While considerable information exists regarding the independent effects of caffeine and psychological stress on cardiovascular activity, there is relatively little information on their combined effects. Since caffeine may enhance cardiovascular responsivity to psychological stress, research on hemodynamic responses to caffeine-stress combinations may help elucidate mechanisms of hypertension development. In a series of studies, regular consumers of caffeine were exposed to laboratory and naturalistic stressors with and without prior caffeine intake. Among the findings were (1) caffeine and stress produced additive increases in blood pressure, (2) caffeine appears to potentiate beta-adrenergic responsivity to active coping, but not passive coping, stressors, (3) caffeine enhanced emotional responses to stress, and (4) cardiovascular responses to caffeine and stress in a naturalistic setting were similar to those observed in the laboratory. These results indicate that caffeine may enhance cardiovascular and psychological responses to stress, and that these responses may contribute to risk for essential hypertension.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.74649 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | France, Christopher R. (Christopher Robert) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001224799, proquestno: AAINN67739, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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