Imagine that at any time you can see the level of "charging" not only of the smartphone, but also of your own body. With the help of HRV analysis, you always know how much strength and energy you have left
Does it seem like fantasy? With Engy Health, this is reality.
This opportunity is provided by the service indicator Engy Health Energy (English Total Power, or TP ) according to the method of analyzing heart rate variability ( English Heart Rate Variability, or HRV < / i>). This technique has been used for decades in space and sports medicine to control the energy reserves of astronauts and professional athletes before performing tasks of increased responsibility.
How did the Total Power indicator come about?
The Total Power indicator was developed by physiological scientists at the dawn of the development of space programs in the USSR and the USA. The researchers responsible for the biomedical support of space flights were faced with a difficult task: to assess the health of the astronauts and to understand whether their "charge" was enough for such a complex task as flight into space.
“Civil” clinical medicine did not give answers, because it assessed health according to the principle “healthy = no disease” / “not healthy = there is disease”. But this approach is not suitable for astronauts, whose condition is always normal. Moreover, such a simplified model did not give an answer to the question of how long the astronaut's body can withstand the stressful conditions of weightlessness, is it able to endure takeoff or return to Earth without disruption in the near future?
And the answer was found by analyzing the heart rate. In the 1960s, telecommunications technology was already making it possible to transmit ECG recordings to the ground. A comprehensive scientific study of the cardiograms of cosmonauts, and later of athletes, with constant empirical verification of the results in extensive population studies involving tens of thousands of people, revealed a relationship between cardiogram data and the complex state of human health, as well as various body systems responsible for maintaining homeostasis and adaptation.
What is Total Power?
From a physiological point of view, the Total Power indicator reflects changes in the heart rate under the influence of signals from the body's regulatory systems. These include:
- the sympathetic system, which is responsible for the activation of the body under stress and danger,
- the parasympathetic system, which is responsible for the relaxation of the body and the accumulation of resources in resting conditions
- the humoral system, which, with the help of hormones, regulates the activity of the first and second systems.
But how to understand if these systems are working efficiently? The work of each of the regulatory systems can be seen on the cardiogram separately, since each of them sends signals to the heart through a certain frequency of wave oscillations.
The parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for relaxation and rest, in particular for slowing down the pulse at rest due to the work of the vagus nerve, sends HF waves ( English High Frequency, high frequency ) and look like this:
Sympathetic nervous system . It mobilizes the body, is responsible for tension, is responsible for accelerating the pulse, acting on the body with the neurotransmitter adrenaline, cortisol. On the cardiogram, the waves of the sympathetic system are called LF-waves ( English Low Frequency, Low frequency ) and look like this:
The humoral system , which, depending on the needs of the body, ensures adequate production and concentration of essential substances in the blood, in particular, hormones. On the cardiogram, its effect on the heartbeat is reflected by VLF waves ( English Very Low Frequency, ultra-long waves ), which look like this:
How is Total Power calculated?
Total Power is calculated using the formula: TP = VLF + LF + HF. The power of each wave is determined in hertz, which are converted into points using spectral analysis. Simply put, Total Power captures the total power and strength of signals from regulatory systems, thereby determining how much "charge" your body has at the time of measurement. It is significant that the regulatory systems can be trained, and therefore Total Pover is actively used in professional sports to prepare and monitor the condition of athletes before competitions.
How do I know my Energy and Total Power?
Thanks to modern technologies, measuring the "charging" of the body has become available not only to astronauts and Olympic athletes, but also to each of us. For example, using the Engy service Health .
Just knowing the Total Power is not enough, you need to interpret it correctly. Engy Health gives you the opportunity to get accurate data about your current condition, as well as receive specific recommendations for improving it. All recommendations are given strictly based on the analysis of your indicators. If you have any additional questions about your lifestyle, or if you need an extended interpretation of health status based on measurements, you can contact a physiologist-consultant at any time.
If you have been taking measurements for some time, Engy creates a history of your indicators and at any time you can look at the change in your Total Power indicators in dynamics.
How to work with the Energy / Total Power indicator?
How do you use the charging indicator of your smartphone? It's simple: if it is completely discharged, you will want to charge it first, because otherwise it will simply shut down and not complete its task. Also, Total Power is a demonstrator of charging your body. If the indicator is low, you are discharged. Your regulatory systems are not ready to adapt to your environment, and further stress increases the risk of completely depleting your body's resources. You run the risk of getting sick by catching the first infection. If your indicator is higher than normal, it means that the regulatory systems in the body are too overstressed and react to any impact almost chaotically. This condition also leads to illness.
The scale of Total Power indicators can be seen on this visualization (hover over the corresponding field to see a description of the states):
The vital energy is very small. The body's performance is low. You are in the borderline zone between health and the onset of illness.
You are on the verge of exhaustion, as after physical or mental stress. There is very little vitality. With increasing load, the likelihood of health deterioration is high.
The condition is optimal, you are at the lower limit of the norm. There is enough energy to perform everyday tasks, but with a significant increase in the load, the state of health may deteriorate.
Your body easily and successfully copes with any tasks, all systems are working properly, tension and relaxation are in balance. You have excellent vitality and high productivity!
Your regulatory systems begin to overextend. Check the quality of the recording - it should only be made in a calm, waking state.
You have critical indicators - we advise you to repeat the measurement to check its correctness, taking into account all the recommendations.
Consider the cases: you play sports
The morning meter shows low energy and you have an intense workout planned. If you do not follow Engy Health's recommendations for rest, then physical activity will not be beneficial, but harmful: you overuse the body's missing energy reserves and it will take much longer to recover. A few of these mistakes in your training schedule - and you are a potential candidate for an appointment with a doctor with a diagnosis of "overtraining". So, you need to leave sports for several weeks. Or, according to the results of the morning measurement, your TP, on the contrary, is overstressed. Even greater physical activity will cause a severe overload of all regulatory systems, and their breakdown may occur.
Intellectual activity in the office or in business has the same effect on the body as physical activity of athletes during physical activity. This means that tracking the Total Power indicator is equally effective for those who are engaged in manual labor and for those whose work is associated with intellectual overload.Pay attention to measurement rules Total Power when using service
