HRV chart by age and sex

Heart rate variability (HRV) declines with age. In a study of 1,906 healthy adults, average 5-minute resting RMSSD was about 40 to 43 ms at ages 25 to 34 and about 19 ms at ages 65 to 74 (Voss et al., 2015). Differences between men and women are small compared with the effect of age. The chart below gives values by decade and sex, with the spread you can expect.

Use the chart for context only. Your device, the time of day and the metric change your number, and your own trend is the better guide. For what counts as a good number overall, see the pillar guide what is a good HRV.

What is the average HRV by age?

Average HRV falls steadily from early adulthood to about age 60, then flattens. In the KORA population study, mean 5-minute resting RMSSD dropped by roughly half between ages 25 to 34 and 55 to 64. The table lists mean values with the standard deviation, which shows how widely healthy people differ.

Age	RMSSD women (ms)	RMSSD men (ms)	SDNN women (ms)	SDNN men (ms)
25 to 34	42.9 (SD 22.8)	39.7 (SD 19.9)	48.7 (SD 19.0)	50.0 (SD 20.9)
35 to 44	35.4 (SD 18.5)	32.0 (SD 16.5)	45.4 (SD 20.5)	44.6 (SD 16.8)
45 to 54	26.3 (SD 13.6)	23.0 (SD 10.9)	36.9 (SD 13.8)	36.8 (SD 14.6)
55 to 64	21.4 (SD 11.9)	19.9 (SD 11.1)	30.6 (SD 12.4)	32.8 (SD 14.7)
65 to 74	19.1 (SD 11.8)	19.1 (SD 10.7)	27.8 (SD 11.8)	29.6 (SD 13.2)

Source: Voss et al., PLoS One 2015. 5-minute ECG, lying down after 5 to 10 minutes of rest, 782 women and 1,124 men from the KORA S4 cohort, people with arrhythmia, known disease or heart-rate-affecting drugs excluded.

Read the standard deviation as a guide to normal spread. For women aged 25 to 34, a mean of 42.9 ms with an SD of 22.8 ms means many healthy women in that group sit anywhere from about 20 to 65 ms. A value below the mean is not a problem by itself.

How do I read an HRV chart by age?

Find your age row, then the column for the metric your device reports. Compare your typical value, not a single reading, with the mean. Being within one standard deviation of the mean is common. Your number is most useful when compared with your own past readings taken the same way, at the same time of day.

Three checks before you compare:

1. Metric. RMSSD and SDNN are different numbers. Apple Health stores SDNN. Many rings, straps and phone apps report RMSSD. See RMSSD vs SDNN.
2. Recording length. The table uses 5-minute readings. Overnight averages and 24-hour recordings give different values. Shaffer and Ginsberg (2017) note that these norms "are not interchangeable."
3. Conditions. The study measured people lying still in a lab. A reading taken while walking around or after coffee will not match.

Why does HRV decrease with age?

HRV decreases with age in every large study, and the pattern depends on the metric. Measures that track beat-to-beat vagal (parasympathetic) activity, such as RMSSD, fall fastest. In a 24-hour ECG study of 260 healthy people aged 10 to 99, RMSSD reached about 47% of its teenage level by the sixth decade and then stabilized.

Umetani et al. (1998) found that the pattern depends on the metric:

Metric (24-hour ECG)	Change with age	Source
RMSSD	Fell fastest, to about 47% of second-decade value by the sixth decade, then stable	Umetani et al., 1998
pNN50	Fell to about 24% of second-decade value by the sixth decade, then stable	Umetani et al., 1998
SDNN	Fell slowly, to about 60% of second-decade value by the tenth decade	Umetani et al., 1998
Heart rate	Declined with age, much more slowly than HRV	Umetani et al., 1998

Source: Umetani et al., J Am Coll Cardiol 1998, 112 men and 148 women.

The same study reported that, using RMSSD, 12% of healthy people over 65 fell below published cutpoints associated with higher mortality risk in patient studies. The authors note this limits how well low HRV alone can predict risk in older adults. In other words, a low number at 70 is common in healthy people.

