Adolescent girls' cardiovascular responses to peer rejection: exploring the impact of early life stress.

Detrimental effects of early life stress on cardiovascular health are evident in adolescence. Cardiovascular reactivity and recovery in response to interpersonal stress may be a mechanism. This study aimed to evaluate if adolescent girls with higher early life stress demonstrated greater cardiovascular reactivity and slower recovery to peer rejection. A sample of 92 adolescent girls (age: M = 13.24) self-reported early life stressors. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and heart rate (HR) were continuously measured before, during, and after a laboratory peer rejection paradigm. Counter to hypotheses, adolescent girls with higher early life stress had lower, not higher, HR during the recovery period. Early life stress was not associated with SBP or DBP recovery. Additionally, early life stress was not associated with SBP, DBP, or HR reactivity. Future research is needed to assess if blunted cardiovascular reactivity to interpersonal rejection during adolescence is a mechanism linking early life stress and later cardiovascular disease risk in women.

The combination of deep breathing and mental imagery promotes cardiovascular recovery in firefighters.

Firefighters' rescue operations involve intense physical activity associated with a high level of cardiovascular stress. To sustain such intense physical performance whilst maintaining a healthy heart, it is crucial that they benefit from rapid recovery between each intervention. This study aimed at investigating the impacts of a recovery protocol combining deep breathing and mental imagery. Forty firefighters were divided into two experimental groups which undertook two maximum fitness tests separated by either the control recovery protocol (30 min reading time; n = 20) or the experimental recovery protocol (30 min of deep breathing and mental imagery; n = 20). When compared to the pre-tests, the percentage evolution ratios in the post-tests for the Cooper performance, the heart rate recovery and the parasympathetic reactivation were promoted by the experimental protocol, compared to simple reading. In light of these results, we propose the use of practices of deep-breathing combined with mental imagery to improve firefighters' recovery. Practitioner summary: Firefighters' activities involve intense physical activities associated with a high level of psychological stress. Enhancing their recovery after each rescue intervention appears crucial. The results of this study showed that a recovery protocol combining deep breathing and mental imagery promotes heart rate recovery and better maintenance of physical fitness.

Exploring How Trait Mindfulness Relates to Perceived Stress and Cardiovascular Reactivity.

BACKGROUND: Mindfulness interventions have been associated with less global perceived stress as well as attenuated cardiovascular reactivity. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether high levels of trait mindfulness would also be associated with these benefits. METHODS: Participants were 99 healthy young adults aged 18-25 years. Self-report measures included the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and the Perceived Stress Scale. Participants completed a laboratory stress protocol comprised of a resting baseline, a mental arithmetic stress task, and a resting recovery period. Blood pressure, heart rate, and heart rate variability were measured throughout the protocol. Regressions were used to analyze whether trait mindfulness predicted global perceived stress, cardiovascular reactivity, and cardiovascular recovery. RESULTS: Two trait mindfulness facets were found to be associated with less global perceived stress, Acting with Awareness (ß = - .306, p = .002) and Nonjudgment (ß = - .342, p < .001). Exploratory analyses also revealed an interaction between the Observe and Nonreactivity facets (p = .002), such that the Observe facet was associated with less stress only when Nonreactivity scores were also high. Although trait mindfulness was not a significant predictor of the physiological variables (p > .05, Cohen's f2 < .060), exploratory analyses revealed an interaction between the Awareness and Nonjudgment facets (p < .001), such that Awareness is associated with lower diastolic blood pressure reactivity only when Nonjudgment scores are also high. CONCLUSIONS: Like mindfulness interventions, trait mindfulness is associated with less global perceived stress. Interactions between trait mindfulness facets that reflect attention monitoring and acceptance might predict physiological reactivity in certain contexts, though a mindful state might be necessary for most real-time cardiovascular benefits.

Cardiovascular recovery after workload in German shift workers in the hotel and catering industry: results of 24-hour-ambulatory monitoring of heart rate and blood pressure.

