Is Heart Rate Variability the best biomarker of the time to track our longevity? In this episode, we look at why HRV may be the best way to track how well you are aging and the bets being placed on it in Silicon Valley to drive innovation in anti-aging and longevity research.

Previously we’ve looked at using HRV for training and recovery, stress management, and tracking hormesis. If you are new to biohacking, HRV is an easy economical way to start tracking. All one needs is a heart rate strap and phone app.

The activity around HRV in Silicon Valley originates from The Palo Alto Longevity Prize – a one million dollar life science competition to “hack the code” that regulates our health and lifespan. The prize is using HRV as a proxy measurement for longevity, so teams will compete against each other to find tools and tactics to increase the HRV metric – and thereby potential longevity.

“Whenever you want to nurture innovation, you need to have metrics… The reason HRV was chosen was… one, we have decades worth of heart rate variability data…. there is good cohort data, population-level data, that suggests that declining HRV is also due to a chronologic age…. [and] unlike most biomarkers in health, HRV can be measured continuously, contextually. You can measure it for 24 hours.” – Dr. Joon Yun

Today’s interview is with the man behind the Palo Alto Longevity Prize, Dr. Joon Yun. Dr. Yun is managing partner and president of Palo Alto Investors, LLC, which oversees 1.8 billion dollars in assets invested in healthcare. Dr. Joon Yun is board certified in Radiology, was clinically trained at Stanford and received his M. D. from Duke Medical School. He has published numerous scientific articles, and has a column in Forbes magazine. Recently, he agreed to sponsor the Palo Alto Longevity Prize by donating 1 million dollars to this life-science competition.