The relationship between sleep and interoception.

The present study aimed to characterise the relationship between sleep and interoception in two independent studies. Theoretical grounds for such a relationship include a weak relationship between subjectively- and objectively-measured sleep, the covariance of sleep with pain, as well as the mass regulation of a number of visceral biological systems. In addition, such a relationship is often reflected in our language (i.

Testing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as a potential moderator of the association between current chronic stress and cardiovascular reactivity.

Motivated by mixed findings regarding the relationship between chronic stress and cardiovascular reactivity, the current study aimed to investigate whether adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) serve as a potential moderator of the association between current chronic stress and cardiovascular reactivity. Incidence of ACEs, levels of current chronic stress, and heart rate (HR) reactivity to a mental arithmetic stress task were measured in 111 participants (age = 20.83, 76 % female, 66 % White).

Physical activity and sleep relate to antibody maintenance following naturalistic infection and/or vaccination in older adults.

Health behaviours such as being physically active and having good quality sleep have been associated with decreased susceptibility to infection and stronger antibody responses to vaccination. Less is known about how such factors might influence the maintenance of immunity following naturalistic infection and/or prior vaccination, particularly among older adults who may have formed initial antibodies some time ago. This analysis explored antibody levels against a range of common infectious diseases in 104 older adults (60 women) aged 65+ years, and whether these relate to self-reported physical activity (PA) and sleep.

Cardiovascular reactions to acute psychological stress and academic achievement.

Cardiovascular reactions to acute psychological stress have been associated with cognitive function. However, previous work has assessed cardiovascular reactions and cognitive function in the laboratory at the same time. The present study examined the association between cardiovascular reactions to acute psychological stress in the laboratory and academic performance in final year high school students.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) relate to blunted cardiovascular and cortisol reactivity to acute laboratory stress: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with poor future mental and physical health. Altered biological reactivity to mental stress may be a possible mechanism linking ACEs to poor health. However, it is not clear if ACEs relate to blunted or exaggerated stress reactivity.

Sleep health mediates the relationship between physical activity and depression symptoms.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate cross-sectional associations between physical activity, sleep health, and depression symptoms using mediation models.

Methods: Participants (N = 1576, M = 39.3 years, 40% female) were recruited online from Amazon's Mechanical Turk crowd-sourcing service.

Multidimensional Sleep Health and Physical Functioning in Older Adults.

To examine the association between multidimensional sleep health and objective measures of physical functioning in older adults. We conducted a secondary analysis of 158 adults ≥65 years who participated in Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) 2 and MIDUS Refresher studies. Physical functioning was assessed using gait speed during a 50-foot timed walk, lower extremity strength via chair stand test, and grip strength via hand-held dynamometers.

Trait neuroticism does not relate to cardiovascular reactivity or habituation to repeated acute psychosocial stress.

Neuroticism has been associated with adverse cardiovascular health. Adverse cardiovascular health outcomes have also been linked to cardiovascular reactivity and cardiovascular reactivity habituation to acute psychosocial stress. As such, cardiovascular stress reactivity and habituation may be a factor in the association between neuroticism and disease risk.

Cynical hostility relates to a lack of habituation of the cardiovascular response to repeated acute stress.

Hostility is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Heightened cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress has been proposed as a potential mechanism. Recent work has emphasized a need to measure cardiovascular reactivity across multiple stress exposures to assess potential habituation over time.

Heart Rate Reactivity to Acute Psychological Stress Predicts Higher Levels of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objective: Increased autonomic arousal is a proposed risk factor for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Few studies have prospectively examined the association between physiological responses to acute psychological stress before a traumatic event and later PTSD symptoms. The present prospective study examined whether cardiovascular responses to an acute psychological stress task before the COVID-19 global pandemic predicted PTSD symptoms related to the ongoing pandemic.

Multidimensional sleep health is not cross-sectionally or longitudinally associated with adiposity in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN).

Objectives: The association between sleep and adiposity (indexed by body mass index or waist-to-hip ratio) has typically been evaluated using a single dimension of self-reported sleep. However, other dimensions and behavioral measures of sleep may also be associated with adiposity. This study evaluated whether multidimensional sleep health calculated from actigraphy and self-report was longitudinally associated with adiposity in a sample of midlife women who have a high prevalence of sleep disturbances and adiposity.

Does objectively-assessed sleep moderate the association between history of major depressive disorder and task-switching?

Background: Executive function and psychomotor speed are consistently impaired in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Persistent cognitive impairments after depression remission are thought to reflect "scarring" from the neurotoxic effects of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity during a depressive episode. As sleep also deteriorates with depression and restores daytime executive functions, we examined whether adequate sleep could be protective against task-switching and psychomotor impairments associated with a history of MDD.

The association between physical activity and a composite measure of sleep health.

Purpose: Physical activity has been associated with several individual dimensions of sleep. However, the association between physical activity and sleep health, a construct that emphasizes the multidimensional nature of sleep, has not been explored. This analysis examined the relationship between physical activity and a composite measure of sleep health.

Empirical derivation of cutoff values for the sleep health metric and its relationship to cardiometabolic morbidity: results from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study.