PURPOSE: Shift work is associated with an impairment of sleep-wake cycles that can affect cardiovascular recovery (CR) negatively. The aim of this study was to examine CR of shift and day workers in the hotel and catering industry (HCI) and identify predictors of CR. METHODS: The sample consisted of 64 alternating and 96 day workers in the HCI. Monitoring of blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) was conducted for 24 hours per working day during work, leisure and sleep. The CR process was examined for differences between work and leisure, work and sleep regarding a reduction in BP and HR. Lifestyle (physical activity, smoking, drinking) was assessed through questionnaires, BP over a four-day, self-assessment period (38% hypertensives). Participants taking BP medication (n = 12) were excluded from analyses. RESULTS: Shift workers had significantly higher BP (Ø 146/87 vs. Ø 140/84 mmHg; p = 0.034-0.044) and HR (Ø 86 vs. 82 bpm; p = 0.032) during their work phase verses day workers. There were no differences found for the CR between work and leisure nor work and sleep. As predictors of the CR, classic cardiovascular indicators (blood pressure status, smoking, age, physical activity, sex) were found which explains between 14% (HR) and 30% (BP) of the variance. Shift work was not a predictor for CR. CONCLUSIONS: Employees in the HCI show that their CR is mainly determined by the known cardiovascular indicators and less by shift work. This effect needs to be discussed in relation to the job requirements and the cardiovascular health of the employees.

Recovery from stress: an experimental examination of focused attention meditation in novices.

Identifying strategies that aid in recovery from stress may benefit cardiovascular health. Ninety-nine undergraduate meditation novices were randomly assigned to meditate, listen to an audio book, or sit quietly after a standardized stressor. During recovery, meditators' heart rate variability and skin conductance levels returned to baseline, whereas only heart rate variability returned to baseline for the audio book and control groups. Positive and negative affect were no different than baseline following meditation, whereas, both audio book and control groups had lower positive affect and higher negative affect following the intervention. Findings suggest that the sympathetic nervous system is uniquely affected by meditation, and novices may benefit emotionally from meditating after a stressor. Further research is needed to determine meditation's utility in recovering from stress.

A Critical Review of the "Undoing Hypothesis": Do Positive Emotions Undo the Effects of Stress?

Research in affective science has shown that trait positive affect reduces the risk of developing disease and is protective against the progression of certain diseases. Research also suggests that trait positive affect predisposes individuals to more frequent experiences of positive emotional states. The undoing effect has been proposed as a potential mechanism explaining how positive emotions influence health outcomes. According to this hypothesis, the experience of state positive emotions or positive affect contributes to faster recovery from the body's physiological response to stress. This paper critically reviews literature concerning the undoing hypothesis. Several common methodological weaknesses were identified, including conceptual and design issues. Based on the reviewed studies two separate conclusions were drawn. First, there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the occurrence of positive emotional states speeds physiological recovery. Second, there was insufficient evidence to evaluate the undoing hypothesis as a potential mechanism through which state positive emotions affect health. Future research should focus on identifying the key parameters responsible for demonstrating the undoing effect when it is observed in order to understand how the experience of positive emotions may exert positive effects on health outcomes.

The undoing-hypothesis in athletes - three pilot studies testing the effect of positive emotions on athletes' psychophysiological recovery.

Three pilot studies were performed to investigate the undoing-hypothesis (i.e., fast psychophysiological recovery due to positive emotions after stressor) in an athletic sample - after 1) a psychosocial stressor (study 1, N = 19), 2) a physiological stressor (study 2, N = 14), and 3) a simulated competition (study 3, N = 13). Therefore, the effect of positive emotion interventions on cardiovascular (heart rate, blood pressure, heart rate variability) and psychological (perceived positive and negative emotions, arousal, valence) recovery was tested in comparison to neutral interventions. Additionally, study 3 examined the impact on performance after the intervention. Results only confirmed the undoing-hypothesis after a psychosocial stressor (study 1), showing greater increases in perceived positive emotions and a long-lasting decline in diastolic blood pressure after the positive emotion induction compared to the neutral condition. No effects on performance were found. Despite missing significance, descriptive analyzes indicated that our results are in line with the undoing-hypothesis, calling for further research in a greater sample to explore its full potential for athletes. Especially its impact on performance should be examined in future studies.

