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Cited by 39Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic ControlCardiac Health and Mental HealthVagus Nerve Stimulation Research

healthy lifestyle and cardiac vagal modulation over 10 years: whitehall II cohort study

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Jandackova, Vera K., Scholes, Shaun, Britton, Annie, Steptoe, Andrew·2019·Journal of the American Heart Association
DOI 10.1161/jaha.119.012420PMC PMC6806037
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Abstract

Background Increased vagal modulation is a mechanism that may partially explain the protective effect of healthy lifestyles. However, it is unclear how healthy lifestyles relate to vagal regulation longitudinally. We prospectively examined associations between a comprehensive measure of 4 important lifestyle factors and vagal modulation, indexed by heart rate variability (HRV) over 10 years. Methods and Results The fifth (1997–1999), seventh (2002–2004), and ninth (2007–2009) phases of the UK Whitehall II cohort were analyzed. Analytical samples ranged from 2059 to 3333 (mean age: 55.7 years). A healthy lifestyle score was derived by giving participants 1 point for each healthy factor: physically active, not smoking, moderate alcohol consumption, and healthy body mass index. Two vagally mediated HRV measures were used: high‐frequency HRV and root mean square of successive differences of normal‐to‐normal R‐R intervals. Cross‐sectionally, a positively graded association was observed between the healthy lifestyle score and HRV at baseline ( P overall ≤0.001). Differences in HRV according to the healthy lifestyle score remained relatively stable over time. Compared with participants who hardly ever adhered to healthy lifestyles, those with consistent healthy lifestyles displayed higher high‐frequency HRV (β=0.23; 95% CI , 0.10–0.35; P =0.001) and higher root mean square of successive differences of normal‐to‐normal R‐R intervals (β=0.15; 95% CI , 0.07–0.22; P ≤0.001) at follow‐up after covariate adjustment. These differences in high‐frequency HRV and root mean square of successive differences of normal‐to‐normal R‐R intervals are equivalent to ≈6 to 20 years differences in chronological age. Compared with participants who reduced their healthy lifestyle scores, those with stable scores displayed higher subsequent high‐frequency HRV (β=0.24; 95% CI, 0.01–0.48; P =0.046) and higher root mean square of successive differences of normal‐to‐normal R‐R intervals (β=0.15; 95% CI , 0.01–0.29; P =0.042). Conclusions Maintaining healthy lifestyles is positively associated with cardiac vagal functioning, and these beneficial adaptations may be lost if not sustained.

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  • HRV can be used as a target for tracking the impact of wellbeing-related interventions including healthy lifestyle, HRV biofeedback, mind-body techniques, compassion focused therapy, loving kindness meditation and nature-based wellbeing interventions.

    “Critically, heart rate variability (or HRV) reflects an index of the functioning of the vagus nerve (Paso et al., 2013), and can be used as a target for tracking the impact of wellbeing-related interventions including for example, a healthy lifestyle (Jandackova et al., 2019), HRV biofeedback (Lehrer et al., 2020), mind-body techniques (Zou et al., 2018), compassion focused therapy (Bello et al.,”

    From The Complex Construct of Wellbeing and the Role of Vagal Function (2022) · cites this paper as Jandackova et al., 2019

    The Results section ('Change in Healthy Lifestyles Between Phases 5 and 7 and Subsequent HRV'; page not provided) reports that lifestyle scores were associated with subsequent HRV. This supports the healthy-lifestyle example attributed to Jandackova et al., but the cohort study did not test a wellbeing intervention or establish HRV as a target for tracking an intervention’s impact. The other techniques in the sentence have separate citations. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [26]Rabe‐Hesketh S, Skrondal A. Multilevel and Longitudinal Modeling Using Stata. 3rd ed College Station, TX, USA: Stata Press; 2012.

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Authors
Jandackova, V. K., Scholes, S., Britton, A., & Steptoe, A.
Affiliations
  • University of Ostrava (CZ)
  • University College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Jandackova, Vera K.
ORCID
Venue
Journal of the American Heart Association
Publisher
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Published
2019-10
Volume
8
Issue
19
Pages
e012420-e012420
ISSN
2047-9980 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1161/jaha.119.012420
PMC
PMC6806037
OpenAlex
W2749684225
Cited by
39
References
38
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 7 · 2019: 1
FWCI
2.53
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Journal of the American Heart Association (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute for Health and Care Research (PB-PG-0418-20038)
  • Medical Research Council (MR/M006638/1, MR/R024227/1)
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL036310)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac Health and Mental Health
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Vagus Nerve Stimulation Research
Keywords
healthy lifestyle, vagal modulation, heart rate variability, high-frequency HRV, RMSSD, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, lifestyle adherence, autonomic nervous system, Whitehall II cohort, aging, cardiovascular health, healthy lifestyle score, occupational health, cardiovascular risk factors
MeSH terms
Healthy Lifestyle, Non-Smokers, Adult, Aged, Alcohol Drinking, Cardiovascular Diseases, Female, Habits, Health Status, Heart, Heart Rate, Humans, London, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Time Factors, Vagus Nerve, Exercise, Body Mass Index, Risk Assessment, Risk Reduction Behavior, Protective Factors

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