Wellknowlogy: 2/28/23

Wellknowlogy is a curious, honest, and caring source of news & thoughts on innovations world of wellness; an efficient way for providers, technologists, investors, and enthusiasts to stay in sync and informed about endeavors to increase wellbeing. For more context surrounding Wellknowlogy, the motives behind it, and its purpose, check out Why Wellknowlogy. For filtered information concerning your particular venture, reach out to [email protected]

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This week we're looking into the weirdly quantifiable nature of resilience.

Intuitively, I think of resilience as something like grit, chutzpa, or moxy: it can't be measured and it's hard to define in a rubric, but you know it when you see it.

Well, it turns out a biological measurement exists that tracks one's resilience more objectively: heart rate variability (HRV).

In literal terms, HRV is the variation in tempo and timing between individual heart rates. In more meaningful terms, it reflects your bodies instantaneous ability to react and adapt to stressors within the span of a single heartbeat.

This is due to HRV's connection to one's parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The PNS the counterbalance for the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), the system responsible for triggering your "fight or flight" response in times of danger. When you perceive stress and your SNS jumps into action with adrenaline and cortisol (the chemicals that make you feel tight, strong, and angry), the PNS acts as the counterbalance delivering the necessary chemicals to return you to a calm, balanced state.

The proficiency of this de-stressing response is the difference between your fear, sadness, and anger being deviations from the norm instead of the norm. A heart that makes quick adjustments signifies a proficient PNS, so higher heart rate variability is a sign that your body is well-balanced.

What's cool is that, like most biometric measures, there are proven habits and practices that can change them. Meaning, you can reliably make yourself more resilient.

How? I'll map it out...

in my next newsletter. I assure you this isn't a cheap scam suggested by some internet grifter to get more newsletter reads for less effort. I generally dislike cliff-hanger articles and I am not close to that type of "strategy" benefitting me in any real way.

I simply have a bit more on my plate than usual and figure that getting something out there is better then getting nothing out there. If I'm wrong, reply and let me know!

With that out of the way, here's some cool recent stuff:

Neat Articles

• 3 lessons US healthtech companies can learn from the Cerebral investigations

• 4 reasons why workplaces are talking about ADHD

• 5 Questions: Shebani Sethi on the connection between metabolism and mental health

• The loneliness of being immunocompromised in the age of COVID-19

Market News

• Startup passes phase 2 trial to remove trial and error from mental health medications

• EVOLVERE nootropic wins best in class as natural alternative for ADHD treatment

The importance of air quality

Tidbits for You and Yours

• How to Improve HRV (if you prefer not to wait. my aim is to write it better.)

• An excerpt on Making Life Tea kindly shared by a reader

• Why you should know about magnesium threonate

Closing Kernel of Wisdom

You got to the end! Nice. I don't charge for this, but if you value this enough to give me money, feel free to do so — my venmo is @dsimenz. If you want more, click the button below and check out my site with everything Wellknowlogy has ever published:

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Wishing you a great week to come.

Warmly,

Dayton