Abstract
BackgroundBlunted blood pressure (BP) dipping during nighttime sleep has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. Psychological traits have been associated with prolonged cardiovascular activation and a lack of cardiovascular recovery. This activation may extend into nighttime sleep and reduce BP dipping.PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the association between trait rumination and nighttime BP dipping.MethodsSixty women scoring either high or low on trait rumination underwent one 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring session. Self-reported wake and sleep times were used to calculate nighttime BP.ResultsHigh trait rumination was associated with less diastolic blood pressure (DBP) dipping relative to low trait rumination. Awake ambulatory BP, asleep systolic blood pressure (SBP) and DBP, and asleep SBP dipping were not associated with trait rumination.ConclusionsIn a sample of young women, high trait rumination was associated with less DBP dipping, suggesting that it may be associated with prolonged cardiovascular activation that extends into nighttime sleep, blunting BP dipping.
Highlights
Blunted blood pressure (BP) dipping during nighttime sleep has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events
A series of one-way ANOVAs indicated no significant differences between the high and low trait rumination groups on age, Body Mass Index (BMI), or any of the sleep variables, though they did differ on Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores (Table 1)
This study examined the impact of high and low levels of trait rumination on BP dipping status during nighttime sleep
Summary
In a sample of young women, high trait rumination was associated with less DBP dipping, suggesting that it may be associated with prolonged cardiovascular activation that extends into nighttime sleep, blunting BP dipping. A lack of nocturnal BP dipping, or nondipping, has been associated with target organ damage [2,3,4] and an increased risk of cardiovascular events in individuals with hypertension [5,6,7,8], along with cardiac hypertrophy and remodelling in a normotensive population [9]. Prolonged elevations in BP and heart rate (HR), or the total time that the cardiovascular system is activated following stress, have been suggested as relevant factors in the development of hypertension [19]. This association is apparent in various studies linking delayed cardiovascular recovery following stress to poor cardiovascular outcomes [20,21,22,23]. It was hypothesized that relative to low trait rumination, high trait rumination would be associated with blunted BP dipping during nocturnal sleep
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