Background Chronic stress is a major public health issue linked to psychological vulnerability and autonomic dysregulation. While heart rate variability (HRV) is widely recognized as a biomarker of stress adaptability, few studies have characterized the psychophysiological profile of individuals who self-identify as chronically stressed. Understanding this relationship could clarify the integration between subjective perception and autonomic control mechanisms. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with 54 adults reporting chronic self-perceived stress for at least 6 months. Psychological assessment included validated Spanish versions of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4), State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-6), Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II), UCLA Loneliness Scale, and Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI). HRV was recorded using a Polar H10 sensor in 2 daily 5-min supine measurements (morning and evening) over 7 days. Time, frequency, and nonlinear-domain parameters were analyzed according to the Task Force standards. Results Participants presented high levels of anxiety, depression, and psychological inflexibility, together with moderately reduced HRV indices. No significant differences were found between levels of perceived stress. Higher conscientiousness showed modest positive correlations with SDNN, RMSSD, pNN50, and HRV triangular index, while sex differences were observed in frequency-domain HRV parameters. Overall, HRV was not clearly differentiated across perceived stress levels. Conclusion Adults with chronic self-perceived stress exhibit a psychophysiological pattern characterized by emotional vulnerability, cognitive overcontrol, and reduced autonomic flexibility. This state reflects latent regulatory vulnerability rather than an overt autonomic failure. HRV assessment combined with psychological profiling may enhance early identification of individuals at risk and support integrative approaches for stress regulation.
Teaching is a high-demand occupation in which sustained stress may impair wellbeing and self-regulatory processes. Within the neurovisceral integration framework, heart rate variability (HRV) is used as an indicator of autonomic modulation relevant to self-control. To examine the relationships among perceived stress, social support, resting HRV, and executive function performance (Stroop and verbal fluency) in teachers, considering burnout and quality of life as concurrent variables.
Cross-sectional correlational study (
N
= 49). Participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES), WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). HRV was recorded for 5 min at seated rest using a Polar H10 chest strap and processed into time-domain indices (mean RR, SDNN, RMSSD) and frequency-domain indices (LF, HF, LF/HF). Executive performance was assessed with the Stroop test and phonemic and semantic verbal fluency. Associations were modeled using hierarchical multivariate Bayesian regression adjusted for potential confounders.
Multivariate models suggested that global variability markers (e.g., SDNN and mean RR) were associated with better Stroop interference performance, whereas indices reflecting parasympathetic predominance (e.g., HF and a parasympathetic nervous system index) were associated with poorer interference performance. Higher perceived stress and higher depersonalization were associated with poorer verbal fluency (semantic and phonemic) and poorer inhibitory control as measured by Stroop.
In this exploratory study, preliminary associations suggested that executive performance in teachers may relate to both psychological state (perceived stress and burnout) and resting autonomic modulation. Notably, higher resting parasympathetic indices showed a tendency toward negative associations with executive performance, a pattern that contradicts simple interpretations of neurovisceral integration and warrants replication. These findings should be regarded as hypothesis-generating signals pending confirmation in larger, longitudinal samples.
Leonardo Alberto Velásquez-Castro, Matías Castillo-Aguilar, José Adrián Paredes-Águila et al.· Frontiers in Education· 0 citations
Repeated physiological stress responding in daily life is a main mediator of the association between chronic stress and somatic disease. Scalable methods to detect physiological stress responses in daily life are lacking. A potential solution is "additional heart rate" (aHR), which estimates cardiac autonomic responses to psychological stress by subtracting the expected heart rate based on physical activity and posture from the observed heart rate. Here, we identified prolonged periods (>6min) of substantial increases (>10 BPM) in aHR (aHR periods) in 24-hour recordings of electrocardiogram and accelerometer signals in a healthy sample (n=827). We examined the heritability and test-retest reliability of the total duration and mean intensity of aHR periods in an exploratory analysis, and then their association with individual characteristics and affective states. Results revealed moderate temporal test-retest reliability (r=.42 and.40) and modest heritability (h²=.15 and.11) of the duration and intensity of aHR periods. Duration and intensity of aHR periods decreased significantly with age (R2=.02) and BMI (R2=.01), and males exhibited longer aHR periods than females (3.93 vs 3.20min/hour, t=3.16). Neuroticism and exercise behavior were not associated with duration or intensity of aHR periods. Within-person analyses revealed a marginal positive association of aHR periods with momentary negative affect (β=0.095, p=.033), but not with positive affect. Correcting heart rate for physical activity and posture can thus enable detection of physiological stress responses in daily life, but monitoring over longer periods of weeks to months is necessary to characterize individual risk for stress-related disease outcomes.
