Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword by Geoffrey A. Harrison
- Part I General principles
- Part II Measuring stress responses
- 2 Cultural dimensions of the stress process: measurement issues in fieldwork
- 3 Measuring emotional and behavioral response
- 4 Measuring hormonal variation in the sympathetic nervous system: catecholamines
- 5 Measuring hormonal variation in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis: cortisol
- 6 Measuring physiological changes in the cardiovascular system: ambulatory blood pressure
- 7 Measuring immune function: markers of cell-mediated immunity and inflammation in dried blood spots
- Part III Practical issues in studying stress
- Index
- References
6 - Measuring physiological changes in the cardiovascular system: ambulatory blood pressure
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 September 2009
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword by Geoffrey A. Harrison
- Part I General principles
- Part II Measuring stress responses
- 2 Cultural dimensions of the stress process: measurement issues in fieldwork
- 3 Measuring emotional and behavioral response
- 4 Measuring hormonal variation in the sympathetic nervous system: catecholamines
- 5 Measuring hormonal variation in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis: cortisol
- 6 Measuring physiological changes in the cardiovascular system: ambulatory blood pressure
- 7 Measuring immune function: markers of cell-mediated immunity and inflammation in dried blood spots
- Part III Practical issues in studying stress
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Blood pressure is the most familiar and probably the most difficult to interpret measure in anthropological studies of stress and human variation. The difficulty in interpretation arises from the use of single blood pressure measurements as an indicator of stress. The dogma that each person has specific blood pressure numbers that can be used to ascertain pathology (see for example, JNCVII, 2003) has directed the attention of anthropological researchers to the between-individual distribution of these numbers as a means of studying the evolutionary and health effects of stress on blood pressure, and away from the enormous within-individual variation that actually characterizes the adaptive value of blood pressure as it responds to the dynamic stressors of everyday living (James, 1991; Pickering, 1991).
Some 35 years ago, ambulatory monitors were developed which could capture intra-individual diurnal variation in blood pressure (James, 1991). Hundreds of subsequent studies that have employed ambulatory monitoring have shown that a myriad of external environmental stressors, cognitive processes and behavior contribute substantially to the intra-individual diurnal variation in blood pressure. It is this variation that allows people to adapt to the constantly changing challenges that define their everyday life. It is also this variation that is an important contributor to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this chapter is to outline the issues, methods, and techniques that are related to the study of diurnal blood pressure variation as it occurs in response to the tribulations of everyday life using ambulatory blood pressure monitors.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Measuring Stress in HumansA Practical Guide for the Field, pp. 158 - 180Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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