Understanding Your Session Metrics
Note: These scores reflect heart rate and HRV patterns measured during your Shiftwave session - not your baseline or resting health status.
Average Heart Rate
What it shows:
Your average heart rate across the entire session, measured in beats per minute (BPM).
Context & Meaning:
This reflects your average pulse activity during Shiftwave. While resting heart rate is sometimes used in long-term health tracking, this session metric simply reflects how your cardiovascular system responded to the overall experience.
Realistic Interpretation:
- Higher averages may indicate more sustained activation
- Lower averages may reflect deeper calming
- Influenced by fitness, stress, time of day, caffeine, hydration, and more
- Most useful when compared to your own past sessions under similar conditions
Limitations:
- Not comparable to resting heart rate norms or clinical targets
- Doesn’t assess cardiovascular fitness or health
HR Shift (Delta HR)
What it shows:
The difference in your average heart rate between the first and last minute of your session.
Context & Meaning:
This reflects whether your body was in a more activated (+) or downshifted (−) state by the end of the session compared to the beginning.
Realistic Interpretation:
- Positive (+): session ended in a more activated state
- Negative (−): session ended in a more relaxed state
- Larger values (positive or negative) suggest a stronger contrast between entry and exit
- Interpretation depends on session goals (upshift vs. downshift)
- Small shifts (±5 BPM) may reflect natural fluctuation, not meaningful change
Limitations:
- Does not reflect patterns or fluctuations during the middle of the session
Mean HRV (RMSSD)
RMSSD stands for Root Mean Square of Successive Differences
What it shows:
Your average heart rate variability throughout the session, measured using RMSSD - a standard indicator of beat-to-beat heart rhythm variation.
Context & Meaning:
HRV (especially RMSSD) is often explored in research as a signal linked to nervous system flexibility, parasympathetic activity, and recovery - especially during a resting baseline. In Shiftwave sessions, this metric captures how your physiology responded to the combination of sensory and emotional inputs, including vibration, breath pacing, immersive audio, and narration.
Rather than representing a health baseline or fixed trait, this metric shows how variable your heart rhythm was during the experience - possibly reflecting moments of greater flexibility, calm, or attunement.
Realistic Interpretation:
- Higher values may correspond with slowed breathing, emotional openness, or relaxation
- May reveal patterns across different protocol types or session styles
- Useful as a personal exploration tool rather than a clinical or fitness indicator
Limitations:
- Not a trait measure: This is not your baseline HRV and should not be compared to resting wearable scores or research norms - often obtained during sleep or longer periods
- Context-dependent: HRV during a guided session is shaped by breath patterns, engagement level, posture, and momentary nervous system state
- Lack of norms: There are no established reference ranges for HRV during guided vibratory-breath experiences like Shiftwave
No diagnostic value: This metric is not a medical indicator and cannot be used to assess or monitor health conditions.
Max HRV (RMSSD)
RMSSD stands for Root Mean Square of Successive Differences
Peak 5-minute average of your highest variability during the session
What it shows:
This score reflects the highest 5-minute RMSSD value recorded during your Shiftwave session - capturing the moment of greatest short-term heart rhythm variability.
Context & Meaning:
Shiftwave protocols often include varied phases - such as sympathetic activation, breath pacing, emotional resonance, and guided recovery. Your nervous system may respond differently to each of these segments. HRV may increase as your body becomes more regulated, entrained, or relaxed over time.
While Mean HRV captures your overall variability throughout the session, Max HRV surfaces the greatest degree of short-term flexibility your system expressed in any five-minute window. It provides an additional perspective - the "ceiling" of your variability in the session - that can complement your average.
Realistic Interpretation:
- Complements Mean HRV by showing the peak HRV value during the session
- May reflect moments of physiological coherence, deep relaxation, adaptability, or optimal pacing
- Helpful in noticing which protocols support higher peaks in HRV response
Limitations:
- Does not indicate precisely when in the session the peak occurred
- Can be influenced by posture, breath patterns, or temporary state changes
- Not a diagnostic or health performance score
Making Sense of Your Metrics Over Time
While each metric offers a distinct lens into your session, none exists in isolation. Together, they reflect how your system responded in that moment - not a scorecard, but a story.
And like any story, meaning often reveals itself through pattern, not perfection.
Heart-based metrics like HRV are sensitive, dynamic signals - windows into how your physiology responds across changing internal and external contexts. What you see in any session reflects a living, adaptive system shaped by both immediate inputs and long-term patterns.
Momentary state factors - such as time of the day, hydration, sleep, emotional tone, ambient temperature, stimulant use, or physical activity - all can influence your readings. Meanwhile, deeper traits like baseline autonomic tone, hormonal cycles, general fitness, chronic stress load, or systemic inflammation shape how flexible or responsive your system tends to be.
