Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Kevin Larkin

Committee Co-Chair

Amy Fiske

Committee Member

Melissa Blank

Committee Member

Danielle Davidov

Abstract

Inappropriate response and magnitude of cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stress is a proposed mechanism through which environmental stressors are linked with poor cardiovascular health outcomes (Chida & Steptoe, 2010; Krantz & Manuck, 1984). Studies of reactivity to various laboratory tasks commonly control for factors known to influence CVR such as smoking, medication use, caffeine intake, and BMI; however, few have considered the influence of sleep on CVR. In order to determine whether sleep characteristics need to be assessed and considered in studies of CVR, this study aimed to examine the association between indices of sleep quality and the magnitude and patterning of CVR to an acute virtual stress task protocol. Fifty undergraduate participants were recruited to complete three nights of sleep measurement via actigraphy, followed by a virtual stress task during the daytime after the third night. The stress protocol involved both a mental arithmetic and Raven’s matrices task that were completed under time and accuracy pressure. Tasks were completed in counterbalanced order across participants to control for order effects, and CVR measures included heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV). It was hypothesized that decreases in total sleep time (TST) as well as decreases in sleep efficiency (SE; e.g., increased sleep disruption) would be significantly associated with increases in CVR to both stress tasks. Results did not reveal a significant association between CVR and three-day average as well as prior night measures of TST and SE. However, a significant association was observed between three-day wake after sleep onset (WASO) and measures of HR and HRV reactivity. Increased frequency of WASO was associated with both increased heart rate reactivity and decreased heart rate variability reactivity (less vagal reaction) to mental stress.

Although no associations were observed between affective responses to the two tasks and any sleep parameter, decreased SE was associated with increased ratings of stressfulness to the Raven's task and decreased TST was associated with lower ratings of perseverance to the Raven's task. At least one parameter of sleep quality (i.e., WASO) was associated with cardiovascular reactions to mental stress in the current study and may influence risk for cardiovascular health as measured by CVR. Congruent with other studies examining the relation between sleep parameters and CVR, findings from the current study suggest that quality of sleep may be important to evaluate in future studies of CVR.

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