stress

Two experiments involving more than 200 young adults have indicated that the extent to which they experienced positive emotions (such as amusement, awe, compassion, contentment, joy, love and pride) was linked to lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. In particular, awe, wonder and amazement, were associated with the lowest levels of the cytokine, Interleukin 6 (a marker of inflammation).

High levels of cytokines are associated with poorer health and such disorders as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and even Alzheimer’s disease and clinical depression.

It's suggested that awe is associated with curiosity and a desire to explore, behaviors which are the opposite of those found during inflammation, where individuals typically withdraw from others.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-02/uoc--ana020315.php

Stellar, J. E., John-Henderson, N., Anderson, C. L., Gordon, A. M., McNeil, G. D., & Keltner, D. (2015). Positive affect and markers of inflammation: Discrete positive emotions predict lower levels of inflammatory cytokines. Emotion, 15(2), 129–133. http://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000033

Following growing evidence that exposure to nature makes people feel and think better, a study using 3-D videos of residential streets with varying amounts of tree canopy has demonstrated a dose-response curve.

The study involved 80 men and 78 women, who were stressed by having to deliver five-minute impromptu speeches before two interviewers and a video camera, before then having to solve several subtraction problems out loud, without using computing devices, paper or pencil. Afterwards, they watched one of 10 panoramic 3-D videos showing similar neighborhood streets on which the density of tree cover ranged from 2 to 62%.

The men displayed a bell-shaped dose-response curve, with their stress biomarkers (salivary cortisol and skin conductance levels) improving steadily as the tree canopy increased from 2 to 24%. The greatest benefits came from tree canopy in the 24-34% range, and stress recovery declined for tree cover over 34%.

Women did not show the same physiological response, although their self-reports suggested that they also experienced stress reduction benefits that increased proportionally with the percentage of tree canopy viewed.

While 41% of male and female participants who watched videos with minimal tree canopy described calming effects, more than 90% reported feeling calm or relaxed when the tree canopy was at 36%. All reported well-being when the tree cover was at 62%.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-10-d-videos-trees-people-recover.html

Jiang, B., Li, D., Larsen, L., & Sullivan, W. C. (2016). A Dose-Response Curve Describing the Relationship Between Urban Tree Cover Density and Self-Reported Stress Recovery. Environment and Behavior, 48(4), 607–629. http://doi.org/10.1177/0013916514552321

Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes that affect how quickly cells age. With age, they shorten, and as their structural integrity weakens, the cells age and die quicker. Telomere length thus is a biomarker of cellular age. Stress is also thought to shorten telomere length.

A year-long study that looked at the effects of three healthy behaviors in 239 post-menopausal, non-smoking women has found that women who engaged in lower levels of healthy behaviors showed a significantly greater telomere shortening for every major life stressor that occurred. However, stress didn't lead to greater shortening in those women who maintained active lifestyles, healthy diets, and good quality sleep.

Shorter telomeres have become associated with a broad range of aging-related diseases, including stroke, vascular dementia, cardiovascular disease, obesity, osteoporosis diabetes, and many forms of cancer.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-07/uoc--hlm072414.php

Puterman, E., Lin, J., Krauss, J., Blackburn, E. H., & Epel, E. S. (2015). Determinants of telomere attrition over 1 year in healthy older women: stress and health behaviors matter. Molecular Psychiatry, 20(4), 529–535. http://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2014.70

A small clinical trial involving 49 older adults (average age 66) found that the group who were given a standardized mindfulness meditation program had greater improvement in sleep score than the group given a sleep hygiene education program. They also showed greater improvement on secondary measures of insomnia symptoms, depression symptoms, fatigue interference and fatigue severity. However, differences between the groups were not seen for anxiety, stress or inflammatory signaling, the last of which declined in both groups.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-02/tjnj-mma021215.php

Black DS, O’Reilly GA, Olmstead R, Breen EC, Irwin MR. Mindfulness Meditation and Improvement in Sleep Quality and Daytime Impairment Among Older Adults With Sleep Disturbances: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2015;175(4):494-501. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8081.

Sleep apnea is common among overweight and obese individuals, and many people with prediabetes have untreated sleep apnea, although few of them are aware of it.

A study involving 39 middle-aged, overweight or obese volunteers with prediabetes and sleep apnea has found that those who received two weeks of CPAP treatment improved their blood sugar control and the ability of insulin to regulate their blood sugar, and also had lower blood pressure and lower levels of the stress hormone norepinephrine.

Two-thirds of the volunteers received continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for eight hours during the night; the other 13 received a placebo to be taken before bedtime. They were told the study would compare the two treatments. All participants slept in the sleep laboratory and were closely monitored.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-04/uocm-esa042715.php

Sushmita Pamidi, Kristen Wroblewski, Magdalena Stepien, Khalid Sharif-Sidi, Jennifer Kilkus, Harry Whitmore, and Esra Tasali "Eight Hours of Nightly Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Improves Glucose Metabolism in Patients with Prediabetes. A Randomized Controlled Trial", American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Vol. 192, No. 1 (2015), pp. 96-105. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201408-1564OC

Data collected from more than 5,300 employed Germans aged 29-66 has revealed that, over 13 years, 291 developed type 2 diabetes. Those who were under a high level of pressure at work and also perceived themselves as having little control over their activities had about a 45% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those subjected to less workplace stress.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-08/hzm--wsi080814.php

Huth, C. et al. (2014), Job Strain as a Risk Factor for the Onset of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Findings From the MONICA/KORA Augsburg Cohort Study, Psychosomatic Medicine, 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000084