The short Sing-a-Song Stress Test: A practical and valid test of autonomic responses induced by social-evaluative stress

Seven robust and easy to obtain biomarkers to measure acute stress

With the purpose of identifying a sensitive, robust, and easy-to-measure set of biomarkers to assess stress reactivity, we here study a large set of relatively easy to obtain markers reflecting subjective, autonomic nervous system (ANS), endocrine, and inflammatory responses to acute social stress (n = 101). A subset of the participants was exposed to another social stressor the next day (n = 48) while being measured in the same way. Acute social stress was induced following standardized procedures. The markers investigated were self-reported positive and negative affect, heart rate, electrodermal activity, salivary cortisol, and ten inflammatory markers both in capillary plasma and salivary samples, including IL-22 which has not been studied in response to acute stress in humans before. Robust effects (significant effect in the same direction for both days) were found for self-reported negative affect, heart rate, electrodermal activity, plasma IL-5, plasma IL-22, salivary IL-8 and salivary IL-10. Of these seven markers, the participants' IL-22 responses on the first day were positively correlated to those on the second day. We found no correlations between salivary and capillary plasma stress responses for any of the ten cytokines and somewhat unexpectedly, cytokine responses in saliva seemed more pronounced and more in line with previous literature than cytokines in capillary plasma. In sum, seven robust and easy to obtain biomarkers to measure acute stress response were identified and should be used in future stress research to detect and examine stress reactivity. This includes IL-22 in plasma as a promising novel marker.

The neurophysiological consequences of racism-related stressors in Black Americans

Racism-related stressors, from experiences of both implicit and explicit racial discrimination to systemic socioeconomic disadvantage, have a cumulative impact on Black Americans' health. The present narrative review synthesizes peripheral (neuroendocrine and inflammation markers), psychophysiological (heart-rate variability, skin conductance), and neuroimaging (structural and functional) findings that demonstrate unique associations with racism-related stress. Emerging evidence reveals how racism-related stressors contribute to differential physiological and neural responses and may have distinct impacts on regions involved with threat and social processing. Ultimately, the neurophysiological effects of racism-related stress may confer biological susceptibility to stress and trauma-related disorders. We note critical gaps in the literature on the neurophysiological impact of racism-related stress and outline additional research that is needed on the multifactorial interactions between racism and mental health. A clearer understanding of the interactions between racism-related stress, neurophysiology, and stress- and trauma-related disorders is critical for preventative efforts, biomarker discovery, and selection of effective clinical treatments for Black Americans.

A study on the effect of music listening on people with high neurotic tendency as evidenced by negative affective scores and physiological responses

BACKGROUND

Music listening has been found to be effective in reducing stress levels with different participant samples. Relatively little evidence has been obtained from people with high neurotic tendency (HNT), whose dispositional psychological characteristics might dampen the effect of music listening. This study therefore tried to examine the immediate effect of music listening in reducing stressful feelings of participants with either high or low neurotic tendency.

PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE

Seventy-nine undergraduate participants who were identified as having either HNT or low neurotic tendency (LNT) accomplished a stressful task before listening to a comforting music piece. Negative affect (NA) scores and heart rate were measured at different phases.

RESULTS

Results in a within-subjects analysis showed that the stressor and music listening could significantly alter the stressful feeling of both participant groups. Although the percentage changes in heart rate were similar between the groups, the changes of NA score which were measured after either the stressful task or the music listening session were consistently lower in the HNT group than the LNT group.

CONCLUSIONS

The divergence revealed a loose connection between the subjective feelings and the bodily changes in the HNT group, which could be important for clinicians and practitioners to take into consideration in psychology when evaluating the stressful feelings for their clients with HNT.

Immersive virtual reality or computerised mindfulness meditation for improving mood? Preliminary efficacy from a pilot randomised trial

Introduction

Mindfulness interventions are effective in improving mood, reducing stress, and increasing quality of life. New developments in technology bring important channels to deliver mindfulness interventions that can increase accessibility, such as the Internet, computerised interventions, mobile apps and recently, virtual reality (VR). The aim of the present study is to enhance our current understanding of the use of VR in mindfulness, namely we examined in a pilot randomised trial the efficacy of an immersive VR-based mindfulness approach compared to an active control (computerised-based mindfulness meditation) on improving mood. A secondary objective was to examine whether VR use resulted in simulator sickness which could affect user engagement.

