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Understanding Heart Rate Variability

February 12, 2026

magazine featured insight from Assistant Professor of Exercise Science聽Alexander Rothstein, Ed.D., in an article about heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of the variation in time between heartbeats. Rothstein explained that HRV reflects how well the nervous system is balancing stress and recovery, but it shouldn鈥檛 override how you actually feel. Day-to-day swings are normal鈥攅specially after poor sleep, tough workouts, or stress鈥攁nd a single low reading doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean you鈥檒l perform poorly. Instead of reacting to isolated numbers, Rothstein stressed paying attention to long-term trends and using HRV as one data point among many.

鈥淚f you are generally well rested but then get one bad night of sleep, your HRV will likely be all over the place鈥攂ut chances are you鈥檒l still be able to play a great game of tennis the next day鈥 It would really come down to how you felt, rather than what your HRV suggested,鈥 he said.

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