A population study (Keys, Mickelsen, Miller, Hayes, & Todd, 1951) led to an early belief that plasma cholesterol levels were stable in adults, aside from small age-related increases. However, the dominant role of genetic factors in regulation of individual cholesterol levels (Christian et al., 1987) decreases with age (Heller, de Faire, Pedersen, Dahlen, & McClearn, 1993). It therefore is not surprising that under standardized conditions, within-person weekly levels of plasma cholesterol vary by 20% or more in adults or that these levels have a significant 10%-20% day-to-day variability that cannot be ascribed to dietary changes (Bookstein, Gidding, Donovan, & Smith, 1990;Mogadam, Ahmed, Mensh, & Godwin, 1991).There is considerable evidence to document a major role of the sympathetic nervous system in this variability. It also may play an important role in the rise of plasma total cholesterol that can transiently occur during emotional stress and in higher levels that are associated with certain personality and behavioral characteristics (Dimsdale