Methods

Forty-seven (Mage = 29.22 years) healthy participants were randomly assigned to the experimental or control group.

Results

A mixed 2X3 ANOVA showed a significant Time effect. Namely, negative emotions were reduced in both groups, with non-significant differences between groups. For positive emotions, on the other hand, our results showed no significant impact. Simulator sickness in VR was not present, according to t-test, making VR a safe delivery method.

Discussion

Future research should investigate VR dosage and combine VR with other interventions (e.g., blended with face-to-face mindfulness interventions, with Internet-delivered interventions).

Cardiorespiratory fitness, regular physical activity, and autonomic nervous system reactivity to laboratory and daily life stress

The cross-stressor adaptation hypothesis-which posits that adjustment to physical stress as a result of regular physical activity and its effects on fitness crosses over to psychological stress reactivity-has been around for over four decades. However, the literature has been plagued by heterogeneities preventing definitive conclusions. We address these heterogeneity issues in a combined laboratory and daily life study of 116 young adults (M = 22.48 SD = 3.56, 57.76% female). The exposure, i.e., the potential driver of adaptation, was defined in three ways. First, a submaximal test was performed to obtain aerobic fitness measured as the VO₂ max (kg/ml/min). Second, leisure time exercise behavior, and third, overall moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), were obtained from a structured interview. Outcomes were autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity and affective responsiveness to stressors. ANS activity was measured continuously and expressed as inter-beat-interval (IBI), pre-ejection-period (PEP), respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA), and non-specific Skin Conductance Responses (ns.SCR). Negative and positive affect were recorded after each experimental condition in the laboratory and hourly in daily life with a nine-item digital questionnaire. Linear regressions were performed between the three exposure measures as predictors and the various laboratory and daily life stress measurements as outcomes. Our results support the resting heart rate reducing effect of aerobic fitness and total MVPA in both the laboratory and daily life. We did not find evidence for the cross-stressor adaptation hypothesis, irrespective of ANS or affective outcome measure or whether the exposure was defined as exercise/MVPA or aerobic fitness.

Effects of neuromodulation on cognitive and emotional responses to psychosocial stressors in healthy humans

Physiological and psychological stressors can exert wide-ranging effects on the human brain and behavior. Research has improved understanding of how the sympatho-adreno-medullary (SAM) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axes respond to stressors and the differential responses that occur depending on stressor type. Although the physiological function of SAM and HPA responses is to promote survival and safety, exaggerated psychobiological reactivity can occur in psychiatric disorders. Exaggerated reactivity may occur more for certain types of stressors, specifically, psychosocial stressors. Understanding stressor effects and how the body regulates these responses can provide insight into ways that psychobiological reactivity can be modulated. Non-invasive neuromodulation is one way that responding to stressors may be altered; research into these interventions may provide further insights into the brain circuits that modulate stress reactivity. This review focuses on the effects of acute psychosocial stressors and how neuromodulation might be effective in altering stress reactivity. Although considerable research into stress interventions focuses on treating pathology, it is imperative to first understand these mechanisms in non-clinical populations; therefore, this review will emphasize populations with no known pathology and consider how these results may translate to those with psychiatric pathologies.

Validity of electrodermal activity-based measures of sympathetic nervous system activity from a wrist-worn device

Measuring electrodermal activity (EDA) on the wrist with the use of dry electrodes is a promising method to help identify person-specific stressors during prolonged recordings in daily life. While the feasibility of this method has been demonstrated, detailed testing of validity of such ambulatory EDA is scarce. In a controlled laboratory study, we examine SCL and ns.SCR derived from wrist-based dry electrodes (Philips DTI) and palm-based wet electrodes (VU-AMS) in 112 healthy adults (57% females, mean age = 22.3, SD = 3.4) across 26 different conditions involving mental stressors or physical activities. Changes in these EDA measures were compared to changes in the Pre-ejection period (PEP) and stressor-induced changes in affect. Absolute SCL and ns.SCR frequency were lower at the wrist compared to the palm. Wrist-based ns.SCR and palm-based ns.SCR and SCL responded directionally consistent with our experimental manipulation of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity. Average within-subject correlations between palm-based and wrist-based EDA were significant but modest (r SCL = 0.31; r ns.SCR = 0.42). Changes in ns.SCR frequency at the palm (r = -0.44) and the wrist (r = -0.36) were correlated with changes in PEP. Both palm-based and wrist based EDA predicted changes in affect (6.5%-14.5%). Our data suggest that wrist-based ns.SCR frequency is a useful addition to the psychophysiologist's toolkit, at least for epidemiology-sized ambulatory studies of changes in sympathetic activity during daily life.