This layered complexity is part of what makes HRV so meaningful - but also difficult to reduce to single-session conclusions. Rather than fixating on one number or comparing to others, the most useful insights come from watching how your own patterns evolve over time, especially in similar conditions or protocols.
You may begin to notice that certain sessions consistently elevate your HRV, or that your system shifts differently depending on time of day, emotional tone, or recovery state. These observations can help you build a more intuitive feel for how your body self-regulates - and how Shiftwave supports that process.
These scores are not health diagnostics or performance grades. Think of them instead as a mirror: not to judge, but to observe. With continued attention, patterns emerge - and those patterns can become tools for deepening self-awareness, emotional range, and nervous system attunement.
Shiftwave Mini Lab Disclaimer
Quick Summary
This app provides experimental biometric data during sessions. It is not a medical tool and should not be used to monitor your health, to guide any medical decision making, or to derive any diagnosis.
Important: Intervention-Context Measurement Notice
This device measures biometric responses during active vibrational sessions (protocols) and is intended for personal exploration and educational purposes only.
General Wellness & Medical Disclaimer
NOT A MEDICAL DEVICE: This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or medical condition. The biometric measurements displayed are for general wellness and educational purposes only.
CONSULT YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER: Always consult with qualified healthcare professionals for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Do not use these measurements to make medical decisions or replace professional medical consultation.
Measurement Context & Accuracy
INTERVENTION-SPECIFIC MEASUREMENTS: Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Heart Rate (HR), and Blood Oxygen Saturation (SpO2) readings are taken during active vibrational stimulation. These measurements:
- Show your body's response to vibrational intervention, not baseline health status
- Cannot be compared to resting/sleep HRV measurements from medical or consumer devices (Including wearables)
- Represent your response to the specific vibrational patterns in different protocols
STATE VS. TRAIT MEASUREMENTS: There is an important distinction between different types of biometric measurements:
- State measurements reflect your body's immediate response to current conditions (like HRV during exercise or a Shiftwave session)
- Trait measurements reflect longer-term physiological characteristics (like resting HRV or 24-hour SDNN that correlate with longitudinal health outcomes)
- Shiftwave Mini Lab provides state-based measurements that reflect how your cardiovascular system responds during a Shiftwave protocol
- These state responses during Shiftwave sessions have not been validated to correlate with trait-level health indicators or long-term outcomes
MEASUREMENT LIMITATIONS:
- Readings may be affected by movement, device placement, ambient conditions, and individual physiology
- Values are approximations intended to provide momentary biometric feedback for educational and exploratory purposes, not longitudinal health tracking or diagnosis
- Accuracy may vary between individuals and measurement conditions
- These are research-informed estimates, not medical-grade measurements
Research Foundation & Scientific Context
ESTABLISHED RESEARCH APPLICATION: Our measurement approach draws on established research from HRV biofeedback and entrainment studies, adapted for use during vibrational intervention. However:
- Limited published research exists specifically on HRV during whole-body vibration
- Individual response patterns vary significantly
- There is currently no evidence that these measurements, when taken during intervention, correlate with long-term health outcomes
EXPERIMENTAL NATURE: This is an exploration of emerging measurement approaches. Results should be interpreted as personal insight - not as a health assessment or diagnostic tool.
User Responsibility & Consent
INFORMED USE: By using Mini Lab features, you acknowledge that:
- You understand these measurements occur during active engagement with vibration and breathwork
- You will not use results for medical decision-making
- You will not compare values to medical or resting-state devices
- You accept full responsibility for the interpretation and use of your measurement data
DATA PRIVACY: Biometric data is processed locally on your device. Currently, data is not stored permanently but may be transmitted to the Shiftwave mobile app for display purposes. All biometric data remains fully owned by you. Note: Data handling practices may change in future versions when we implement session scoring features that require data storage.
Regulatory Status
FDA COMPLIANCE: This device is intended to qualify as a general wellness product under FDA guidance for low-risk devices. It is not FDA-cleared or approved as a medical device. It has not been reviewed by the FDA for accuracy, safety, or effectiveness.
FTC COMPLIANCE: Claims about measurement capabilities are based on available research and technical specifications. Individual results may vary.
Technical Disclaimers
ALGORITHM TRANSPARENCY: Our proprietary algorithms are grounded in scientifically validated research principles, adapted for intervention contexts. Due to differences in timing, environment, and processing, values may differ from other biometric devices.
HARDWARE LIMITATIONS: Measurements are subject to sensor limitations, environmental interference, and proper device usage.
Contact Information
For questions about measurements, technical support, or regulatory status:
- Technical Support: devteam@shiftwave.co
By using Mini Lab features, you acknowledge reading, understanding, and agreeing to these terms and limitations.
*This disclaimer is subject to updates as we continue developing measurement capabilities and responding to regulatory guidance.