Gratitude, affect balance, and stress buffering: A growth curve examination of cardiovascular responses to a laboratory stress task.

Previous research has indicated that gratitude and affect-balance play key stress-buffering roles. However, to date there is limited research on the impact of gratitude and affect balance on cardiovascular recovery from acute psychological stress, and whether affect balance moderates the relationship between gratitude and cardiovascular reactions to acute psychological stress. In this study, 68 adults completed measures of state gratitude, positive and negative affect, and completed a laboratory-based cardiovascular stress-testing protocol. This incorporated a 20-minute acclimatization period, a 10-minute baseline, a 6-minute arithmetic stress task, and an 8-minute recovery period. Mixed-effects growth curve models were fit and the results indicated that state gratitude predicted lower systolic blood pressure responses throughout the stress-testing period. Affect balance was found to moderate the association between state gratitude and diastolic blood pressure responses to stress, amplifying the effects of state gratitude. These findings suggest that state gratitude has a unique stress-buffering effect on both reactions to and recovery from acute psychological stress.

Effects of auditory sleep modulation approaches on brain oscillatory and cardiovascular dynamics.

Slow waves, the hallmark feature of deep nonrapid eye movement sleep, do potentially drive restorative effects of sleep on brain and body functions. Sleep modulation techniques to elucidate the functional role of slow waves thus have gained large interest. Auditory slow wave stimulation is a promising tool; however, directly comparing auditory stimulation approaches within a night and analyzing induced dynamic brain and cardiovascular effects are yet missing. Here, we tested various auditory stimulation approaches in a windowed, 10 s ON (stimulations) followed by 10 s OFF (no stimulations), within-night stimulation design and compared them to a SHAM control condition. We report the results of three studies and a total of 51 included nights and found a large and global increase in slow-wave activity (SWA) in the stimulation window compared to SHAM. Furthermore, slow-wave dynamics were most pronouncedly increased at the start of the stimulation and declined across the stimulation window. Beyond the changes in brain oscillations, we observed, for some conditions, a significant increase in the mean interval between two heartbeats within a stimulation window, indicating a slowing of the heart rate, and increased heart rate variability derived parasympathetic activity. Those cardiovascular changes were positively correlated with the change in SWA, and thus, our findings provide insight into the potential of auditory slow wave enhancement to modulate cardiovascular restorative conditions during sleep. However, future studies need to investigate whether the potentially increased restorative capacity through slow-wave enhancements translates into a more rested cardiovascular system on a subsequent day.

PTSD symptom clusters and cardiovascular responses to stress: Reactivity and recovery.

OBJECTIVE: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are associated with high blood pressure (BP) and decreased heart rate variability (HRV) at rest and in response to acute stress. Unique contributions of PTSD symptom clusters to cardiovascular responses to stress are rarely investigated. This study tested whether PTSD-related arousal/reactivity drives relationships of higher PTSD symptoms with higher BP and lower HRV during rest, reactivity (stressor-induced change from baseline), and recovery. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional observational design, we enrolled 84 trauma-exposed community adults (83% female; 68% White; Mage = 35) who endorsed at least one core PTSD symptom. Participants completed a physical exam, self-reports of trauma history and PTSD symptoms, and BP and HRV frequency domain measurements during rest, stressor (mental arithmetic task), and recovery. RESULTS: Arousal/reactivity was not associated with BP or HRV reactivity but associated with a higher low (LF) to high (HF) frequency (HF) ratio (LF/HF) during recovery reflecting sympathetic predominance. During the stressor, more avoidance and intrusion were associated with increased diastolic blood pressure (DBP) from baseline; more avoidance was associated with parasympathetic predominance (lower LF/HF); and more negative cognitions/mood was associated with decreased systolic blood pressure (SBP), DBP, and LF from baseline. During recovery, more intrusion and negative cognitions/mood were associated with increased SBP from baseline; less negative cognitions/mood was associated with sympathetic predominance (higher LF/HF). CONCLUSIONS: PTSD symptom clusters demonstrated differential relationships with SBP, DBP, and HRV during reactivity and recovery. Findings may inform targeted PTSD symptom reduction interventions for disrupting links between PTSD and CVD risk.