Study Objectives: Emerging evidence supports a multidimensional perspective of sleep in the context of health. The sleep health model, and composite sleep health score, are increasingly used in research. However, specific cutoff values that differentiate "good" from "poor" sleep, have not been empirically derived and its relationship to cardiometabolic health is less-well understood.

Prospective associations among objectively and subjectively assessed sleep and the metabolic syndrome.

Objective: Subjective sleep disturbances have been associated with greater risk for concurrent and incident metabolic syndrome (MetS). Previous studies have not examined prospective associations among polysomnography-assessed sleep and the MetS, despite knowledge that self-reported sleep is subject to reporting bias, and that subjectively and objectively assessed sleep are weakly correlated.

Method: In the current study, objectively-assessed (polysomnography) and subjectively-assessed (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI) sleep was measured in 145 adults at two timepoints, separated by 12-30 years.

Childhood Trauma and Sleep Among Young Adults With a History of Depression: A Daily Diary Study.

Child maltreatment and sleep disturbances are particularly prevalent among individuals with a history of depression. However, the precise relation between child maltreatment and sleep within this population is unclear. The present study evaluated childhood maltreatment and trauma as a predictor of sleep duration and insomnia symptoms among young adults with prior depression.

Sleep and cardiovascular disease: Emerging opportunities for psychology.

Sleep disturbances and disorders have been implicated in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Converging evidence suggests that psychosocial factors that confer risk or resilience to cardiovascular disease (CVD) are also related to sleep. Profound differences in sleep among racial/ethnic minorities compared with non-Hispanic Whites in the United States suggest that sleep, and its interplay with psychosocial factors, may contribute to observed disparities in CVD and in health and functioning more broadly.

Should heart rate variability be "corrected" for heart rate? Biological, quantitative, and interpretive considerations.

Metrics of heart period variability are widely used in the behavioral and biomedical sciences, although somewhat confusingly labeled as heart rate variability (HRV). Despite their wide use, HRV metrics are usually analyzed and interpreted without reference to prevailing levels of cardiac chronotropic state (i.e.

Assessment of the cerebral pressure-flow relationship using psychological stress to manipulate blood pressure.

Recent evidence indicates that cerebral autoregulation (CA) might be more pressure passive than previously thought. That is, cerebral blood flow, traditionally thought to be regulated independently of prevailing mean arterial pressure (MAP), might fluctuate, to some extent, as a function of MAP. However, due to limitations associated with experimental usage of pharmaceuticals to manipulate MAP and inconsistent control of arterial carbon dioxide, questions remain regarding the MAP-cerebral blood flow relationship, especially during typical daily activities that alter MAP.

Changes in sleep quality and levels of psychological distress during the adaptation to university: The role of childhood adversity.

Stress-related sleep disturbances are common, and poor sleep quality can negatively affect health. Previous work indicates that early-life adversity is associated with compromised sleep quality later in life, but it is unknown whether it predicts greater declines in sleep quality during stressful life transitions. We propose and test a conceptual model whereby individuals who reported experiencing greater levels of child maltreatment would experience greater psychological distress during a stressful life transition, which in turn would contribute to greater declines in sleep quality, relative to their quality of sleep before the stressful transition.

Cardiovascular Stress Reactivity and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness: The Buffering Role of Slow-Wave Sleep.

Objective: Exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress has been associated with increased carotid intima-media thickness (IMT). However, interstudy variability in this relationship suggests the presence of moderating factors. The current study aimed to test the hypothesis that poor nocturnal sleep, defined as short total sleep time or low slow-wave sleep, would moderate the relationship between cardiovascular reactivity and IMT.

The Relationship Between Childhood Trauma and Poor Sleep Health in Adulthood.

Objective: Childhood trauma has been related to adverse behavioral, mental, and health outcomes later in life. Sleep may be a potential mechanism through which childhood trauma is related to adverse health. The current retrospective study aimed to characterize the relationship between childhood trauma exposure and sleep health, a novel multidimensional measure of sleep.

Exploring the possible mechanisms of blunted cardiac reactivity to acute psychological stress.

Blunted cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress has been linked to a range of adverse health and behavioral outcomes. However, the origins of blunted reactivity remain unclear. The current study aimed to explore the following possibilities: different appraisals of task stressfulness and/or difficulty, diminished task effort, or reduced physiological capacity to respond.

Blunted cardiac stress reactors exhibit relatively high levels of behavioural impulsivity.

Blunted physiological reactions to acute psychological stress are associated with a range of adverse health and behavioural outcomes. This study examined whether extreme stress reactors differ in their behavioural impulsivity. Individuals showing blunted (N=23) and exaggerated (N=23) cardiovascular reactions to stress were selected by screening a healthy student population (N=276).

Heart rate complexity: A novel approach to assessing cardiac stress reactivity.

Correlation dimension (D2), a measure of heart rate (HR) complexity, has been shown to decrease in response to acute mental stress and relate to adverse cardiovascular health. However, the relationship between stress-induced changes in D2 and HR has yet to be established. The present studies aimed to assess this relationship systematically while controlling for changes in respiration and autonomic activity.