Homeostatic regulation of energetic arousal during acute social isolation: Evidence from the lab and the field

Recent evidence suggests that social contact is a basic need governed by a social homeostatic system. Little is known, however, about how conditions of altered social homeostasis affect human psychology and physiology. Here, we investigated the effects of 8 hr of social isolation on psychological and physiological variables and compared this with 8 hr of food deprivation in a lab experiment (N = 30 adult women). Social isolation led to lowered self-reported energetic arousal and heightened fatigue, comparable with food deprivation. To test whether these findings would extend to a real-life setting, we conducted a preregistered field study during a COVID-19 lockdown (N = 87 adults; 47 women). The drop in energetic arousal after social isolation observed in the lab replicated in the field study for participants who lived alone or reported high sociability, suggesting that lowered energy could be part of a homeostatic response to the lack of social contact

Associations Between Health Behaviors and Factors on Markers of Healthy Psychological and Physiological Functioning: A Daily Diary Study

Background: Cross-sectional and experimental knowledge highlight the contribution of various health-promoting behaviors, such as physical activity, regular sleep, and healthy nutrition to mental and physical health. Beyond these well-studied lifestyle behaviors, music listening and perceived respect in social interactions are just recently proposed everyday life experiences, which may act as health-promoting factors. Purpose: This study tested the simultaneous contribution of several health-promoting behaviors and factors and examined listening to music and positive social interaction by means of perceived respect as new potentially preventive and health-promoting behaviors and factors using an ambulatory assessment design. Methods: Seventy-seven young healthy adults (38 women, 23.9 ± 4.5 years) completed surveys on their psychological state (i.e., mood, stress, and fatigue) five times a day for four consecutive days. A saliva sample was collected with each data entry to explore the physiological stress markers salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase, and flow rate as further outcome variables. As predictors, perceived respect, self-reported physical activity, the sleep’s restfulness, daily coffee, alcohol, vegetable/fruit consumption, and music listening behavior were recorded. Results: Overall, restful sleep, mean daily perceived respect, and listening to music were most clearly associated with more positive psychological states, that is, better mood and lower fatigue and perceived stress. Associations with daily alcohol, coffee, and vegetable/fruit consumption appeared rather minor. While perceived respect scores were associated with lower daily cortisol output, coffee consumption was positively related to daily cortisol and alpha-amylase. Self-reported physical activity was unrelated to either outcome measure. Conclusions: These findings provide important insights regarding potential resources of health (i.e., music and respect), their covariation, and which psycho-physiological mechanisms may underlie the links between health factors and well-being. Findings also have implications for the development of interventions aiming to increase resilience and foster health. Here, strategies for improving sleep quality, the use of music, and approaches that emphasize mutual respect and appreciation appear useful additions. Restful sleep, experiencing respect, and listening to music, but less so healthy diet and self-reported physical activity, positively affected psychological well-being during daily life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved

Fingernail cortisol – State of research and future directions

The extraction of cortisol from fingernails represents a recent advancement in the retrospective, long-term assessment of hypothalamic–pituitaryadrenal (HPA) axis activity: Fingernail cortisol has the potential to overcome some of the major disadvantages of established HPA axis markers. However, the introduction of any novel methodology also raises certain caveats. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the current state of research on fingernail cortisol. It identifies a number of strengths of his novel methodology (e.g., its high feasibility), while also pointing out open questions which currently challenge the interpretability of fingernail findings, in particular regarding the time period of cortisol secretion reflected in fingernail samples, as well as regarding potential determinants or confounders of fingernail cortisol (e.g. sociodemographic, lifestyle, or health characteristics). Clarification of these issues in the context of further methodological studies is necessary to validate the use of fingernail cortisol as a retrospective marker of HPA axis activity

Psychological stress levels and autonomic activity in everyday life are related to stress responses in the laboratory

Rationale/statement of the problem : Associations between stress levels in everyday life and controlled laboratory conditions remain a controversial topic. The aim of the present study was to compare psychological and physiological stress levels assessed in a real-life setting with laboratory stress levels. Methods : Thirty-five healthy male students (age M = 24.4, SD = 2.6 years) took part in the study. The first part of the study consisted of a 2-day period within which subjects collected saliva and rated their stress levels on a visual analogue scale immediately after awakening, 30min later, at 9am, and then every 2 hours for a total of nine times a day while maintaining their regular daily activities. Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) was assessed as a marker for autonomic nervous system activity at each time point. In the second part, subjects were invited to two laboratory sessions on two separate days, with randomized exposure to either a standardized stress test (cold pressor test (CPT), stress condition) or a rest condition (reading magazines). Again, sAA and subjective stress were assessed repeatedly during both conditions. Results : During both days, sAA levels showed a distinct diurnal rhythm, with a trough in the morning and a steady increase over the course of the day (time effect, p<0.001). Self-reported stress levels significantly fluctuated over the course of the 2 days (time effect, p=0.022). In the laboratory part, the CPT resulted in significant increases in sAA and in self-reported stress levels (time effect, p=0.004; interaction effect, p=0.001). Regression analyses revealed that overall sAA levels in everyday life predicted sAA levels in both laboratory conditions (p < 0.01). The same held true for subjective stress levels (p<0.001). It was also found that overall subjective stress levels in everyday life predicted the psychological laboratory stress response (p=0.024). Furthermore, a trend was found for the sAA awakening response predicting overall sAA in the stress condition (p=0.067). Conclusions : Stress levels in everyday life were shown to predict psychological as well as physiological stress levels in the laboratory. Furthermore, subjects with high stress levels in everyday life experienced a more pronounced psychological stress response to a laboratory stressor

