HRV and Deep Sleep - Their Importance and Ways to Improve The

We all hope to sleep well, don’t we? But sometimes, it’s hard to tell whether we’re sleeping well or not. Sleep is essential for our overall health and well-being. Inadequate sleep has been linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, anxiety, and even cancer.

Most adults spend around 25% of their lives asleep. In contrast, children spend over 50% of their time sleeping. No doubt, children have more energy, and they often seem more alert, physically and mentally, throughout the day than most adults do.

Getting into a deep sleep mode and maintaining a healthy heart rate while sleeping holds the key to improved overall health — this is also something the scientific community has been fixated on for decades.

What Is Heart Rate Variability (HRV)? 

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is the measurement of how your heart beats differently from one heartbeat to the next. It postulates your physical and emotional health. It is also a marker of cardiovascular health and a likely predictor of mortality. HRV can be influenced by various factors, such as stress, diet, and exercise. In addition, it plays a vital role in sleep quality. Poor sleep quality due to a lack of deep sleep or irregular sleeping patterns will negatively affect your daily functioning over time.

What Is Deep Sleep?

Deep sleep is the most restorative stage of sleep. Deep sleep is a stage characterised by slow brain waves and minimal muscle activity. It is essential for physical and mental health, allowing the body to repair and restore itself. Deep sleep also plays a role in memory and learning.

Why Are HRV And Deep Sleep Important?

Heart rate variability (HRV) and deep sleep are two important indicators of good physical and mental health. There are many benefits to having high levels of HRV and deep sleep. For example, high HRV is linked with lower stress and anxiety levels, and deep sleep is linked with better memory and cognitive function. Getting enough deep sleep is crucial for physical health because it helps to repair and rejuvenate the body.

How To Improve HRV And Deep Sleep?

You could do a handful of things to improve your heart rate variability and deep sleep:

• Make sure to get enough exercise. Exercise helps to increase HRV and deep sleep.
• Eat a healthy diet. Eating healthy foods helps the body to function better; it can also improve HRV and deep sleep.
• Drink a cup of hot water with a tinge of lemon before bedtime. It helps to relax your muscles and ‘mollycoddle’ you to fall asleep quickly.
• Try to reduce stress in your life. Stress can harm the body and lead to poor HRV and deep sleep.
• Make sure to get enough rest. Getting enough rest is vital for the body to recover from exercise and stress and helps improve HRV and deep sleep.
• Meditate for 10-15 minutes before bedtime. Practice breathing exercises, mindfulness meditation, or guided visualisation. It helps to decrease your stress levels so that you’re not distracted by your thoughts as much when you go into deep sleep mode.
• Use a weighted blanket to help you relax, or lie on top of it and close your eyes as if you were trying to fall asleep, staring at the ceiling.
• Try wearing an eye mask so light won’t bother you during sleep.

Gemstones To Improve HRV And Deep Sleep

Gemstones help augment or promote HRV and deep sleep. Gemstones have been used for centuries to help with sleep, stress, anxiety and more. These healing crystals have been reported in the literature as helpful for certain conditions, including anxiety, depression, insomnia and even pain relief.

Several gemstones are said to improve heart rate variability and deep sleep. These include amethyst, rose quartz, and tourmaline, among others. Each stone has different properties to enhance your quality of sleep.

• Amethyst relieves stress and promotes relaxation.
• Rose quartz is the stone of love and compassion; it helps to ease anxiety and promote deep sleep.
• Tourmaline is the stone of protection; it can help to keep negative energies away from your bedtime routine.
• Howlite works best when you are struggling with a racing mind and insomnia.
• Lepidolite is most helpful in falling asleep quickly and improving deep sleep.
• Stilbite help to fall asleep and cope with grief, loss or heartbreak.

HRV and deep sleep are essential for our health and well-being. The more we know about them, the better. There are several ways to increase HRV and deep sleep; one of the methods is using gemstones/healing crystals. Gemstones have been used in traditional medicine for centuries because they have been shown to help regulate important bodily functions, such as heart rate variability (HRV) and deep sleep.

References

1. Breus, D. (2022). What is HRV and Why Does it Matter for Sleep?. Retrieved 7 September 2022, from https://thesleepdoctor.com/physical-health/hrv-and-sleep/
2. What Is Heart Rate Variability?. (2022). Retrieved 7 September 2022, from https://www.sleep.com/sleep-tech/heart-rate-variability-hrv
3. Deep Sleep: Stages, Benefits, Requirements, Tips, and More. (2022). Retrieved 7 September 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/health/deep-sleep
4. Crystals for Sleep: Catch More ZZZ’s with These Healing Stones. (2022). Retrieved 6 September 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep/crystals-for-sleep
5. Terpstra, J. (2021). Sleeping with Crystal(1st ed.). Blurb.