Abstract

Introduction: Healthcare personnel face high levels of work-related stress, which impacts their well-being and performance. Mindfulness practice has been shown to reduce stress and improve emotional self-regulation, possibly through an increase in vagal tone and parasympathetic activity.
Objective: To evaluate the relationship between mindfulness practice and parasympathetic activity—measured through the Analgesia–Nociception Index (ANI)—in healthcare personnel.
Methods: Clinical, prospective, and longitudinal study in 52 healthcare professionals. ANI was compared between meditators and non-meditators under controlled conditions. Parametric and non-parametric analyses were performed, in addition to adjusted ANCOVA and bootstrap analyses.
Results: Meditators showed significantly higher ANI than non-meditators (t=2.760, p=0.008), with a moderate-to-high effect size (g=0.775). The effect remained significant after adjustments for age, sex, and time of measurement.
Conclusion: Mindfulness practice is associated with an increase in vagal tone and parasympathetic activity, objectively measured through ANI. This index could be used as a physiological biomarker of autonomic well-being in mind-body interventions.

Keywords

mindfulness, Analgesia-Nociception Index, autonomic nervous system, vagal tone, healthcare personnel