New work by US researchers has shown that emotional responses to stressful situations have more harmful effects on health than the frequency of stressful situations themselves. The work was published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicin.
It is known that stress and negative emotions cause diseases of the cardiovascular system, but it is not yet clear why this happens. One of the possible reasons is the impact of stressful situations on the autonomic nervous system. Scientists are interested in how the frequency of stressful situations and heart rate variability - the variability of the heart rate - are related. "High heart rate variability is better for health," says Dr. Nancy Sin of the Pennsylvania Center for Healthy Aging. "People with low heart rate variability are much more susceptible to cardiovascular disease and the risk of premature death."
Scientists analyzed data from 909 participants aged 35 to 85 for eight days in a row. During the telephone interview, the subject was asked to describe his stressful experiences during the day. The interview data was then compared with the electrocardiogram obtained from the participant.
It turned out that a person's emotional reactions to stress have a greater impact on health than stress itself. Those who perceived events as more stressful or experienced a stronger surge of negative emotions had lower heart rate variability. It is these people who are more at risk of cardiovascular disease.
Scientists hope that in the future, these data can help in the development of interventions to improve human health.