Revago

The Science

An answer to a problem the field keeps naming

Heart rate variability is one of the most studied signals in stress and health research, and the field has been candid about a gap: much of the measurement is inconsistent between studies, done in laboratories, and averaged across groups. The recurring call is for measurement that is standardized, works in real life, and compares a person with themselves over time (Hoemann et al. 2023). Revago is one honest attempt to answer that call. It does not claim to have solved it.

What is established, and what is not

The measurement rests on established methods. RMSSD is a standard index of short-term vagally mediated heart rate variability (Shaffer and Ginsberg 2017), and it stays valid in short recording windows (Munoz et al. 2015). The Polar H10 is accurate against clinical ECG for heart rate variability at rest (Schaffarczyk et al. 2022). The rest, reactivity, and recovery structure follows a published framework and reporting standard (Laborde, Mosley and Thayer 2017); we apply it, we did not invent it.

What is not established is anything about outcomes. Revago is exploratory, one study is registered and has not yet begun, and the honest limits above are stated, not hidden.

Source material

References

  1. 01Hoemann, K., et al. (2023). Multimodal, Idiographic Ambulatory Sensing Will Transform our Understanding of Emotion. Affective Science, 4, 480-486.
  2. 02Shaffer, F., and Ginsberg, J. P. (2017). An Overview of Heart Rate Variability Metrics and Norms. Frontiers in Public Health, 5, 258.
  3. 03Munoz, M. L., et al. (2015). Validity of (Ultra-)Short Recordings for Heart Rate Variability Measurements. PLOS ONE, 10(9), e0138921.
  4. 04Schaffarczyk, M., et al. (2022). Validity of the Polar H10 Sensor for Heart Rate Variability Analysis. Sensors, 22(17), 6536.
  5. 05Laborde, S., Mosley, E., and Thayer, J. F. (2017). Heart Rate Variability and Cardiac Vagal Tone in Psychophysiological Research. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 213.