,000 people found women tend to have higher resting heart rates yet more vagal activity on high-frequency HRV, with less total variability overall, and the differences shifted with age (Koenig & Thayer, 2016, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews).
So a 55-year-old woman holding her number up against a 30-year-old training partner is comparing two stages of life. It says nothing about who's fitter. The same goes for your own younger self. Your baseline at 55 shouldn't look like your baseline at 35.
Can stress or trauma lower your HRV?
It can, and this is the influence people least expect. Experiences that overwhelm our ability to cope can leave a lasting mark on the autonomic nervous system, and HRV is one place it shows.
The research is most consistent for posttraumatic stress. A 2020 meta-analysis found that people with PTSD had lower resting RMSSD and high-frequency HRV than people without it, a sign of less parasympathetic activity at rest (Schneider & Schwerdtfeger, Psychological Medicine).
The picture for childhood adversity is more mixed. A 2022 meta-analysis found no overall link between childhood adversity and vagal activity. It did find lower baseline vagal activity for direct adversity such as maltreatment, and in study samples that included people with a diagnosed mental health condition. The authors described the differences as small (Wesarg et al., Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews).
That's one more reason not to hold your number up against someone else's. You don't know what the person next to you has carried, and they don't know what you have. A lower baseline is no verdict on your character or your effort.
If you suspect something you've been through is still showing up in your body, your sleep or your numbers, that's worth a conversation with a licensed counselor or therapist. Your HRV can't tell you what happened. It can be one of the signals that it's time to bring the right professional onto your team.
Why do Oura and WHOOP show different HRV numbers?
Different hardware in different places, processed different ways. In 2025 a team at Ohio State's Human Performance Collaborative, working with the Air Force Research Laboratory, had 13 adults wear five consumer devices alongside an ECG chest strap across 536 nights of sleep. Accuracy varied. Both Oura rings agreed most closely with the ECG on HRV, WHOOP showed moderate agreement, and the Garmin and Polar watches agreed less well (Dial et al., Physiological Reports).
Each company also handles the signal its own way: different measurement windows, different parts of the night, different algorithms. When your Oura says 52 and your friend's WHOOP says 70, you're comparing two different measurements, on top of two different bodies.
What does a low HRV tell you?
Only what it says relative to your own history. Three questions do the work:
- Is my number higher or lower than my usual range?
- Has it stayed there for several days, or was it one rough morning?
- What changed in my training, sleep, stress or health that might explain it?
| Person A | Person B | |
|---|---|---|
| Usual baseline | 38 ms | 85 ms |
| This week | Holds at 36–40 through a hard training block | Drops to about 60 and stays there for a week |
| Raw number vs. the other person | Lower | Higher |
| What it suggests | Recovering well | Something worth paying attention to |
Person B's 60 is still "higher" than Person A's 38. The direction and the trend tell the story. The raw number doesn't.
One caveat matters here. A steady low baseline is just your baseline. A sharp, sustained drop that comes with symptoms like unusual fatigue, chest discomfort, dizziness or a racing heart is a reason to call your doctor, not to keep watching the app.
What can you control, and what can't you?
| What shapes your HRV | Can you change it? | What to do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Genetics | No | Accept the range you were dealt |
| Age | No | Expect slow drift down. Don't benchmark against your younger self |
| Sex | No | Ignore charts that blend everyone together |
| Life history and stress | Partly, with support | Talk to a licensed professional if it's still showing up |
| Device and algorithm | Yes | Pick one device and stay with it |
| Sleep timing, training load, alcohol, breathing | Yes | This is where your day-to-day trend moves |
How should you read your HRV?
- Give it a month. It takes about four weeks of consistent wear for a baseline to settle. Don't judge anything before that.
- Stick to one device. Switching devices, or wearing two, means starting your baseline over.
- Watch the trend. A single low reading means very little. Several days below your normal range is worth acting on.
- Ignore the charts. Published "HRV by age" tables describe groups of people measured a certain way. They don't describe you.
- Retire the household leaderboard. If you and your partner both track, compare how each of you is trending, not whose number is bigger.
For more on reading the score itself, see what your HRV score means, and for a way to test changes on yourself, how to test HRV with a wearable.
Where HRV+ fits
Behavior comes first. Sleep timing, training load, alcohol and slow breathing move your trend more than anything you can buy.
For people who have that floor in place, I co-created HRV+: one softgel with omega-3 DHA/EPA and SPMs, magnesium, curcumin and a proprietary hemp extract. It's formulated to support the body's natural inflammation-resolution process and may help support the overnight recovery your device is measuring.* Judge it the way this whole article suggests, against your own baseline over several weeks.
Adults 21+, US only. Availability varies by state. The product page lists the full ingredient panel, third-party COA and use warnings.
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
The book behind this post
This article is drawn from Chapters 10 and 11 of The HRV Book: What Your Ring or Wristband Is Actually Telling You. It covers the physiology behind the number and what to do with it on an ordinary Tuesday morning, with every claim tied to who showed it and how strong the evidence is.
Your device is already making the only comparison that means anything: you this morning against you over the last few weeks. Let it do that job, and stop handing your number to anyone else to grade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my HRV so low compared to other people? Probably because you're comparing across bodies. Genetics explain roughly 40 to 60 percent of the differences in HRV between people in twin studies, and age, sex, life history and device account for more. Your number is only low if it's below your own usual range.
What is a normal HRV for my age? There's no individual-level normal. HRV declines steadily with age, and healthy adults of the same age land across a very wide range. Published age charts describe groups measured a particular way, not you.
Why is my HRV lower than my partner's? Different genes, possibly a different age or sex, a different history, and often a different device. None of that says one of you is healthier. Compare how each of you trends against your own baseline.
Is a low HRV bad? A stable low baseline is usually just your baseline. What matters is a sustained drop below your own usual range. If that drop comes with symptoms like unusual fatigue, chest discomfort or dizziness, talk to your doctor.
Can you raise a genetically low HRV? You can move your trend within your own range through sleep timing, training load, alcohol and slow breathing. You can't train your way into someone else's range, and you don't need to.
How long does it take to know your HRV baseline? About four weeks of consistent wear on one device. Switching devices restarts the clock.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.