Integrative psycho-biophysiological markers in predicting psychological resilience

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and parasympathetic nervous systems have been reported to play important roles in emotion regulation and stress coping. Yet, their direct relationship with psychological resilience remains unclear. These biophysiological features should be considered together with the traditional psychometric properties in studying resilience more comprehensively. The current study aimed to examine the role of these systems during a laboratory stress task and to determine the prediction power of resilience by combining psychological and biophysiological features. One hundred and seven (52 females) university students without psychiatric disorders underwent the Trier Social Stress Task (TSST). Psychometric properties of resilience were measured at rest; vagal heart rate variability (HRV), salivary cortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) levels were captured at baseline, during, and after TSST. Multivariate linear regression as well as support vector regression machine-learning analyses were performed to investigate significant predictors and the prediction power of resilience. Results showed that positive and negative affects, HRV during the anticipatory phase of stress, and the ratio of cortisol/DHEA at the first recovery time point were significant predictors of resilience. The addition of biophysiological features increased the prediction power of resilience by 1.2-fold compared to psychological features alone. Results from machine learning analyses further demonstrated that the increased prediction power of resilience by adding the ratio of cortisol/DHEA was significant in "cortisol responders"; whereas a trend level was observed in "cortisol non-responders". Our findings extend the knowledge from the literature that high vagal activity during the anticipating phase of stress and the ability to restore the balance between cortisol and DHEA after a stress event could be an important feature in predicting resilience. Our findings also further support the need of combining psychological and biophysiological features in studying/predicting resilience.

Fathers' Heightened Stress Responses to Recounting their NICU Experiences Months after Discharge: A Mixed Methods Pilot Study

OBJECTIVE

 The acute and traumatic events associated with having a newborn who requires admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) may elicit long-term concerns for parents postdischarge. Cognitive processing of taxing events influences recurring stress responses, which can be inferred via biomarkers such as salivary cortisol (sCort) and skin conductance (SC). In addition, personal narratives provide an important insight into individual perceptions and coping strategies. The current pilot study aimed to (1) test the hypotheses that fathers' sCort and SC would peak in response to stress induction and decrease during recovery, (2) examine associations among stress biomarkers and stress perceptions, (3) explore fathers' narratives using thematic analysis, and (4) integrate fathers' narrative themes with their stress responsivity.

STUDY DESIGN

 Using a convergent mixed methods approach, we enrolled 10 fathers of infants formerly cared for in NICU who underwent a Trier Social Stress Test including recounting their NICU experience months postdischarge. Stress responsivity was measured via sCort and SC, while stress perceptions were identified by using the Perceived Stress Scale and Distress Thermometer-Parent. Personal narratives were explored by using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

 The significant rise in fathers' sCort and SC in response to stress induction was reflected in narrative themes including loss, worry, and role strain. Subsequently, fathers' sCort and SC returned to baseline, which was illustrated by themes such as role strength, coping, and medical staff interactions. Fathers' stress measured by PSS was lower than that required for mental health referral, and did not correlate with stress biomarkers.

CONCLUSION

 Salivary cortisol and skin conductance are useful biomarkers of paternal stress responsivity and recovery. Thematic analysis identified fathers' NICU stressors and coping strategies that mirrored their stress responsivity patterns. Further studies are needed to more broadly examine the sociodemographic variables that influence stress reactivity and perceptions in parents of infants formerly cared for in NICU.

KEY POINTS

· Stress associated with NICU stay is impactful on fathers and may have long-term implications.. · Salivary cortisol and skin conductance are useful noninvasive stress biomarkers.. · Fathers' coping strategies included infant bonding, partner relationship, and trust building..