Does Dispositional Mindfulness Predict Cardiovascular Reactivity to Emotional Stress in Prehypertension? Latent Growth Curve Analyses from the Serenity Study.

OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness stress buffering theory (Creswell & Lindsay, 2014) posits higher dispositional (trait) mindfulness can protect cardiovascular health by buffering physiological stress reactivity - a risk marker for hypertension and cardiac events. Yet, empirical evidence is mixed. This study used baseline data from the Serenity Study - a recently completed, two-site randomized clinical trial - to assess the link between trait mindfulness and cardiovascular stress reactivity in adults with unmedicated prehypertension (n=153, Mage=50, 47% male, 69% White, 28% African-American). METHODS: Latent growth curve modeling was used to determine whether specific facets of trait mindfulness, measured by the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and the Decentering subscale of the Experiences Questionnaire, predict blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) responses to a brief laboratory stressor (5-min anger recall task). BP and HR taken 1-min apart were used in latent growth curve models. We hypothesized after controlling for known covariates of cardiovascular health, higher trait mindfulness would predict lower cardiovascular reactivity to, and faster recovery from, acute emotional stress. RESULTS: Contrary to predictions, no mindfulness facets predicted cardiovascular reactivity or recovery. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate trait mindfulness facets may not independently affect BP and HR responses to acute emotional stress among prehypertensive but otherwise healthy adults with normal stress levels, prior to mindfulness training. Mindfulness-based interventions may therefore be necessary to engender benefits of mindfulness on stress physiology, as a putative biological mechanism of cardiovascular risk reduction and health promotion. Trial registration number and date of registration: NCT02371317, 1/21/2015.

Trait and state approach-motivated positive affects interactively influence stress cardiovascular recovery.

One of the potential mechanisms of positive affect (PA) in promoting physical health is by speeding up stress cardiovascular recovery. However, little is known whether high and low approach-motivated PA (AMPA) equally speed stress cardiovascular recovery and whether these effects are affected by personality traits that are associated with approach motivation. The present study investigated the impact of trait AMPA (assessed by sensation seeking) and state AMPA (elicited by positive stimuli) on stress cardiovascular recovery. After completion of Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS-V), 165 undergraduate students were subjected to a stress protocol, and then randomized to watch high AMPA, low AMPA and neutral pictures. Baseline, stress exposure, and post-stress cardiovascular data were collected. Results showed that compared to neutral and state low AMPA conditions, state high AMPA prolonged stress HR recovery. Moreover, individuals low in sensation seeking exhibited delayed SBP and DBP recovery under state high AMPA condition relative to state low AMPA and neutral conditions. Individuals high in sensation seeking exhibited comparable stress BP recovery across the three conditions. These findings suggest that the association between PA and stress cardiovascular recovery is contingent on approach motivational intensity, which might have health implications.

A reduced-order model-based study on the effect of intermittent pneumatic compression of limbs on the cardiovascular system.

This work investigates the effect that the application of intermittent pneumatic compression to lower limbs has on the cardiovascular system. Intermittent pneumatic compression can be applied to subjects with reduced or null mobility and can be useful for therapeutic purposes in sports recovery, deep vein thrombosis prevention and lymphedema drainage. However, intermittent pneumatic compression performance and the effectiveness are often difficult to predict. This study presents a reduced-order numerical model of the interaction between the cardiovascular system and the intermittent pneumatic compression device. The effect that different intermittent pneumatic compression operating conditions have on the overall circulation is investigated. Our findings confirm (1) that an overall positive effect on hemodynamics can be obtained by properly applying the intermittent pneumatic compression device and (2) that using intermittent pneumatic compression for cardiocirculatory recovery is feasible in subjects affected by lower limb disease.

Stress task specific impairments of cardiovascular functioning in obese participants.

