Shifting hemodynamics of blood pressure control during prolonged mental stress

Abstract

The present study examined the hemodynamics underlying blood pressure elevations for evidence of a shift in the control of blood pressure during prolonged mental stress. Mean arterial pressure (MAP), cardiac output (CO), and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were measured at rest, during a 28-min mental arithmetic stress task, and during recovery, in 30 young healthy men and women. The stress task elicited a sustained increase in MAP: CO rose during the first half of the task but returned to baseline levels during the last quarter of the task, whereas TPR increased as the task progressed. When participants' hemodynamic reactions were classified as cardiac, vascular, or neither, there were more cardiac reactors early relative to late in the task, whereas there were more vascular reactors late relative to early. Thus, the sustained pressor response was initially supported mainly by cardiac mechanisms but subsequently by predominantly vascular mechanisms.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't: The differential effect of expression and inhibition of anger on cardiovascular recovery in Black and White males

“…Importantly, this pattern of elevated HR and CO and decreased HRV is consistent with the hyperkinetic state described by Julius (Amerena and Julius, 1995;Brook and Julius, 2000) as the first step in the development of hypertension. The relatively more efficient regulation of BP via cardiac mechanisms, over time (both in the short term as well as the long term), is replaced by BP regulation via primarily vascular and alpha-adrenergic mechanisms (Amerena and Julius, 1995;Ring et al, 2002). The pattern of delayed TPR recovery in AAs that inhibited their anger is associated with this more deleterious form of BP regulation.…”

Cardiovascular responses to mental activation of social support schemas

“…In addition, in an effort to account for possible differences in active and passive coping processes underlying cardiovascular recovery (Sherwood and Turner, 1992), we assessed both cardiac output (CO) and total peripheral resistance (TPR). Such analyses at the level of hemodynamic profile have shown effects for emotional support on cardiovascular function in previous studies (Van Well and Kolk, 2008), as well as elucidating potential cardiovascular disease pathways (Ring et al, 2002).…”

Anxiety symptom interpretation: A potential mechanism explaining the cardiorespiratory fitness–anxiety relationship

“…The test has been shown to demonstrate good test-retest reliability (Ginty, Gianaros, Derbyshire, Phillips, & Carroll, 2013;Willemsen et al, 1997) and to elicit a stress response (Ring, Burns, & Carroll, 2002;Veldhuijzen van Zanten et al, 2004).…”