The impact of preschool child and maternal attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms on mothers’ perceived chronic stress and hair cortisol

Providing care for a child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with parenting stress. Moreover, adults with elevated ADHD symptoms report increased perceived stress. Despite this, it has rarely been examined whether and how child and maternal ADHD symptoms may affect maternal perceived stress and the stress-sensitive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. This study therefore investigated the possible impact of child and maternal ADHD symptoms on mothers' perceived chronic stress and hair cortisol concentration (HCC), while simultaneously considering the effects of child oppositional defiant/conduct disorder (ODD/CD) and maternal depressive symptomatology. In total, 124 mothers (35.96 +/- 5.21 years) of preschool children were included. Maternal perceived stress, ADHD and depressive symptoms were assessed using self-report measures. Child ADHD symptoms were assessed using an interview and questionnaires completed by mothers and teachers. Additionally, mothers provided information about their children's ODD/CD symptoms. Hair samples were taken from mothers to assess HCC. Child and maternal ADHD, child ODD/CD, and maternal depressive symptoms accounted for 50% of the variance in perceived chronic stress (F(4, 119) = 30.24; p < 0.01), with only maternal ADHD (beta = 0.52, p < 0.01) and depressive symptoms (beta = 0.49, p < 0.01) being uniquely significant. Maternal ADHD symptoms did not moderate the relationship between child ADHD symptoms and maternal perceived chronic stress (b = - 0.01; SE b = 0.17; t(5, 118) = - 0.05; p = 0.96). Mother's age became the only significant predictor of maternal HCC (beta = 0.29; p < 0.01). Based on these findings, practitioners are advised to be aware of and take into account possible maternal ADHD and depressive symptomatology and perceived chronic stress when treating children diagnosed with ADHD

The association between study conditions and hair cortisol in medical students in Germany – a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Medical students often experience high levels of stress due to adverse study conditions, which may have adverse health consequences. Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) has been described as a physiological marker for chronic stress and might thus help to identify students under stress and examine the study conditions being responsible for long-term physiological stress responses. This study therefore investigated the association between study conditions and HCC in a sample of medical students. Methods Fifty-five students from a medical school in Germany completed a paper-based questionnaire and had hair samples collected between July 2020 and July 2021. Study conditions were assessed with student versions of questionnaires based on the Job-Demand-Control-Support model (StrukStud, 25 items) and Effort-Reward Imbalance model (Student ERI, nine items). HCC of two centimeters closest to the scalp were determined by a cortisol luminescence immunoassay. Linear multiple regression analyses were performed to examine associations between study conditions and HCC. Results Demands (B = 0.23, p = 0.002), effort (B = 0.12, p = 0.029) and the effort-reward-ratio (B = 0.28, p = 0.007) were positively associated with HCC in separate regression analyses, adjusted for age and sex. Only the association between demands and HCC remained significant when all components of the respective questionnaire were considered in the same model (B = 0.22, p = 0.003). Conclusion The results suggest that adverse study conditions may be associated with activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress response as reflected by increased HCC. Longitudinal research is needed to confirm these cross-sectional results and examine effects of more prolonged stress due to adverse study conditions

Thyroid Functioning and Fatigue in Women With Functional Somatic Syndromes – Role of Early Life Adversity

Objective: Fatigue is a core feature of functional somatic syndromes (FSS). Fatigue is also prominent in patients with thyroid diseases, which is unsurprising given the role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis in regulating physiological energy demands. Research in healthy women has shown that early life adversity is linked with alterations in the HPT axis. In view of the substantial prevalence of early life adversity in patients with FSS, our aim was to investigate whether HPT functioning is related to (a) fatigue, and (b) early life adversity in these patients.Methods:N = 33 female patients with FSS and n = 30 age-matched controls were recruited. Fasting morning blood samples were taken to determine thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (fT3), and thyroxine (fT4). General, physical, and mental fatigue were measured via the multidimensional fatigue inventory (MFI). Early life adversity was measured using the childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ).Results: Patients with FSS did not differ from controls in any thyroid parameters (all p > 0.672). However, the lower the patients’ TSH and the higher their fT4, the greater was their general (β = -0.32, p = 0.064; β = 0.35, p = 0.038) and physical (β = -0.47, p = 0.007; β = 0.32, p = 0.077) fatigue. In addition, emotional neglect (β = -0.32, p = 0.057), physical neglect (β = -0.60, p = 0.001), physical abuse (β = -0.47, p = 0.015), and sexual abuse (β = -0.40, p = 0.026) were linked with lower TSH.Conclusion: The lower TSH and the higher fT4, the more fatigue was reported by patients with FSS. In addition, lower TSH was linked with more early life adversity. Larger, prospective studies are warranted to determine whether HPT functioning may be a mediating pathway between early life adversity and fatigue in FSS