Cardiac stress reactivity and recovery of novelty seekers

Mirka Hintsanen, Sampsa Puttonen, Petrus Järvinen, Laura Pulkki-Råback, Marko Elovainio, Päivi Merjonen, Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Novelty seeking temperament has been associated with higher coronary heart disease risk factors, but the mechanism behind the association is open. Cardiac stress response is a potential candidate. Purpose: Cardiac stress reactivity and recovery was studied in 29 healthy subjects (aged 22-37 years) scoring extremely high (n=16) or extremely low (n=13) on temperamental dimension of novelty seeking. Method: Heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and pre-ejection period were measured during challenging tasks. Differences in cardiac reactivity and recovery between the novelty seeking groups were examined with repeated-measures and univariate analyses. Results: The main finding was that stress reactivity did not differ between high and low novelty seeking groups, but high novelty seekers tended to show faster recovery, which is likely to be parasympathetically mediated. Conclusion: The findings suggest that high novelty seekers may be more stress resilient because they might have faster cardiac recovery after stress. Cardiac stress reactivity seems not to be among the explaining factors for the association between novelty seeking and coronary heart disease risk factors.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)236-240
Number of pages5
JournalINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE
Volume16
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2009
Externally publishedYes
Publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • Autonomic nervous system
  • Cardiac reactivity
  • Cardiac recovery
  • Novelty seeking
  • Temperament

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Applied Psychology

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