Equating HRV or Recovery Score on a single day ONLY to things that you are consciously aware of such as "I slept well" or "I didn't do a hard workout yesterday" or "I didn't have any alcohol" or "I don't have any extra stress" is a common mistake.

HRV is a measure of the autonomic nervous system.  The autonomic nervous system is your body’s automatic regulator, constantly balancing stress and relaxation through two branches: one that speeds you up (sympathetic) and one that calms you down (parasympathetic).

It runs things you don’t have to think about to stay alive and balanced, like:

    • Heart rate
    • Breathing
    • Blood pressure
    • Digestion
    • Sweating
    • Body temperature
    • Stress and relaxation

You can’t turn it on or off on purpose—it’s always working in the background. But you can consciously impact which branch (sympathetic or parasympathetic) is the most active.

The goal: balance

A healthy body switches easily between the two:
    • Gas when needed
    • Brake when safe
Problems happen when:
    • You’re stuck on the gas (chronic stress)
    • Or can’t apply the brake (poor recovery)


If your HRV is lower than avg and your recovery score is low, your body is pressing on the gas pedal (even if you aren't consciously aware of it).

If your HRV is higher than avg and your recovery score is low, your body is trying to slam on the brakes to recover from some previous stressor (even if you aren't consciously aware of it).

Stress is not inherently bad.  Stress is needed to improve many things in life, including fitness. Problems happen when you can't turn it off or when you can't recover from it.

So instead of getting caught up on the why if you can't immediately identify it, just take steps to drive your body more toward balance.

If you always knew exactly how your body was functioning then there would be no reason to measure any of the following: HRV, RHR, blood glucose or insulin, blood pressure, cortisol, heart rate, body temperature, etc etc etc.  Wearable devices and platforms that give you insights on these items (and more) would not need to exist.