Here is some important investigation which can possibly aid in providing personalized treatment for patients with stress. According to a recent study, emotional response towards challenging situations can foretell the way body responds to stress. The study findings can help ascertain why some people with high levels of stress experience chronic health problems.
At the time of the investigation, healthy middle-aged individuals gave a speech within the laboratory before a video camera and a panel of judges. While delivering the speech, experts noted the physical responses to the task and later asked them about the emotions experienced by them. Majority of the subjects reported an elevation in heart rate and blood pressure when subjected to a stressful task. It can therefore be concluded that such people have an increase in a circulating marker of inflammation named interleukin-6.
“Our results raise the possibility that individuals who become angry or anxious when confronting relatively minor challenges in their lives are prone to increases in inflammation,†shared lead author Dr Anna Marsland, an Associate Professor of Psychology and Nursing at the University of Pittsburgh. “Over time, this may render these emotionally-reactive individuals more vulnerable to inflammatory diseases, such as cardiovascular disease.”
Those experiencing high levels of anger and anxiety after performing the laboratory-based stress task apparently had greater elevation in interleukin-6, than those who remained comparatively calm. Authors pointed out that people who have the biggest increases in this marker are the ones showing greatest emotional responses to the task. It was suggested that the specific nature of emotional response to the task can be a key predictive factor and have major clinical implications.
The study was published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.