The role that excess adipose tissue plays in chronic inflammation gives rise to its importance as an independent risk factor in cardiovascular dysfunction. Operationalizing chronic stress as obesity, we sought to explore the relationship between obesity, perceived stress and cardiovascular reactivity and recovery from laboratory stressors. Cardiovascular function was assessed using blood pressure and heart rate. Two stress tasks (mental arithmetic and cold pressor) were employed to examine potential differences between type of stress and cardiovascular response. Body mass index (BMI) was able to predict dysfunction in both cardiovascular reactivity and recovery. Participants with a higher BMI exhibited blunted systolic blood pressure and heart rate reactivity to the mental arithmetic task. In contrast, BMI has an incongruent effect on blood pressure reactivity to the cold pressor task that is dependent on the level of perceived stress. This suggests that in some instances the effect of BMI on cardiovascular response to acute stress may be moderated by perceived stress. Further, we found greater adiposity was related to delayed heart rate recovery following both stress tasks.

The influence of resistance exercise with emphasis on specific contractions (concentric vs. eccentric) on muscle strength and post-exercise autonomic modulation: a randomized clinical trial / Influência de exercício resistido com ênfase em contrações específicas (concêntrica vs excêntrica) sobre a força muscular e a modulação autonômica pós-esforço: ensaio clínico randomizado

Background: Compared to eccentric contractions, concentric contractions result in higher cardiovascular stress. However, we do not know how these two types of contractions influence cardiac autonomic modulation during the post-exercise recovery period. Objective: to compare the effect of resistance training that is performed with concentric vs. eccentric emphasis on muscle strength and on post-exercise recovery which was assessed by examining heart rate variability (HRV), for the knee extensor muscle group in young healthy adults. Methods: For this study, 105 men between 18 and 30 years of age were randomized into 4 groups: concentric control (CONCC), eccentric control (ECCC), concentric training (CONCT) and eccentric training (ECCT). The CONCC and ECCC groups underwent one session of resistance exercise (RE) using the knee extensor muscle group (3 sets of 1 repetition at 100% of the maximal repetition [1MR]) and the CONCT and ECCT groups performed 10 training sessions. The HRV was analyzed at baseline and across four recovery periods (T1, T2, T3 and T4). Results: The ECCT group exhibited increased muscle strength at the end of the study. Regarding cardiac autonomic modulation, the CONCC and ECCC groups exhibited increases in overall variability (SDNN and SD2) at T1 compared to baseline, and the ECCT group demonstrated increases in variables reflecting vagal modulation and the recovery process (RMSSD, SD1 and HF [ms2]) at T1, T2 and T4 compared to baseline. Conclusions: Resistance training with emphasis on eccentric contractions promoted strength gain and an increase in cardiac vagal modulation during recovery compared to baseline. .

Contextualização: Ações concêntricas apresentam maior estresse cardiovascular quando comparadas às excêntricas. Entretanto, não se sabe a influência desses tipos de ações no comportamento da modulação autonômica cardíaca durante o processo de recuperação pós-esforço. Objetivo: Comparar o efeito de um treinamento resistido para o grupo extensor do joelho realizado com ênfase concêntrica vs excêntrica sobre a força muscular e a recuperação pós-exercício considerando índices de variabilidade de frequência cardíaca (VFC) em jovens saudáveis. Método: Cento e cinco homens, com idades entre 18 e 30 anos, foram randomizados em quatro grupos: controle concêntrico (CCONC), controle excêntrico (CEXC), treinamento concêntrico (TCONC) e treinamento excêntrico (TEXC). Os grupos CCONC e CEXC realizaram uma sessão de exercício reduzido (ER) para o grupo extensor do joelho [três séries de uma repetição a 100% de uma repetição máxima (1RM)], e os grupos TCONC e TEXC realizaram dez sessões de treinamento. A VFC foi analisada no momento basal e na recuperação após as sessões (T1, T2, T3 e T4). Resultados: Observou-se aumento da força muscular para o grupo TEXC. Em relação à modulação autonômica cardíaca, observou-se, em comparação ao momento basal, aumento dos índices SDNN e SD2 no momento T1 nos grupos CCONC e CEXC e aumento dos índices RMSSD, SD1 e AF (ms2) nos momentos T1, T2 e T4 no grupo TEXC. Conclusões: Conclui-se que o treinamento resistido realizado com ênfase em contrações excêntricas promoveu ganho de força e aumento da modulação vagal cardíaca durante o processo de recuperação ...