Exercise: it is the chill pill for stress?

Mental stress often increases our blood pressure, and makes us feel anxious, stressed and unhappy. Large increases in blood pressure and psychological responses to stress can lead to cardiovascular disease and psychological disorders. Exercise is proposed to potentially reduce these blood pressure and negative emotional responses experienced during mental stress. Forty individuals completed a 10-minute mental stress task on two separate occasions: once on its own, and once after 10-minutes of moderately high intensity cycling. Results showed blood pressure during stress was lower after exercise. However, participants also experienced greater anxiety, feelings of stress, and negative emotions such as tension and depression, during the stress following exercise. Therefore, exercise before stress may be good in reducing our blood pressure response to stress and thus reducing the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, but bad for our psychological health by causing more negative thoughts and emotions

An examination of factors influencing the physiological and psychological responses to acute psychological stress

The overarching aim of this thesis was to examine factors associated with physiological and psychological responses to stress. Four laboratory-based studies were completed using multi-disciplinary methodologies to assess physiological and psychological responses to acute psychological stress. Chapter 2 revealed amygdala and hippocampus morphology was negatively associated with stressor-evoked cardiovascular reactivity in healthy participants. Chapter 3 demonstrated that compared to a stress only condition with no exercise, engaging in an acute bout of high intensity exercise attenuated blood pressure responses to subsequent acute stress exposure, but induced negative effects for mood and stress appraisals in healthy participants. Chapter 4 revealed that perceived heart rate change rather than actual heart rate reactivity during acute psychological stress was positively associated with anxiety intensity in healthy participants. Chapter 5 demonstrated that compared to healthy individuals, patients with ulcerative colitis experienced differences in inflammation, vagal activity and perceived control during acute psychological stress. In response to stress, negative psychological responses but not physiological responses were associated with greater ulcerative colitis symptom burden. The current thesis demonstrates novel factors associated with physiological and psychological responses to acute psychological stress and reveals mechanisms which could underlie the relationship between stress and disease symptoms in ulcerative colitis