Your Readiness Score responds to signals from the previous night and recent days. Here are the most common reasons it dips.
Heart rate above your normal range
A higher-than-usual resting heart rate during sleep suggests your body is still working to recover from the previous day. This can follow intense exercise, illness, alcohol, or accumulated stress.
HRV below your personal baseline
Lower-than-normal HRV is a reliable signal that your body is under stress — from training, poor sleep, illness, or psychological load. Consecutive nights of low HRV compound over time and will show up in your acute trend as well as your longer-term baseline comparison.
Poor sleep stage distribution
Total sleep time matters, but so does how that sleep is distributed across stages. A night heavily weighted toward light sleep, with little deep or REM time, will pull your score down even if total hours look adequate.
Insufficient recent activity — or too much
Your score accounts for activity load in both directions. Overtraining and sustained under activity both register as stressors on your system. Ramping up training load too quickly is one of the most common causes of a dropping score in otherwise healthy members.
A short personal history
In your first 21 days, a larger share of your score reflects population norms rather than your personal data. The score is still useful, but it becomes more meaningful — and more stable — as your baseline matures.
A dip in your Readiness Score is rarely caused by one thing. More often it is the combination of several factors accumulating at once — a run of poor sleep, a heavy training week, and a stressful few days all arriving together. The score is showing you that. Use it as a prompt to look honestly at all four pillars — sleep, nutrition, activity, and recovery — and find where the gaps are.