Search results for "Cortisol awakening response"
showing 10 items of 33 documents
Blunted Cortisol Awakening Response and Poor Self-Perceived Health in Informal Caregivers of People with Eating Disorders
2016
Caring for offspring diagnosed with eating disorders (EDs) entails being under high chronic stress, with negative consequences for health. However, most previous research has only evaluated self-report measures of health, biological markers being poorly studied. In this regard, the evaluation of the cortisol awakening response (CAR) could add significant information about the biological basis of health disturbances in this population. The main aim of the present study was to compare CAR and self-reported health between informal caregivers (ICs) of people with EDs and non-caregivers. Furthermore, we explored the effect of the nature of the diagnosis, comparing ICs of people with anorexia and…
The effects of post-awakening light exposure on the cortisol awakening response in healthy male individuals.
2019
Abstract Background It is assumed that the expression of the cortisol awakening response (CAR) is modulated by light exposure during the peri-awakening period. While initial evidence supports this principal effect, the specific role of the spectral composition of light (brightness and wavelength) is still incompletely understood. Method Two counterbalanced within-subject experiments were conducted in a standardized sleep laboratory setting to investigate the effect of light intensity (study I; two days: dim vs. bright light) and spectral composition (study II; three days: red vs. blue vs. green light) on the CAR. Across studies, light exposure was conducted for one-hour post-awakening and t…
Job Satisfaction and Cortisol Awakening Response in Teachers Scoring high and low on Burnout
2010
The burnout syndrome is an important psychosocial risk in the job context, especially in professions with a strong social interaction, as in the case of teaching. High levels of burnout have been related to negative psychological indicators and hormonal alterations. This study compares job satisfaction and the cortisol awakening response (CAR) in teachers scoring high (HB) and low (LB) on burnout. HB teachers showed lower job satisfaction and no significant differences in the CAR when compared with the LB group. The results of the study suggest a general dissatisfaction with work along with a different functioning of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in HB teachers. Although non…
High Anger Expression is Associated with Reduced Cortisol Awakening Response and Health Complaints in Healthy Young Adults
2016
AbstractThe extant evidence suggests a robust positive association between expression (anger expression-out) and suppression (anger expression-in) of anger and compromised health. Nevertheless, the underlying psychobiological mechanisms which explain these relationships are not well understood. This study examined whether anger expression would predict general health, cortisol awakening response (CAR) and evening cortisol levels in a community sample of 156 healthy young adults of both genders. Participants were distributed into two groups according to their anger expression scores: high and low anger expression (HAE and LAE, respectively). Findings indicated that those with HAE had worse s…
Highly resilient coping entails better perceived health, high social support and low morning cortisol levels in parents of children with autism spect…
2013
The negative consequences of caring for people with developmental disabilities have been widely described. However, the ability to bounce back from the stress derived from care situations has been less studied. Those caregivers who have shown this ability are considered as resilient. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between resilience and self-reported health and cortisol awakening response (CAR) in a sample of caregivers of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It also aims to evaluate the role of social support as a mediator in the association between resilience and health. Caregivers with higher resilience show better perceived health, lower morning cortisol levels, an…
Self-reported health and cortisol awakening response in parents of people with asperger syndrome: the role of trait anger and anxiety, coping and bur…
2013
Caring for offspring with autism spectrum disorders entails high levels of stress for a long period of time and is associated with several types of health complaints. Few studies have focused on specific effects of particular disorders in the spectrum. This study was carried out with the aim of evaluating the global health of parents of people with Asperger syndrome (N = 53) compared to those of typically developing children (N = 54) through self-reported measures (medication consumption and somatic symptoms) and biological markers (cortisol awakening response [CAR]). Additionally, we analysed various psychological variables as potential predictors of caregiver health. We found that caregiv…
Lack of institutional support entails disruption in cortisol awakening response in caregivers of people with high-functioning autism.
2013
Several studies have found disruptions in cortisol awakening response in informal caregivers. Institutional support may modulate these effects, and this study analyses how the health of caregivers is affected when institutional support is provided for families of people with high-functioning autism. Self-reported health, depression and cortisol awakening response were analysed in three groups: supported caregivers, non-supported caregivers and non-caregivers. Non-supported caregivers presented higher somatic symptoms and lower cortisol awakening response than the supported caregiver and non-caregiver groups. A high number of somatic symptoms and low functionality of offspring were related …
The cortisol awakening response at admission to hospital predicts depression severity after discharge in MDD patients.
2019
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) dysregulation and altered cortisol awakening response (CAR), a non-invasive biomarker for HPA axis reactivity. We theorized that the CAR resembles the accumulated effects of depression over time, and may therefore predict depressive symptom severity once patients return home following inpatient treatment. Two studies are reported. In Study 1 (n = 101; 57% female), the CAR was measured at intake and self-ratings of depression severity was assessed six weeks following discharge. Study 2 (n = 127; 58% female) was a replication and extension of Study 1 where a follow-up assessment of self-rated depressi…
Personality and Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal Axis in Older Men and Women
2020
Personality has been related to health and mortality risk, which has created interest in the biological pathways that could explain this relationship. Although a dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been associated with health outcomes and aging, few studies have explored the association between personality and HPA axis functioning in older adults. In addition, it has been suggested that sex could moderate the relationship between personality and HPA axis functioning. Thus, our aim was to analyze the relationship between the big five personality traits and the diurnal cortisol pattern in older adults, as well as sex differences in this relationship. To do so, 7…
Cortisol, Platelet Serotonin Content, and Platelet Activity in Patients With Major Depression and Type 2 Diabetes
2015
OBJECTIVE Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system dysfunction, serotonergic system alterations, and enhanced platelet activity may contribute to the increased cardiac risk in depression. This exploratory study examined associations between cortisol parameters, platelet serotonin (5-HT) content, and platelet activity markers in patients with newly diagnosed major depression (MD) and/or Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) compared with healthy controls. METHODS We compared cortisol awakening response (CAR), diurnal decrease in salivary cortisol concentrations (slope), platelet 5-HT, and platelet markers (CD40, CD40 ligand [CD40L], soluble CD40L, CD62P, β-thromboglobulin, and platelet factor-4) in 22 T2DM pa…