Abstract
Instructed reappraisal has previously been associated with a challenge-oriented cardiovascular response profile, indexed by greater cardiac output (CO) and lower total peripheral resistance (TPR), in response to a single stress exposure. The present study builds on this research by employing a stress habituation paradigm where participants completed a speech task twice; in which prior to the second task participants heard reappraisal instructions (i.e., view feelings of stress arousal as something that is beneficial) or control instructions. This paradigm allowed us to (a) test if reappraisal aids cardiovascular habituation to recurrent stress, and (b) examine if reappraisal leads to a within-participant change in CO/TPR responding from an uninstructed task to an instructed reappraisal task. Habitual use of reappraisal was assessed using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. The analyses report upon 173 young adults (121 women, 52 men). Cardiovascular parameters were measured continuously using the Finometer Pro. All participants demonstrated similar cardiovascular habituation during the second stress exposure (lower SBP, CO, and HR); suggesting that reappraisal did not aid cardiovascular habituation to recurrent stress. Reappraisal instructions did not lead to a challenge-oriented response compared to both the control group and responses to the uninstructed task. This study is the first to examine the relationship between instructed reappraisal and cardiovascular habituation and identifies that habitual use of reappraisal does not interact with reappraisal instructions to influence cardiovascular responses to stress.
Highlights
Stress reappraisal involves reframing feelings of stress as something that is beneficial for the body; in other words, that feeling stressed enables the body to adapt to the source of stress and perform better
An initial sample of 225 non-smokers participated in the study; 52 participants were excluded from the analyses resulting in the final sample; cardiovascular assessment was not available for 25 participants, eight participants reported English as their second language, one participant was over the threshold of 25-years of age, and 18 participants had resting blood pressure classified as potentially hypertensive (SBP/diastolic blood pressure (DBP) > 140/90 mmHg)
The present study examined if instructed reappraisal aids cardiovascular habituation to stress
Summary
Stress reappraisal involves reframing feelings of stress (such as increased heart rate, sweaty palms) as something that is beneficial for the body; in other words, that feeling stressed enables the body to adapt to the source of stress and perform better. Consistent with the hypothesis of the BPS model, instructed reappraisal has been shown to lead to greater perceived resources to cope with a subsequent task (Beltzer et al, 2014; Jamieson et al, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2016) Together, it appears that instructed reappraisal results in an adaptive cardiovascular response profile, at least in response to a single stress exposure. It is not clear whether the reported patterns of CO and TPR responding associated with instructed reappraisal are truly associated with a challenge- oriented response as the compensatory relationship between CO and TPR is not taken into account This method of classifying the underlying hemodynamic response (as either a challenge or threat response) appears similar to a method used within the BPS model literature and within some emotion regulation studies (e.g., Hangen et al, 2019). This relationship has not yet been examined with blood pressure parameters as the outcome
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