Sjors R B van de Ven, Martin J Gevonden, N. A. Huizinga et al.· Biological Psychology· 1 citation
Introduction Laboratory stress paradigms provide controlled conditions to study autonomic stress responses and their relevance to health and disease. The autonomic nervous system adapts dynamically during stress, yet traditional heart rate variability (HRV) averages overlook rapid allodynamic adjustments. Few studies have characterized within-task HRV dynamics across multiple stressors or considered individual stress-related traits. This study examined fine-grained HRV responses to mental, noise, and pain stressors and assessed how perceived chronic stress and noise sensitivity contribute to these autonomic patterns. Method Thirty healthy adults completed mental arithmetic, noise exposure, and cold pressor tasks while electrocardiogram (ECG) was recorded. HRV (MeanNN, RMSSD) was computed in 30-s windows, and perceived stress and noise sensitivity were assessed with validated questionnaires. Results Mental stress elicited the largest global HRV reductions, pain affected only MeanNN, and noise produced no global changes. However, time-resolved analyses revealed distinct HRV dynamics across all stressors that were not captured by global averages. Chronic stress and noise sensitivity had little effects on global HRV but significantly moderated fine-grained responses to mental and noise stress during anticipation, stress, or recovery phases. Discussion Autonomic stress reactivity is best understood through its temporal dynamics, as global HRV metrics obscure stressor-specific responses and the influence of individual vulnerability. Temporal analyses revealed distinct autonomic signatures for mental, noise, and pain stressors, indicating that they may engage partially distinct autonomic pathways and should not be treated as interchangeable experimental proxies of “stress.” The modulation by chronic stress and noise sensitivity highlights the importance of integrating trait-level factors when modeling autonomic adaptation. In line with the allodynamic framework, these findings suggest that high-resolution temporal analyses may provide a relevant approach for studying autonomic stress responses and their links to environmental stress exposure and health.
Bérangère Villatte, Danielle Benesch, Alain Vinet et al.· Frontiers in Neuroscience· 0 citations
Perceived stress showed the strongest association with both anxiety and somatic symptom burden, and the use of a single total activity score concealed a more specific inverse association between vigorous leisure-time activity and somatic symptoms.
Mihaela Fadgyas Stanculete, O. Căpățînă, Catalin Alexandru Chihaia· Medicina· 0 citations
Cancer is a source of physiological and psychological stress. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a measure of autonomic reactivity to physiological and psychological stress. For an initial proof-of-concept, we investigated the effects of a yoga therapy (YT) intervention on HRV metrics and self-reported autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning using single-subject experimental methods. Data from 20 adults (Mage (years) = 55.7 [SD = 8.6], 85% female, Myears from diagnosis = 2.8 [SD = 3.5]) were analyzed. Participants received an initial 90-min 1:1 YT session followed by 6 weekly 60-min small group YT sessions. Hexoskin Smart Shirts captured single lead electrocardiographic data suitable for HRV analysis, and questionnaires were used to assess self-reported state and trait ANS functioning. Data collected prior to (weeks − 6, −3, and 0a), during (immediately after the 1:1 YT session [week 0b] and before the first group session [week 1]), and after (weeks 7 and 12) the YT intervention were analyzed. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to estimate average baseline levels (intercept), linear slopes (time), YT initiation effect on levels (phase), and YT intervention effect on linear slopes (time-by-phase) for each outcome. HLM yielded mixed results. Significant (p < 0.05) time, phase, and time-by-phase effects for state ANS, coefficient of variation and high frequency power, time-by-phase effect for trait ANS, and time and phase effects for sample entropy were observed. No significant effects were observed for remaining analyzed HRV metrics. Though mixed, results establish an initial proof-of-concept required to justify larger studies investigating the effects of YT on HRV and self-reported ANS functioning in adults after cancer treatment. ISRCTN registry. ISRCTN64763228. December 12, 2021. This study was retrospectively registered. https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN64763228.
J. Brunet, Julia Hussien, Anne Pitman et al.· BioPsychoSocial Medicine· 0 citations
Objective Alterations in autonomic nervous system activity – measured by heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate (HR) - have been proposed as a relevant biopsychological mechanism in several psychiatric disorders. However, only few studies have examined these parameters in OCD, and evidence from pediatric samples is particularly limited. The aim of this study was to investigate autonomic activity in pediatric OCD. Methods A five minute resting state electrocardiogram was recorded in adolescents with OCD (n = 64) and age- and IQ-matched healthy controls (HC, n = 52). Autonomic activity was compared using the logarithmized root mean square of differences between successive R-R intervals (logRMSSD), the logarithmized high-frequency HRV (logHF-HRV), the percentage of adjacent NN intervals differing from each other by more than 50 ms (pNN50) and HR. Associations with psychotropic medication status and symptom severity were assessed. Results Adolescents with OCD showed lower logRMSSD and higher HR than HC, whereas logHF-HRV and pNN50 did not differ between groups. No associations were found between cardiac measures and OCD symptom severity. Exploratory subgroup analyses suggested lower logHF-HRV and logRMSSD in medicated adolescents with OCD. Conclusions Our findings add to evidence for altered autonomic activity in pediatric OCD, reflected by elevated HR and lower RMSSD. The observed reduction in HRV did not increase with greater symptom severity and appeared most pronounced among medicated adolescents with OCD. Significance The autonomic imbalance observable in adolescents with OCD is common across anxiety disorders and has been linked to cardiovascular risk.
Manuel Burkart, Sophie P. Scheer, Lea L. Backhausen et al.· Clinical Neurophysiology Pra...· 0 citations