#hrv

Chapter 9

This is a very small part of Kogo-Dogo's fanfic Human Resources Violation, I wanted to have some fun and recreate it as a comic just to see if I can:'D

I didn't have much power in me to make it clean, but still!

If you interested in reading it, please check it out, I'm rereading it after two years and it's incredible!!

🎖Favorite Stud 🏆 Marko Drčić 🇪🇺 🇭🇷

I’ve been working on getting my heart rate variability (HRV) up. This is important as it’s correlated to your body’s stress response (ie fight or flight). It’s good to have a high HRV as it shows your body can adapt to sickness and stress better.

I do this through meditation, visualizations and breathing exercises along with consistent low-moderate intensity exercise.

For the longest time, my HRV sat in the high 30’s/low 40’s. I’ve even seen my HRV drop as low as 18 when I had COVID a few years ago. (It tends to go down when you’re sick, so that’s normal.) As I have cancer, I just assumed it would always just stay on the lower side. For the past 3 weeks, I’ve been doing meditation daily and have remained more consistent with my exercise. I average about 10-15 minutes/day for meditation. Exercise time varies but the goal is to do *something* every day.

As a result, especially over the past week, I’ve seen my HRV climb higher. It’s now averaging in the low 50’s. Which is still not great but I’m happy with the improvement. Yesterday, I spent a little longer meditating (closer to 30 minutes) and my HRV jumped to 68. Today, I spent even longer and it’s currently sitting at 81. (I’ve never seen it that high.)

For many, many years, I thought meditation was crap. It’s nice to see actual results that prove otherwise. So this is a great motivator to keep going.

Yesterday, I did a walk/run for 7.5km’s.

This morning, I went on the elliptical for 25 minutes and spent some time doing stretches/core/strength exercises. Then, I went for another 7km run this afternoon. It’s beautiful out. Tomorrow is supposed to be another sunny day.

Pain, stiffness, etc, etc, is still there. Nothing I can do about it except pace myself and take pain meds. I think during every seasonal change, my body goes through shock. Pacing is so important. As long as I don’t overdo it and take breaks, I’m (usually) okay. I used to have to set timers to remind myself to lay down for a few minutes. Now, I just know when it’s time to rest.

I also spent some time cleaning around the house. I need to do a hardcore spring cleaning. I will plan this over the kid’s spring break so they can help me.

One of my new goals this week has been to engage in some sort of creative endeavour - daily (if possible and time allows).

I made a pile of decorations out of salt dough that I was planning to finish over Christmas. That didn’t happen. Plus, they were looking ugly. So I abandoned them. (They’re just stars and hearts.) I didn’t want to throw them out so I waited until I could figure out what I could turn them into. I’ve started to decoupage them. Well, they’re still looking weird - but it’s better than the paint. Worst case scenario: I donate them to our local little art/craft gallery. (Like a little book library or a puzzle library but for artsy stuff.) Before Christmas, I donated a bunch of handmade soap bars and candles that were my “rejects” to the little art gallery. They were scooped up pretty fast which made me happy. I’m glad someone is using them and they don’t end up in the landfill.

Creativity is so important for my mental health. Even if I make ugly stuff, it doesn’t matter. I need to create time to express myself through an art form.

I’ve been gradually adding new things to my morning routine which is working really well.

Little a monster frenrey sketch for Self Care