Smoothness Difficlty Settings and the new ln(HF) in Detailed Session Reviews

[Richard]

Hi Ryan.
Just wanted confirmation that the Difficulty Settings only apply changes to Environments and Games and not to Graph Training. I think of Graph Training as reflecting/feeding back what's happening during a training session, so I can't see what elements would be changed by increasing/decreasing the Difficulty Settings.

I also have noticed a new graph in Pioneer's Detailed Session Review Minute bargraph setting - ln(HF).
Is it possible to provide a brief explanation of ln(HF) please?

With Thanks,
Richard.

[live4ward]

Hi Richard,

I'm pretty sure that ln(HF) is the natural log of th high frequency range, which is a measur of PNS activity generally. At a Richard Gevirtz training I attended, he emphasized that the .10 hz peak we see during resonancy frequency breathing training is an artificial state induced by training, and NOT how we expect a healthy HRV signal to look all the time. That would be like saying we expect the careful, controlled arm movements during barbell curls to be the way our arms move all the time. We do a period of barbell curl training, and then normally we have all kinds of complex arm movement but with overall improved strength because of our barbell training. In the same way, a normal HRV signal during routine activity should look complex and varied, but with improved PNS function (if the trainee had poor vagal tone before training) overall. This improved PNS function is reflected by an increase in the high frequency range and best measured over time by the ln function.

Using this stat, we can measure not just how well a trainee is doing DURING TRAINING, but whether that training is showing up as better vagal tone overall, over time.

I hope Ryan will correct me if I'm wrong!

Best,

Amy

[Ryan Deluz]

Hi Amy,

Thanks so much for the reply, I think you are giving a more useful response than I, but in short, we added ln(HF) as some clinicians are now using this to estimate vagal tone. I find clinicians who are also researchers are using this measurement a lot.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5624990/
"LnHF can Estimate Vagal Tone under Controlled Conditions
The natural logarithm (Ln) is the logarithm to the base e of a numeric value. Under controlled conditions while breathing at normal rates, we can use LnHF power to estimate vagal tone (77)."

Regarding difficulty settings and graph training, it depends on which graphs. A short answer is if the measurement name is Smoothness, it is impacted by the Smoothness Difficulty. The bottom Smoothness bar is a display of Smoothness. In the Smoothness Spectrum Graphs, Accumulated Smoothness and Your Time in Different Zones of Smoothness are showing how Smoothness changes over time. Other graphs such as the Frequency Spectrum, Heart Rate, LF/HF are not impacted by Smoothness Difficluty.

Best,

Ryan

[Rodgel]

How accurate is this measurement in reality? Is it the most accurate one out there?

[Ryan Deluz]

I think the question isn't accuracy, but accuracy in measuring what. Measurements such as ln(HF) or LF/HF or any measure of HRV, are very useful, but then to say that this measurement means you are more healthy, happy, etc., is generalizing. It's been shown to be beneficial to train these measurements, and they are useful indicators, but they should be taken in context of other factors, and interpreted and used effectively by a trained clinician. For example, to get a high HRV, sometimes people over breathe (breathe too strongly) which can temporarily increase their HRV as shown by the computer, even though this isn't beneficial or sustainable for the body, nor is it the target of training. So we look for an increased HRV, but we also look at the person, how is their breathing, ask them questions about how they feel, and so on.