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Sensory effects of baroreceptor activation and perceived stress together predict long-term blood pressure elevations

International Journal of Behavioral Medicine volume 1, pages 215–228 (1994)Cite this article

Abstract

Activating the arterial baroreceptors in animals has been shown to blunt pain sensation and provide other forms of central nervous system inhibition. This study tested the hypothesis that, among human subjects, a tonic increase in blood pressure (BP) could be a learned response to environmental stressors among subjects in whom the baroreceptor inhibitory mechanism is active. In a sample of 96 healthy, normotensive men and women, amount of pain-reduction produced by baroreceptor stimulation predicted an increase in resting BP 20 months later: the increase was proportional to self-assessed daily life stress. Among the subjects reporting the greatest amount of stress, the pain inhibition effect accounted for more than 80% of the BP variance. These results support the hypothesis that the reduction in perceived stress produced by baroreceptor stimulation may reward learned increases in BP.

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Author information

Affiliations

  1. University of Münster, Institute of Experimental Audiology, Münster, Germany

    T. Elbert

  2. Department of Behavioral Science, Department of Neuroscience, and Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA

    B. R. Dworkin

  3. Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen, Institute for Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Tübingen, Germany

    H. Rau, P. Pauli & N. Birbaumer

  4. Università degli Studi, Dipartimento Psicologia Generale, Padova, Italy

    N. Birbaumer

  5. Benedikt Kreuz Rehabilitation Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Bad Krozingen, Germany

    C. Droste

  6. Department of Psychology, Section Physiological Psychology, Brunia, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    C. H. M. Brunia

  7. Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Room CI720, 17033, Hershey, PA

    B. R. Dworkin

Authors
  1. T. Elbert
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  2. B. R. Dworkin
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  3. H. Rau
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  4. P. Pauli
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  5. N. Birbaumer
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  6. C. Droste
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  7. C. H. M. Brunia
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Additional information

This research was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinshaft Grant EL 101/3 to Thomas Elbert and National Institutes of Health Grant ROl HL40837 to B. R, Dworkin.

We thank Renate Schweizer. Ping Zhuang, and M. Mueller for help in acquiring the data, and Susan Dworkin, Anne Hawkins, Marshall B. Jones, Peter Kaufmann, and Ralph Norgren for advice on the article.

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Elbert, T., Dworkin, B.R., Rau, H. et al. Sensory effects of baroreceptor activation and perceived stress together predict long-term blood pressure elevations. Int. J. Behav. Med. 1, 215–228 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0103_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0103_3

Key words

  • baroreceptor inhibition
  • blood pressure (BP)
  • learning
  • stress
  • hypertension