A large app dataset agrees on direction. In 28,175 people taking morning readings with a smartphone, HRV at the population level was moderately associated with age (r = -0.35), while resting heart rate was not associated with age (Altini and Plews, 2021).

Is HRV different for men and women?

Sex differences in HRV are small and depend on the metric and age. Women tend to show lower SDNN and more high-frequency (vagal) power than men. For RMSSD, the most common wearable metric, two large studies found no meaningful difference. Age has a much larger effect than sex on HRV.

The evidence, side by side:

Study	Sample	Finding
Koenig and Thayer, 2016 (meta-analysis)	63,612 people in 172 studies	Women had lower SDNN and lower total power, but greater high-frequency (vagal) power
Voss et al., 2015	1,906 adults, 5-min ECG	Women had slightly higher RMSSD in most decades, not statistically significant
Umetani et al., 1998	260 people, 24-h ECG	Women under 30 had lower HRV on all measures; gap gone after 50
Altini and Plews, 2021	28,175 app users, morning RMSSD	67 ms men vs 68 ms women, no meaningful difference

Source: as listed in each row.

Koenig and Thayer describe the pattern as notable: "Although women showed greater mean heart rate, they showed greater vagal activity indexed by HF power of HRV." For women, the menstrual cycle also shifts HRV by a few percent across the month. See good HRV for women and the menstrual cycle.

What other factors shift HRV at any age?

Besides age, HRV is associated with fitness, body mass and daily stressors. In the Altini and Plews dataset, average RMSSD was 69 ms in people with normal BMI and 56 ms in people with obesity. Physical activity level showed a weak positive association with HRV. Alcohol, illness and hard training lowered next-morning HRV.

Factor	Association with RMSSD	Source
Body mass index	Normal BMI 69 ms, overweight 64 ms, obese 56 ms (averages)	Altini and Plews, 2021
Physical activity level	Weak positive association (r = 0.21)	Altini and Plews, 2021
High alcohol intake	About 12% lower next morning	Altini and Plews, 2021
Sickness	About 10% lower	Altini and Plews, 2021

Source: Altini and Plews, Sensors 2021.

This is why two 40-year-olds can differ by 30 ms or more and both be healthy. If you want to move your own number, see how to increase HRV. If your number is well below your usual range, see low HRV meaning.

Why do app users see higher numbers than the chart?

Many wearable and app users see higher RMSSD values than the lab chart because of differences in timing, posture, device and population. A systematic review of short-term lab studies found a mean resting RMSSD of 42 ms (Nunan et al., 2010), while morning app readings in 28,175 users averaged 69 ms. Neither number is wrong.

Overnight values from rings and watches are recorded during sleep, a different state from a short rest in a lab. See HRV during sleep. Morning readings taken right after waking can also differ from a lab reading after a short rest. Keep your comparisons within one method.

How Svanu uses your age and your baseline

Svanu does not grade your HRV against an age chart. It compares this morning's HRV and resting heart rate with your own recent baseline, plus your sleep, to produce a recovery score. The baseline starts as provisional after 3 nights and becomes full at 7, and every score shows its inputs and what moved it.

HRV and resting heart rate also feed the biological age estimate, which combines your chronological age with at least 2 of 5 signals and shows a likely range. It shows how each factor adds or takes years.

HRV comes from Apple Health, so readings from an Apple Watch or another device that syncs to Apple Health work. Without a watch, you can take a 20 to 30 second camera reading of RMSSD. Camera readings are compared only with camera readings, because watch SDNN and camera RMSSD are not comparable. Learn more on the Svanu home page.

The short answer

HRV falls with age, fastest for RMSSD until about 60. Average 5-minute resting RMSSD is about 40 ms in the late 20s and about 19 ms in the early 70s, with wide spread at every age. Sex differences are small. Compare yourself with your age group for context, and with your own baseline for decisions.