Recall of Emotional Stress
Boosts Blood Pressure

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Have you been mulling over a past event that left you feeling harassed, flustered or angry? You may want to stop. Simply thinking back on an emotionally stressful event can cause spikes in blood pressure, according to the results of two experiments.

The findings, which appear in the September/October issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, indicate that emotional stress may be a more significant risk factor for heart disease than physical stress, which causes a finite physiological response.

"It may be the case that exposure to emotional stressors is of greater potential harm to the cardiovascular system than exposure to non-emotional stressors--even ones that provoke initial responses of the same magnitude," lead author Dr. Laura M. Glynn from the University of California-Irvine, said in a prepared statement.

Glynn and colleagues gave 72 healthy college students two tasks designed to cause an emotionally driven rise in blood pressure, and two tasks that caused a physically driven blood pressure increase. They measured blood pressure before, during, and after the students carried out the tasks.

Both the physically and emotionally stressful tasks caused spikes in blood pressure. However, when students were later asked to recreate the emotional tasks as vividly as possible (for instance, counting backward while being interrupted and harassed), blood pressure readings rose to levels similar to those recorded when the students had actually performed the tasks.

Thinking back on the physical exercises, such as walking in place at a certain pace and lifting each foot to a specified level, did not cause blood pressure to rise, the report indicates.

Certain traits, such as fear and nervousness as reported in a written interview, were associated with slower recovery and higher blood pressure readings during the re-creation of tasks.

In a related study, the researchers assessed how well 20 students recovered from the counting task used in the first experiment when they were left alone following the task, and when they were given another task to distract them.

The distracted students, who filled out a questionnaire, recovered quickly as determined by blood pressure readings. The other students tended to dwell on the emotional task, thereby prolonging the time it took for blood pressure to normalize.

Fast recovery from the physiological effects of stress is associated with better cardiovascular health. People who are not physically fit or who are hostile and angry tend to have a slower recovery, the study authors explain.

Together, the experiments suggest that "the effects of an emotional stressor do not end with the removal of that stressor," Glynn and colleagues conclude. "Simply thinking about a stressful experience can produce significant and sustained blood pressure responses, which in some cases are as large as the initial response to the stressor.

SOURCE: Psychosomatic Medicine 2002;64.

Reference Source 89

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