Resting vagal control and resilience as predictors of cardiovascular allostasis in peacekeepers

Souza, Gabriela Guerra Leal; Magalhães, Ludmila Naves; Cruz, Thiago; Mendonça-de-Souza, Ana Carolina Ferraz; Duarte, Antônio Fernando Araújo; Fischer, Nastassja Lopes; Souza, Wanderson Fernandes de; Coutinho, Evandro Silva Freire; Vila, Jaime; Gleiser, Sônia; Figueira, Ivan; Volchan, Eliane

doi:10.3109/10253890.2013.767326

Cited by 44 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 52 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…We have previously demonstrated that peacekeepers presenting positive predispositions, with high resting vagal control and/or high resilience trait, showed an allostatic response to stress, that is, a vigorous reaction followed by efficient recovery [ 31 ]. In the present study, the reduced responsiveness to stress by anxious peacekeepers may characterize an inadequate response, in line with “Type 2” allostatic overload [ 32 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blunted cardiac reactivity to psychological stress associated with higher trait anxiety: a study in peacekeepers

Souza

Mendonça-de-Souza²,

Duarte³

et al. 2015

BMC Neurosci

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundBoth exaggerated and diminished reactivity to stress can be maladaptive. Previous studies have shown that performing increasingly difficult tasks leads first to increased reactivity and then to a blunted response when success is impossible. Our aim was to investigate the influence of trait anxiety on cardiac and cortisol response to and recovery from a standardized psychosocial stress task (Trier Social Stress Task) in a homogeneous sample of healthy peacekeepers. We hypothesized that participants with higher trait anxiety would show blunted reactivity during the performance of an overwhelmingly difficult and stressful task. Participants (N = 50) delivered a speech and performed an arithmetic task in the presence of critical evaluators. Cortisol samples and electrocardiogram data were collected. Participants completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory—Trait version, the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist—Civilian Version (PCL-C) and the Military Peace Force Stressor Inventory.ResultsFor heart rate, the findings showed that peacekeepers with higher trait anxiety reacted less to the speech task (p = 0.03) and to the arithmetic task (p = 0.008) than those with lower trait anxiety. Trait anxiety did not modulate cortisol responses to the task. Despite the high trait anxiety group having higher PCL-C scores than the low trait anxiety group (p < 0.0001), this did not influence the cardiac results.ConclusionsWe concluded that individuals with higher trait anxiety had less tachycardia in response to acute psychological stress than those with lower trait anxiety. The present results point to a higher risk for more anxious individuals of a maladaptive reaction to stressful events.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blunted cardiac reactivity to psychological stress associated with higher trait anxiety: a study in peacekeepers

Souza

Mendonça-de-Souza²,

Duarte³

et al. 2015

BMC Neurosci

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition to the existence of the two motivational systems already mentioned for organizing behavior, personal relevance is a critical factor that determines affective responses [ 9 ]. Studies from our group have shown that positive affect traits [ 10 , 6 ], anxiety traits [ 11 ], trauma experience [ 12 , 13 ], severity of post traumatic symptoms [ 14 ], resting vagal tone and resilience traits [ 15 ] are able to modulate emotional response in several experimental paradigms. These findings are in line with several studies that show the critical role of individual differences in affective response and regulation [ 16 , 17 , 18 19 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Perception of Aversiveness of Surgical Procedure Pictures Is Modulated by Personal/Occupational Relevance

et al. 2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It is well established that emotions are organized around two motivational systems: the defensive and the appetitive. Individual differences are relevant factors in emotional reactions, making them more flexible and less stereotyped. There is evidence that health professionals have lower emotional reactivity when viewing scenes of situations involving pain. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the rating of pictures of surgical procedure depends on their personal/occupational relevance. Fifty-two female Nursing (health discipline) and forty-eight Social Work (social science discipline) students participated in the experiment, which consisted of the presentation of 105 images of different categories (e.g., neutral, food), including 25 images of surgical procedure. Volunteers judged each picture according to its valence (pleasantness) and arousal using the Self-Assessment Manikin scale (dimensional approach). Additionally, the participants chose the word that best described what they felt while viewing each image (discrete emotion perspective). The average valence score for surgical procedure pictures for the Nursing group (M = 4.57; SD = 1.02) was higher than the score for the Social Work group (M = 3.31; SD = 1.05), indicating that Nursing students classified those images as less unpleasant than the Social Work students did. Additionally, the majority of Nursing students (65.4%) chose “neutral” as the word that best described what they felt while viewing the pictures. In the Social Work group, disgust (54.2%) was the emotion that was most frequently chosen. The evaluation of emotional stimuli differed according to the groups' personal/occupational relevance: Nursing students judged pictures of surgical procedure as less unpleasant than the Social Work students did, possibly reflecting an emotional regulation skill or some type of habituation that is critically relevant to their future professional work.

show abstract

“…This was predominantly due to the rise of research that applied heart rate variability (HRV) analysis as a window into cardiac autonomic control. Mounting evidence indicates that those individuals showing higher vagal tone than average at rest tend to be more resilient to stress, adapting well across a number of different situations (El-Sheikh et al, 2001; Kok and Fredrickson, 2010; Smeets et al, 2010; Souza et al, 2013). On this regard, the beneficial effects of regular physical exercise on cardiac health appear to be mediated by an increase in resting vagal outflow (Smith et al, 1989; Rosenwinkel et al, 2001; Rennie et al, 2003; Soares-Miranda et al, 2009; Fu and Levine, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vagal modulation of resting heart rate in rats: the role of stress, psychosocial factors, and physical exercise

Carnevali

Sgoifo

2014

Front. Physiol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In humans, there are large individual differences in the levels of vagal modulation of resting heart rate (HR). High levels are a recognized index of cardiac health, whereas low levels are considered an important risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Several factors are thought to contribute significantly to this inter-individual variability. While regular physical exercise seems to induce an increase in resting vagal tone, chronic life stress, and psychosocial factors such as negative moods and personality traits appear associated with vagal withdrawal. Preclinical research has been attempting to clarify such relationships and to provide insights into the neurobiological mechanisms underlying vagal tone impairment/enhancement. This paper focuses on rat studies that have explored the effects of stress, psychosocial factors and physical exercise on vagal modulation of resting HR. Results are discussed with regard to: (i) individual differences in resting vagal tone, cardiac stress reactivity and arrhythmia vulnerability; (ii) elucidation of the neurobiological determinants of resting vagal tone.

show abstract

Resting vagal control and resilience as predictors of cardiovascular allostasis in peacekeepers

Cited by 44 publications

References 52 publications

Blunted cardiac reactivity to psychological stress associated with higher trait anxiety: a study in peacekeepers

Blunted cardiac reactivity to psychological stress associated with higher trait anxiety: a study in peacekeepers

The Perception of Aversiveness of Surgical Procedure Pictures Is Modulated by Personal/Occupational Relevance

Vagal modulation of resting heart rate in rats: the role of stress, psychosocial factors, and physical exercise

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About