Results suggest that a brief workplace stress management intervention can produce clinically significant reductions in BP and improve emotional health among hypertensive employees. Implications are that such interventions may produce a healthier and more productive workforce, enhancing performance and reducing losses to the organization resulting from cognitive decline, illness, and premature mortality.

This study investigated the effects of a novel, classroom-based emotion self-regulation program (TestEdge) on measures of test anxiety, socioemotional function, test performance, and heart rate variability (HRV) in high school students. The program teaches students how to self-generate a specific psychophysiological state--psychophysiological coherence--which has been shown to improve nervous system function, emotional stability, and cognitive performance. Implemented as part of a larger study investigating the population of tenth grade students in two California high schools (N = 980), the research reported here was conducted as a controlled pre- and post-intervention laboratory experiment, using electrophysiological measures, on a random stratified sample of students from the intervention and control schools (N = 136). The Stroop color-word conflict test was used as the experiment's stimulus to simulate the stress of taking a high-stakes test, while continuous HRV recordings were gathered. The post-intervention electrophysiological results showed a pattern of improvement across all HRV measures, indicating that students who received the intervention program had learned how to better manage their emotions and to self-activate the psychophysiological coherence state under stressful conditions. Moreover, students with high test anxiety exhibited increased HRV and heart rhythm coherence even during a resting baseline condition (without conscious use of the program's techniques), suggesting that they had internalized the benefits of the intervention. Consistent with these results, students exhibited reduced test anxiety and reduced negative affect after the intervention. Finally, there is suggestive evidence from a matched-pairs analysis that reduced test anxiety and increased psychophysiological coherence appear to be directly associated with improved test performance--a finding consistent with evidence from the larger study.

Growing evidence suggests that alterations in autonomic function contribute to the pathophysiology of panic disorder (PD). This retrospective study employed 24-h heart rate variability (HRV) analysis of Holter records to compare autonomic function in PD patients (n = 38) with healthy, age- and gender-matched controls. Both time and frequency domain measures were calculated, and a circadian rhythm analysis was performed. The SDNN index, 5-min total power, very low frequency (VLF) and low frequency (LF) power were significantly lower in panic patients relative to controls over the 24-h period. Hourly means were significantly lower during some of the waking hours as well as the latter part of the sleep cycle. In contrast, the mean RR interval, RMSSD and high frequency (HF) power were comparable in patients and controls. Results suggest that sympathetic activity is depressed in PD patients under usual life conditions, leading to a relative predominance of vagal tone. Findings of low HRV in PD patients are consistent with the high rate of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in this population, as well as with the emerging view of panic as a disorder involving reduced flexibility and adaptability across biological, affective and behavioral dimensions.

No abstract

Unmanaged emotional reactions to stress not only lead to behavior problems in young people but also create physiological conditions that inhibit learning and potentially increase the risk of disease later in life. For these reasons, the integration of emotional self-management skills training programs has become an increased priority in some schools. In this study, middle school students enrolled in a course in emotional competence skills learned techniques designed to intercept stressful responses during emotionally challenging situations. Behavioral outcomes were assessed using the Achievement Inventory Measure and autonomic function was measured by heart rate variability (HRV) analysis during and after a stressful interview. Following the program, students exhibited significant improvements in areas including stress and anger management, risky behavior, work management and focus, and relationships with family, peers and teachers. These improvements were sustained over the following six months. Students using the skills taught in the course to recover from acute emotional stress were also able to positively modulate their physiological stress responses. As compared to a control group, trained students demonstrated significantly increased HRV and more rhythmic, sine wave-like heart rhythm patterns during recovery. This response pattern reflects increased parasympathetic activity, heart rhythm coherence, and entrainment of other biological oscillatory systems to the primary heart rhythm frequency. Increased physiological coherence is associated with improved cognitive performance, emotional balance, mental clarity and health outcomes. These physiological shifts could promote the sustained psychological and behavioral improvements associated with the use of emotional management skills. It is suggested that learning emotional competence skills in childhood establishes healthier physiological response patterns which can benefit learning and long-term health. Results provide support for the integration in school curricula of courses designed to teach effective self-management skills to children.