Vagal tone

In the previous story, we talked about the Vagus nerve, the wanderer. In case you missed it, read it here.

What is vagal tone?

It is a measure of how well functioning is your Vagus nerve. In other terms, it is an internal biological process that represents the activity of the Vagus nerve.

Now the question is how do you measure it?

One way would be to open our bodies and use a fancy device to measure the activity.

Well, no need to be so arrogant right. We are looking for a more “common (wo)man” method.

HRV, heart rate variability is the proxy we can use to measure the vagal tone.

what is HRV? It is the difference b/w the heart rate during inhalation and exhalation. Apparently, during inhalation, our heart rate is higher and during exhalation, it is lesser. The difference between both is HRV.

So if you do happen to measure it, and find it lesser than your “happy” friend, you already know the ways to stimulate your vagus nerve.

Cheers!!