Hi, guys. Welcome to another episode of the FAKTR podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Riddle. Welcome, and thanks for listening. Today, we kick off a new 2 part training on harnessing the science of heart rate variability or HRV for enhanced patient care with doctor David Hopper. When it comes to the science of studying heart rate variability, it's more than just a data point or a health marker. HRV is a comprehensive gauge of our nervous system's flexibility and our overall physiological resilience. In this fascinating 2 episode series, our guest instructor doctor David Hopper will share the significance of understanding both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems for achieving optimal bodily functions and discuss the potential of HRV in predicting illnesses and enhancing patient care.

We will also explore how this powerful tool helps athletes adjust training schedules and assists medical practitioners in planning better patient care strategies, all while steering through day to day physiological shifts. Whether you're a health care professional or someone interested in wellness and body metrics, this episode is packed with valuable insights on using HRV to its full potential. So be sure to hit that download button and grab something to take note with. Let's dive in.

Alright. Well, thank you so much for having me today, Jessica. I'm very excited to be talking to all of you about my absolute favorite topic, which is heart rate variability. So let's get in here. And first things first, I wanna introduce myself. So I am a practicing chiropractor as well as an oral myofunctional therapist. So for those of you who aren't familiar with the second term there, think somebody who does rehabilitation for the airway, mouth, and face. That's kind of my zone.

I do a lot with sleep apnea, TMJ, and all of that as well in practice. As well, I I'm a father of 2. Those are my children right there, Jovan and Petunia, and my beautiful wife there, Brooke. And we are located outside of Chicagoland here, and we have a few clinics doing different things out here. So chiropractic, then we have occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, and then, of course, RMT as well. And I am a, as well, an instructor at the National University of Health Sciences. So I'm in their doctorate program help helping to bring chiropractors and naturopathic doctors out into the field. So lots of fun that we get to have over there.

And then, basically, anything heart rate variability certification wise that you can possibly have or get have gone through as much as I could. And I get to talk about HRV everywhere I go to, which is real fun. So that is me. And one more thing that I would like to mention as well, I am associated. My passion for HRV has driven me to, to start an app. So I'm part owner of an app. Within HRV as well, we do have a device as well. So I just want to be forward with my disclosures on that, that I am involved financially with an application as well for this.

What were the basics of heart rate variability? So by no means by the end of this course will you be in a place where you can turn around and start using HRV very confidently in practice. For that, I want you to go through our extended, which we will have up here in the next coming weeks here. And but what we will learn today is the basics. So that way you will know the path to using HRV in practice. And at least what you will have when you leave here today is a good enough understanding to start experimenting on your own and know what you are looking at. So again, just in general overview here, but the first thing that we're gonna dive into is the history and the power behind heart rate variability as well. We're going to define heart rate variability. So with heart rate variability, this is not a new science.

Although it is a hot topic right now, that is just because as of right now, technology is getting to the point where now it is an easy to find thing. So it's an easy metric that we can measure all of a sudden. Whereas before, it wasn't the case. So it was actually 18/95 was when ECGs were first came out and hit the world, and we can actually see that variance. Prior to that, we knew that there was a variance in your in your heart rate, but then we saw that in 18/95. Now in 19 thirties, they came out with this thing called PPG or photoplasmography. And that is actually the most commonly used way to detect heart rate from any source. So anybody who's wearing an Apple Watch, boot band, or a ring, anything like that, that light sensor is a PPG sensor is what it's called.