ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2020
An experimental examination of worry and relaxation on cardiovascular, endocrine, and inflammatory processes.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Impact of Trait Anxiety on Blood Pressure Variability and Target Organ Damage in Hypertensive Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of general medicine · 2026Article
- Association Between Phasic Vagal-Mediated Heart Rate Variability and Momentary Exhaustion in Daily Life.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2025Article
- Polygenic risk for psychotic disorders in relation to cardiac autonomic dysfunction in unmedicated patients with schizophrenia.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Article
- Neighborhood Cohesion and Symptoms of Anxiety Across Racial/Ethnic Groups in the United States.Journal of community psychology · 2025Article
- Underlying biological mechanisms of emotion dysregulation in bipolar disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- Moving toward affective immunology: Legacy and future directions.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2024Article
- Inflammation and emotion regulation: a narrative review of evidence and mechanisms in emotion dysregulation disorders.Neuronal signaling · 2023Review
- Review of Perioperative Music Medicine: Mechanisms of Pain and Stress Reduction Around Surgery.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Review
- A review and novel theoretical model of how negative emotions influence inflammation: The critical role of emotion regulation.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2021Article
- Altered Heart Rate Variability in Patients With Schizophrenia During an Autonomic Nervous Test.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWorry increases risk for long-term health issues by prolonging the physiological stress response. In contrast, relaxation may ameliorate the psychological and physiological burden resulting from worry. This study examined the impact of experimentally induced worry and relaxation on cortisol, heart rate variability (HRV), and inflammation.
methodParticipants (N = 80) completed both a worry and relaxation induction (presented in a fixed order) while HRV was collected continuously. Three blood samples were taken (at baseline, after the worry induction, and after the relaxation induction) to measure IL-6, IFN-γ, TNF-α and serum cortisol.
resultsThere were significant changes in IL-6 (p < 0.001), IFN-γ (p < 0.01), HRV (p < .001), and cortisol (p < .001) but not in TNF-α (p = 0.65) across conditions. HRV decreased significantly from baseline to worry and then increased following relaxation. IL-6 was higher during relaxation compared to worry and baseline. Cortisol decreased significantly across conditions. Several patterns of covariance between inflammation and HRV and/or cortisol also emerged.
conclusionsThese findings offer novel insight into how worry influences the immune system and emphasize the utility of a multi-methods approach to understanding the impact of worry on physical health.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.