Partner interactions are associated with reduced blood pressure in the natural environment: ambulatory monitoring evidence from a healthy, multiethnic adult sample.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the effects of partner interactions on ambulatory blood pressure in a sample of 120 healthy adults who were monitored over a 6-day period. METHODS: After each blood pressure measurement, participants rated characteristics of ongoing social interactions, along with emotional activation, physical activity, talking, posture, and other covariates, with computer-assisted self-report assessments. RESULTS: Using multilevel modeling, we showed that blood pressure was significantly lower during social interactions with one's partner relative to social interactions with any other person and relative to periods of not interacting. Interactions with partners also were characterized by significantly less talking and emotional activation and more intimacy and perceived emotional support; however, these differences did not mediate the partner effect on blood pressure. In addition, the relative benefits of interacting with a partner were not moderated by relationship quality, gender, or race. CONCLUSIONS: The effects of social situations on ambulatory blood pressure may represent one pathway through which social relationships affect cardiovascular health. Key words: blood pressure, social interaction, partner interactions, cardiovascular health.

Effects of task strain, social conflict, and emotional activation on ambulatory cardiovascular activity: daily life consequences of recurring stress in a multiethnic adult sample.

Ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) may be an independent predictor of cardiovascular endpoints, but little is known about its psychosocial determinants. The acute effects of psychosocial processes on cardiovascular activity during daily life were examined by random-effects regression. Healthy adults (N = 120) were monitored over a 6-day period with ABP monitors and computer-assisted self-report assessments. Task strain, social conflict, and emotional activation were rated following each ABP measurement, as were activity, posture, and other covariates. Results show that blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were elevated during periods of emotional activation (high negative affect or high arousal). Diastolic BP was lower during periods involving high decisional control, and HR was lower during high-control, low-demand activities. There were substantial individual differences in the effects of psychosocial influences on ambulatory cardiovascular activity. Psychological factors are reliable determinants of ABP, which may account in part for the unique predictive value of ABP.

Effects of cigarette smoking and oral nicotine on hand tremor.

The effect of nicotine on hand tremor was assessed by measuring the current induced in a coil by a magnet attached to the finger. Experiment 1 assessed the amplitude of tremor induced by smoking two cigarettes in a group of 33 subjects drawn from two age groups. Smoking increased tremor significantly. Age, sex, and anxiety levels had no effect. Experiment 2 assessed the effect of smoking on tremor frequency. Analog recordings of tremor in 10 subjects were processed to yield the total power in 20 1-Hz bands from 1 to 20 Hz. The log amplitude showed a strong linear relationship to the log frequency, but this relationship was not affected by smoking. Smoking also had no effect on peak frequency in the frequency spectrum. Experiment 3 confirmed that the effects of smoking on tremor were attributable to nicotine. Twelve subjects were tested before and after smoking a cigarette and before and after chewing gum containing 4 mg nicotine. The two conditions induced comparable increases in tremor. A 2-mg nicotine preparation tested in eight subjects had no effect on tremor. Tremor may be a useful index of the central activity of nicotine and may help illuminate its mechanism of action.

Smoking withdrawal symptoms in two weeks of abstinence.

In order to study trends in smoking withdrawal symptoms, 35 participants in a smoking cessation clinic completed four questionnaires daily for 2 weeks. The questionnaire dealt with a variety of symptoms which a factor analysis showed could be grouped into four factors: stimulation, desire to smoke, and physical and psychological symptoms. Changes were observed in reports of symptoms over days. Trend analyses found that each symptom group except stimulation showed significant patterns or changes as a function of days in abstinence. These symptom clusters were all found to have U-shaped functions. In addition, desire to smoke and psychological symptoms showed linear decreases as abstinence proceeded. Light and heavy smokers were found to differ in the pattern of reported stimulation. Ss who were totally abstinent reported less severe craving overall for cigarettes than those who only reduced their cigarette consumption by an average of 60%. Also, the craving of totally abstinent Ss dropped off more sharply as abstinence proceeded. The import of these patterns and trends in withdrawal symptoms as a function of time is discussed.

Naltrexone: physiological and psychological effects of single doses.

An ascending series of single doses of the narcotic antagonist naltrexone, ranging from 20 to 160 mg, was administered to 8 abstinent former addicts in order to assess agonistic activity and any toxic side effects. There was little alteration of normal body function. Significant, but small, changes in sublingual temperature (0.4 degrees F decrease), and diastolic blood pressure (1.7 mm Hg increase) were induced. Among the battery of tests assessing behavioral or mood-feeling variables, only 2 showed significant between-condition effects: facilitated performance on the Cross-out Test (attention and perception), and a dose-related decrease in Morphine-Benzedrine Group (MBG) scores of the Addiction Research Center Inventory (ARCI) (mild euphoria). On the whole, subjects had few subjective reactions or unpleasant side effects. Naltrexone appears to be a safe, nontoxic medication in the dosage range examined.

Physiological and psychological effects of methadone in man.

Methadone hydrochloride-maintenance outpatients were compared to abstinent exaddicts on physiological and psychological measures, and to normal subjects on physiological measures. The battery of psychological tests measure cognitive abilities and mental state. Methadone depressed respiration rate below other groups; abstinent subjects had higher heart rates than methadone or control subjects. No other physiological differences appeared. Electroencephalographic spectral analysis disclosed that the location of the alpha peak was at the lowest frequency in the methadone group, next lowest being the abstinent group. Discriminant functions based on a weighted combination of variables (frequencies) successfully distinguished the EEGs of the three groups. Both discriminant analysis and multiple regression analysis indicated that EEG changes were dose-dependent. Methadone subjects performed significantly poorer on several tests of learning and immediate recall compared to absitinent subjects.