Chittenden, T. W., Kaleth, A. S., Ballentine, H. M., Blevins, J. S., & Herbert, W. G. (2000). Reproducibility of HRV measures in apparently healthy young women. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 32(5), Supplement abstract 715.

Heart rate variability (HRV) has been recommended for use in evaluating cardiac autonomic function in various pathophysiologic states and to assess effects of exercise interventions. HRV was studied for sampling periods of 128 vs 512 cardiac cycles in healthy young women (N = 16) while resting.

It was found that standard frequency measures, such as time derivatives or frequency of heart rate, were not reliable, either between repeated trials in the same session or on repeated days.

Implication. Heart rate variability is not a reliable indication of heart function in young women.

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