Cardiovascular Intraindividual Variability in Later Life: The Influence of Social Connectedness and Positive Emotions.

Abstract

Healthy normotensive men and women (N=33) underwent a 60-day diary assessment of emotions and cardiovascular functioning. Individual differences in social connectedness and mood were measured in questionnaires, and positive emotions, negative emotions, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were assessed daily for 60 consecutive days. Results confirmed that the cardiovascular undoing effect of positive emotions is evident primarily in the context of negative emotional arousal. The daily associations between positive emotions and cardiovascular outcomes were linked to individual differences in social connectedness. Controlling for individual differences in mood levels, multilevel regression analyses showed that social connectedness predicted extended positive emotion, diminished SBP and DBP reactivity, and more rapid SBP recovery from daily negative emotional states.

Positive Affect and Adjustment to Perceived Racism

“…Reich, Zautra, and Davis (2003) reviewed a number of studies showing that positive affect, when present during times of stress, appear maximally effective at strengthening resistance. The finding that positive affect reduces vulnerability to stress has now been documented in different laboratory and field studies (e.g., Zautra, Reich, Davis, Potter, & Nicolson, 2000), under different stressful contexts (Ong, Bergeman, Bisconti, & Wallace, 2006;Zautra et al, 2005), and with different indices of health and well-being (e.g., Davis, Zautra, & Smith, 2004;Ong & Allaire, 2005). …”

Social Fun and Enjoyment: Viable Outcomes in Aquatics for Individuals with Physical Disabilities

“…While some aquatic activities can be provided in an inclusive environment, it is beneficial to have specialized groups (e.g., arthritis, multiple sclerosis, postpolio, parent/child swim classes for children with disabilities) that can serve as an appropriate support group for those who choose to participate. Social fun represents a vital aspect of goal-oriented aquatic interventions (Ong & Allaire (2005). High levels of fun or enjoyment are more likely to be experienced when a person is focused outwardly on physical or social activities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996;Fredrickson & Losada, 2005).…”

“…To reinforce the importance of socially engaged activity and fun, Ong and Allaire (2005) assessed positive emotions, social connectedness, and cardiovascular functioning of 33 older adult volunteers. Measurements included the Positive Relations with Others subscale of the Psychological Well-being Measure (Ryff & Keyes, 1995), the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), and blood pressure.…”

“…Positive emotions that involve enjoyment, interest, or fun have been found to be predictors of decreases in cardiovascular accidents (Ong & Allaire, 2005), increased years of living (Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen, 2001;WHO, 2005), improved physical health (Ostir, Markides, Black, & Goodwin, 2000), resistance to disease (Davidson et al, 2003), improved brain system function (Burgdorf & Panksepp, 2006), and subjective pain levels (Gil et al, 2004). In addition, positive emotion can improve attention and activity repertoires (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005), activity adherence (Wankel, 1993), creativity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996), intuition (Bolte, Goschikey, & Kuhl, 2003), human flourishing (Keyes, 2002), subjective well-being being (Diener, 2000), and decrease responses to stress and adversity (Fredrickson, Tugade, Waugh, & Larkin, 2003).…”

Meta-analyses of cardiovascular responses to rumination : exploring mechanisms linking depression and hostility to cardiovascular disease.

“…Other researchers have demonstrated that social connectedness can diminish blood pressure reactivity and enhance recovery from negative emotional states (Ong & Allaire, 2005); and therefore, adopting a pro-social stance (e.g., acceptance and compassion) to negative events could potentially offset intense prolonged physiological reactions to 68 actual, as well as mentally recreated, stressors. These emotion regulation strategies may not only serve as viable options to distraction; but also provide greater benefits given that seeking social-support and perspective-taking are considered adaptive stress responses.…”