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What is a good HRV for my age?

There is no single good HRV number: it falls with age, varies a lot between healthy people, and depends on how your device measures it, so the best benchmark is your own baseline. As a rough guide, WHOOP says the middle half of its members aged 20 to 25 average about 55 to 105 ms, and those aged 60 to 65 about 25 to 45 ms.

In a large Dutch study of healthy people, women had slightly higher HRV than men from their 20s to their 50s, and the difference faded after 60. A reading that is low for your age is not a diagnosis on its own.

Updated · Facts checked against the sources listed below

HRV by age and sex: reference values

The Lifelines Cohort Study in the Netherlands measured HRV (as RMSSD) from short resting ECGs in 84,772 healthy people aged 13 to 91, excluding people with heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes or obesity. These are the median values:

Rounded medians from Tegegne and colleagues, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology (2020), 10-second resting ECGs. Half of healthy people are above and half below each number, and the healthy range around each median is very wide.
AgeWomen, median RMSSDMen, median RMSSD
20 to 2452 ms48 ms
30 to 3442 ms37 ms
40 to 4434 ms29 ms
50 to 5427 ms24 ms
60 to 6421 ms19 ms
70 to 7418 ms16 ms

The study found HRV falls steadily from young adulthood until about 60, then levels off. Women's median was about 5 ms higher than men's from 20 to 45 and about 2.5 ms higher from 45 to 59, with no clear difference after 60.

Why your wearable's number may not match

  • Different timing. The study above used 10-second readings while people rested. Oura measures only during sleep, averaging five-minute samples, and WHOOP folds HRV into its morning Recovery.
  • Different math. WHOOP and the Lifelines study use RMSSD. Apple Watch stores HRV as SDNN, a different calculation, so its numbers can't be compared with RMSSD tables.
  • Different people. A company's member averages describe people who wear its device, not the general population.

Oura says typical HRV values range from under 20 to over 200 ms, and that you should compare your HRV only with your own history.

How to use your own baseline

  1. Wear the same device the same way for a few weeks to learn your normal range.
  2. Watch the trend, such as a weekly average, rather than any single morning.
  3. Notice what moves it. Poor sleep, stress, illness and hard training without recovery tend to pull HRV down.
  4. Look for sustained changes. A drop that lasts several days, especially with symptoms, is worth a closer look.

Low HRV alone is not a diagnosis. Call 911 for chest pain, fainting or severe shortness of breath. See a clinician for a racing or irregular heartbeat, dizziness, new swelling or unusual tiredness, or an irregular rhythm alert from your watch.

Reading your HRV with Gabriel

Gabriel can read your HRV and resting heart rate trends from your wearable next to your lab results and tell you what stands out. Ask Gabriel anything free by app, web, text or voice. For the basics, see what is HRV.

Common questions

What is a good HRV for a 40-year-old?

In a large study of healthy adults, the median resting RMSSD at 40 to 44 was about 34 ms for women and 29 ms for men, with a wide healthy range around it. Your own trend matters more than the median.

Is an HRV of 30 bad?

Not necessarily. It is close to the median for healthy people in their 40s in one large study, and lower values are common at older ages. Compare it with your own baseline.

Do women have higher HRV than men?

Slightly, in one large study: women's median was about 5 ms higher from age 20 to 45 and about 2.5 ms higher from 45 to 59, with no clear difference after 60.

Does HRV go down with age?

Yes. Median HRV falls steadily from young adulthood until about age 60, then levels off.

What is a normal HRV on Oura or WHOOP?

Oura says typical values range from under 20 to over 200 ms. WHOOP says the middle half of its 20 to 25 year olds average about 55 to 105 ms, and 60 to 65 year olds about 25 to 45 ms.

Sources

  1. Reference values of heart rate variability from 10-second resting electrocardiograms: the Lifelines Cohort Study European Journal of Preventive Cardiology (via PubMed Central)
  2. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Cleveland Clinic
  3. Heart Rate Variability Oura Member Care
  4. Heart Rate Variability Explained WHOOP
  5. heartRateVariabilitySDNN Apple Developer Documentation

This guide is general information, not medical advice. It does not replace a visit with a licensed clinician. Gabriel membership is not health insurance.