Jandackova VK, et al. - Given that increased vagal modulation represents a mechanism that may partially explain the protective influence of healthy lifestyles, researchers performed a prospective evaluation of the links between a comprehensive measure of 4 essential lifestyle factors and vagal modulation, indexed by heart rate variability (HRV) over 10 years, by analyzing phases of the UK Whitehall II cohort. One point was assigned for each healthy factor: physically active, not smoking, moderate alcohol consumption, and healthy body mass index, and a healthy lifestyle score was derived. They found higher high-frequency HRV and higher root mean square of successive differences of normal-to-normal R-R intervals at follow-up in participants with consistent healthy lifestyles vs those who hardly ever adhered to healthy lifestyles, after covariate adjustment. Findings revealed positive associations of maintaining healthy lifestyles with cardiac vagal functioning, and these beneficial adaptations may be lost if not sustained.