Before the score, understand the measure.
Can HRV measure recovery? Why does HRV drop, and what do wearable recovery scores mean? Start with the signal, recording conditions and evidence behind each interpretation.
What has your week asked of you?
Explore your demands, recovery opportunities and daily experience with the TAP Load & Recovery Profile. Sixteen questions, followed by an optional 14-day diary.
Explore your profile ↗v0.1 · Self-observation · Four areasSame biomarkers. Different scores.
What changes when the measurements stay the same, but the calculation rules change? A reproducible comparison using NHANES public data.
Read the methods case3,152 participants · 5 biomarkers · 7 scoring variants
Explore the findings, source data, code and native R verification.
THE QUESTIONS BEHIND THE NUMBERS
My HRV dropped. What should I look at?
Separate an isolated reading, a persistent pattern and missing observations.
Explore the question →What does a recovery score actually tell me?
Look inside the score: its signals, personal reference and evidence.
Explore the question →Can HRV tell me whether I’ve recovered?
Start with the signal, the recording conditions and the claim being made.
Explore the question →How is allostatic load measured?
Look inside the index: selected systems, biomarkers, thresholds and population.
Explore the question →Is feeling recovered the same as recovering function?
Compare what people report with the functions researchers follow over time.
Explore the question →What would it mean to measure resilience?
Define the disturbance, the function of interest and the observation period.
Explore the question →Four questions to carry into any study.
Use the same questions when reading about a wearable recovery score: what does it measure, how was it tested, and does that evidence fit your question?
The question
Recovery from what, in whom, and over what period?
The measure
A biological signal, reported experience, functional test or combined score?
The context
Under which conditions, and compared with which reference?
The interpretation
What evidence connects this measure to the conclusion being drawn?
Read the methods behind the measures.
Understand what a signal, questionnaire or composite index actually measures.
Open the reading guide- 2017Heart Rate Variability and Cardiac Vagal Tone in Psychophysiological Research - Recommendations for Experiment Planning, Data Analysis, and Data Reporting
- 2013The LF/HF ratio does not accurately measure cardiac sympatho-vagal balance
- 2007The Recovery Experience Questionnaire: development and validation of a measure for assessing recuperation and unwinding from work
- 2022Allostatic Load Measurement: A Systematic Review of Reviews, Database Inventory, and Considerations for Neighborhood Research
- 2023Towards a consensus definition of allostatic load: a multi-cohort, multi-system, multi-biomarker individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis