When you think about mental health, you might focus on your thoughts, emotions or even brain chemistry. Yet, one of the most powerful and often overlooked indicators of mental well-being is your heart rate variability (HRV).

HRV doesn’t just reflect your heart health and physical health. It plays a major role in your brain function, emotional regulation and stress resilience.

What is Heart rate Variability (HRV)?

Heart rate variability measures the tiny differences in time between each heartbeat; contrary to perhaps popular belief, our hearts don’t beat like a metronome. If your heart beats 60 times in one minute it’s not beating once every exact second; it might be 0.9 seconds, then 1.1 seconds and so on.

This variability is an indicator of how adaptable and flexible your nervous system is. In fact, HRV, is now recognised as a key marker of mental health, resilience and cognitive performance.

• High HRV = A balanced, flexible nervous system that manages stress well
• Low HRV = A stressed, rigid nervous system that struggles to recover from challenges

Why HRV Matters for Mental Health

Your heart and brain are constantly communicating. In fact, signals from the heart directly influence the brain regions responsible for focus, memory, emotional balance and decision making.

When HRV is low (due to stress, anxiety, poor sleep or burnout):

• Mental clarity suffers – you’ll feel groggy or unfocused
• Decision making becomes reactive instead of rational
• Emotional regulation decreases leading to irritability or overwhelm

When HRV is high (your nervous system is balanced):

• You feel calmer and cope better with day to day challenges
• Focus and concentration improve
• Creative thinking and problem solving skills are good
• You’re more resilient in the face of stressors and recover quicker from stressful events
• Productivity increases
• You’re able to respond rather than react in a triggering relational situation

The Brain-HRV Connection

Research shows that HRV is closely linked to the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain responsible for executive functioning, self-control and higher-level thinking.

• Low HRV: The prefrontal cortex goes “offline” leaving emotional, reactive brain regions in charge
• High HRV: The prefrontal cortex stays engaged, supporting clearer thinking, better decision making and emotional balance

This makes HRV one of the best indicators of how well your brain and nervous system are functioning under stress.

How to Improve Heart Rate Variability

The exciting part? HRV can be trained. By practising daily habits and evidence-based techniques, you can strengthen your HRV and improve both mental and cognitive performance.

Strategies include:

• Heart Focused Breathing (one of the HeartMath techniques)
• Mindfulness and meditation
• Getting a proper night’s sleep (7 to 9 hours)
• Regular exercise and movement
• Proper hydration and balanced nutrition

Even just a few minutes of daily HRV training can help to reset your nervous system and boost your resilience.

Using HeartMath to Improve HRV, Mental Health & Focus

As a certified HeartMath practitioner, I help people improve HRv and unlock the mental clarity, emotional regulation and nervous system resilience they need to really thrive.

Working with me you’ll:

• Identify your personal stress triggers
• Learn simple, yet powerful, science-based HRV improvement techniques that you can use anywhere
• Improve your focus, decision making and emotional balance
• Build a stronger more adaptable nervous system

The result? Better mental health, sharper brain function and less stress in your daily life.

👉 Ready to discover how improving your HRV can help you reduce stress, sharpen your focus and improve your mental health? Book a complimentary discovery call with me here.

💡Learn more about my 6 week Nervous System Reset coaching programme here.