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Impact of mental and physical stress on blood pressure and pulse pressure under normobaric versus hypoxic conditions.
- Source :
-
PloS one [PLoS One] 2014 May 09; Vol. 9 (5), pp. e89005. Date of Electronic Publication: 2014 May 09 (Print Publication: 2014). - Publication Year :
- 2014
-
Abstract
- Objective: Hypobaric hypoxia, physical and psychosocial stress may influence key cardiovascular parameters including blood pressure (BP) and pulse pressure (PP). We investigated the effects of mild hypobaric hypoxia exposure on BP and PP reactivity to mental and physical stress and to passive elevation by cable car.<br />Methods: 36 healthy volunteers participated in a defined test procedure consisting of a period of rest 1, mental stress task (KLT-R), period of rest 2, combined mental (KLT-R) and physical task (bicycle ergometry) and a last period of rest both at Graz, Austria (353 m asl) and at the top station Dachstein (2700 m asl). Beat-to-beat heart rate and BP were analysed both during the test procedures at Graz and at Dachstein and during passive 1000 m elevation by cable car (from 1702 m to 2700 m).<br />Results: A significant interaction of kind of stress (mental vs. combined mental and physical) and study location (Graz vs. Dachstein) was found in the systolic BP (p = .007) and PP (p = .002) changes indicating that during the combined mental and physical stress task sBP was significantly higher under hypoxic conditions whereas sBP and PP were similar during mental stress both under normobaric normoxia (Graz) and under hypobaric hypoxia (Dachstein). During the passive ascent in cable car less trivialization (psychological coping strategy) was associated with an increase in PP (p = .004).<br />Conclusion: Our data show that combined mental and physical stress causes a significant higher raise in sBP and PP under hypoxic conditions whereas isolated mental stress did not affect sBP and PP under hypoxic conditions. PP-reaction to ascent in healthy subjects is not uniform. BP reactions to ascent that represents an accumulation of physical (mild hypobaric hypoxia) and psychological stressors depend on predetermined psychological traits (stress coping strategies). Thus divergent cardiovascular reactions can be explained by applying the multidimensional aspects of the biopsychosocial concept.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena
Cross-Over Studies
Female
Humans
Logistic Models
Male
Multivariate Analysis
Pulse
Surveys and Questionnaires
Young Adult
Blood Pressure physiology
Exercise Test methods
Heart Rate physiology
Hypoxia physiopathology
Stress, Psychological physiopathology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1932-6203
- Volume :
- 9
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- PloS one
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 24817135
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0089005