Heart rate variability (HRV), the beat-to-beat change in heart rate, can tell you a lot about your cardiovascular health. People with smooth, coherent, high-amplitude HRV patterns have much lower risk than those with jagged, incoherent, low amplitude patterns. HRV monitoring is inexpensive, and best of all, people can learn how to shift HRV from unhealthy to healthy patterns with a few simple meditation exercises.