Physiological Outcomes of Mind-Body Health Practices for Stress-Related Disorders

项目摘要 心血管对急性应激源的反应性增强是创伤后应激（PTS）的常见症状。 综合身心健康实践已显示出治疗PTS和压力相关疾病的前景。 紊乱许多这些综合性的做法包括pranayam，控制呼吸的做法。心身 练习通常使用一种强调缓慢深呼吸的调息法，作为一种平静的策略 生理应激反应Pranayam还没有被研究为一个孤立的，急性应对反应时， 面对创伤的提醒很少有人知道这种策略实际上如何有效地平息人们的情绪。 过度觉醒症状，特别是心血管反应性升高。Pranayam已经被普遍探索 作为一种缓解压力反应的方法，尽管不是在创伤的背景下，也不是孤立的应对 管理急性痛苦的战略。确定有效的方法来平息心血管对创伤的反应 考虑到夸大的心血管反应与以后的风险之间的关系， 心血管疾病在这个项目中，我们研究了1）调息在减少过度觉醒方面的有效性， 对创伤提醒的反应，无论是在自发的日常使用中还是在定向实验室任务中，2）是否较高的水平 内感受性意识的增加，pranayam对降低过度觉醒反应的影响，3）如果 情绪调节技能介导调息法使用与心血管反应性之间的关系。我们 在130名女性性创伤幸存者的样本中进行这项研究。我们将把调息比作 基于认知的应对策略，认知重新评估，以确定调息是否是一种有效的平静方法 创伤引发的过度兴奋过度觉醒将通过心血管觉醒测量来确定， 包括心率、心率变异性和血压。通过隔离和明确地测试深呼吸 调息，我们可以确定调息是否是身心健康干预的机制， 发挥其影响。这种简单、吝啬的策略可以被强调为一种主要的应对策略， 幸存者可能时间有限或可用资源很少。该项目作为培训工具， 申请人可以努力实现她的长期研究目标，研究身心一体化是如何实现的。 健康干预可能会影响创伤暴露人群的应激反应。这个项目是下一个 申请人更广泛的职业研究目标的阶段，即通过 哪些身心干预措施可以降低心血管风险，特别是对于那些处于 增加心血管疾病的风险。

Project Summary Heightened cardiovascular reactivity to acute stressors is a common symptom of posttraumatic stress (PTS). Integrative mind-body health practices have shown promise for the treatment of PTS and stress-related disorders. Many of these integrative practices include pranayam, the practice of controlled breathing. Mind-body practices often use a type of pranayam that emphasizes slowed, deep breathing, as a strategy to calm physiological stress reactions. Pranayam has yet to be studied as an isolated, acute coping response when confronted with trauma reminders. Little is known about how well this strategy actually works to calm one’s hyperarousal symptoms, particularly elevated cardiovascular reactivity. Pranayam has been explored generally as a method of calming the stress response, though not in the context of trauma and not isolated as a coping strategy for managing acute distress. Identifying effective methods to calm cardiovascular responses to trauma reminders is important given the association of exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity with later risk for cardiovascular disease. For this project, we examine 1) how effective pranayam is at reducing hyperarousal in response to trauma reminders, both in spontaneous daily use and in a directed lab task, 2) whether higher levels of interoceptive awareness increase the effect that pranayam has on lowering hyperarousal reactions, 3) if emotion regulation skills mediate the relationship between pranayam use and cardiovascular reactivity. We are conducting this study within a sample of 130 female sexual trauma survivors. We will compare pranayam to a cognitive-based coping strategy, cognitive reappraisal, to determine if pranayam is an effective means of calming trauma cue-induced hyperarousal. Hyperarousal will be determined by cardiovascular measures of arousal, including heart rate, heart rate variability, and blood pressure. By isolating and explicitly testing deep breathing pranayam, we can determine if pranayam is the mechanism through which mind-body health interventions may exert their effects. This simple, parsimonious strategy can be emphasized as a primary coping strategy for survivors who may have limited time or few available resources. This project serves as a training vehicle through which the applicant can work towards her long-term research goals of examining how integrative mind-body health interventions may impact the stress response in trauma-exposed populations. This project is the next phase of the applicant’s broader career research goal of identifying and understanding the mechanisms through which mind-body interventions can reduce cardiovascular risk, particularly for trauma survivors who are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.