Anger and cardiovascular startle reactivity in normotensive young males.

Anger has been implicated in the etiology of hypertensive disease. Trait anger has been linked to enhanced cardiovascular responsiveness. However, whether this association reflects differences in context appraisal or a general hyper-reactivity of the cardiovascular system remains unclear.

Low vagal tone is associated with impaired post stress recovery of cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune markers.

Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) and delayed blood pressure recovery are associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Besides this evident link, the vagus is thought to play an inhibitory role in the regulation of other allostatic systems, including inflammation and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. However, human evidence is scarce.

Emotional irritation before mental stress is associated with enhanced peripheral norepinephrine.

Research suggests equivocal findings on associations of catecholamines and mood. Our study investigated the associations of emotional state, blood pressure and catecholamines in 55 healthy males undergoing mental stress. We especially checked the reported link between norepinephrine (NE) and emotional irritation.