Stress and sleep : predictors of failure to recover

• Main Author: Ellis, Alena Talbot
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/24160

Delayed recovery after cardiovascular response to a stressor is currently being recognized as a marker and likely contributing factor in the development of cardiovascular disease. Interestingly, the psychological variables that predict delayed recovery appear similar to those associated with poor sleep quality. As such, poor sleep may be another index of delayed recovery. This study attempted to expound the relationship between psychological predictors of recovery and sleep and determine whether these outcomes do indeed share common predictors. Sleep quality is defined as total sleep time determined by actigraph measurements. One hundred and thirty six participants were subjected to a mental stress task coupled with harassment after which speed of recovery was assessed. In these same individuals, sleep quality data for the night following the lab stress procedure were collected. Results were not in support of our overall hypothesis. Slower rates of recovery were associated with caffeine consumption prior to experiment time, as well as anger rumination, however, with identifiable gender effects, while total sleep time was predicted by hostility in the overall sample and by higher rates of worry in male participants. === Arts, Faculty of === Psychology, Department of === Graduate