By a show of hands, how many people in the
audience here have ever been stressed? Try
to remember, what was the situation? Was it
a job interview? A deadline? A Speech in front
of a crowd? A first date perhaps? How did
it feel? Were your legs shaking? Were you
sweating? Did you feel like your heart was
pounding in your chest? Well, I am not calling
you all liars but I can guarantee that in
some of you, that was all in your head and
in fact your heart rate did not go up at all.
It can be easily seen that on the surface
most people get quite nervous in stressful
situations, but if you peel back the layers
and take a look at their biological response,
that is, their blood pressure and heart rate
in these circumstances, well that tells a
different story. For example, if a saber tooth
tiger walked into this room right now I am
comfortable saying that all of us would be
stressed out. However, despite all of us being
equally stressed psychologically, biologically
some of us would be reacting like this caveman,
your blood pressure and heart rate would be
through the roof. While others of us would
be like this caveman and despite your manic
state your heart rate and blood pressure would
remain constant.
What is more interesting though is that the
extent or the manner in which your blood pressure
and heart rate increase in response to stress
can predispose you to a host of diseases.
For example it has shown that individuals
whose blood pressure and heart rate increase
a tremendous amount under stress are more
likely to develop cardiovascular disease and
hypertension in the future. This type of reaction
pattern has even been linked to increased
risk of death! Opposite to that, individuals
whose cardiovascular systems behave like this
caveman have been shown to be characterized
by depression, addictive behavior, and obesity.
So what we have here is a goldilocks situation.
Small reactions are too cold, large reactions
are too hot, but medium reactions at this
point seem to be just right.
S
o, this wide variety of reactions begs the
question, why do people react so differently.
Well this is what my PhD is looking at. In
the lab I re-create stressful situations by
making participants give speeches in front
of a small crowd or perform mental math under
time pressure. While they do this I measure
their blood pressure, heart rate, and other
makers of cardiovascular function to gain
an insight into what causes individuals to
react so differently to stressful situations.
I've seen it all. I've had participants yelling
at me because they are so stressed yet their
blood pressure and heart rate remain constant.
On the other hand, I've tested participants
that seem unphased by stress yet display a
huge increase in heart rate and blood pressure.
Two counter-intuitive situations, don't you
think?
It is my hope that if the reasons for such
radically different cardiovascular stress
responses can be figured then these responses
may one day be able to be used as a screening
tool so that individuals who are predisposed
to cardiovascular disease or depression can
be identified at a young age so that medical
or lifestyle interventions can be put in place
to stop or slow disease progression. For example,
a child who mounts a tremendous blood pressure
and heart rate response to stress can be counseled
by a doctor to engage in daily exercise to
reduce risk of cardiovascular disease.
Let's face it. We are all stressed at some
point. Given the prevalence and adverse health
implications of stress wouldn't you want to
be screened to know what diseases you may
be predisposed to as a result of the way you
react with your daily stress? Thank you.
