Stress, sitting time and physical activity

What is stress?

We also see a short-term increase in inflammation. Inflammation is part of the body’s defence mechanism and is broken down into acute and chronic inflammation. Acute inflammation refers to rapid inflammation that lasts for a few days, usually due to tissue damage or infection, and results in symptoms such as coughing and sneezing. Acute inflammation helps fight infection and clear local tissue damage, such as muscle damage that can occur after strenuous unaccustomed exercise. 

However, prolonged exposure to stress can disrupt normal physiological processes, leading to increased risks of heart disease and stroke. Chronic stress can cause elevated blood pressure and promote the buildup of plaques in arteries, restricting blood flow to the heart. It may also lead to chronic levels of inflammation.  

Research has shown that adults experiencing stress in their personal or professional lives have a slightly increased risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. Episodes of acute psychological stress are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease development and have also been reported as a potential trigger for acute cardiovascular events such as heart attacks.  

Therefore, it’s important that we try to find ways to manage stress, and the physiological responses to stress, effectively to reduce its impact on heart health. Techniques like regular exercise, mindfulness, and seeking support can be helpful in mitigating stress-related risks.

Our work

Dr Nicola Paine

Reader in Behavioural Medicine

Our work in this area is lead by Dr Nicola Paine, Reader in Behavioural Medicine at Loughborough University. Dr Paine’s research examines the impact of psychological stress on the development of non-communicable chronic diseases, with a particular interest in cardiovascular and respiratory disease development and outcomes.

Physical inactivity, sedentary behaviour and psychological stress are all risk factors for cardiovascular disease that are characterised by chronic inflammation. 

Chronic inflammation is slow, long-term inflammation lasting for months, years or a lifetime. It can result from unresolved episodes of acute inflammation, caused by: sustained exposure to a low level of irritant – such as high levels of circulating fats or pollutants such as those from smoking; low levels of oxygen in tissue as can happen in fat tissue in cases of obesity; autoimmune disorders where the immune systems attack healthy tissue due to miscategorising it as an issue; and unresolved infections. Chronic inflammatory diseases are the most significant cause of death in the world, contributing to diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, kidney, lung and liver disease, inflammatory arthritic conditions and dementia to name a few.

Our work is investigating the interrelationships between physical activity, sedentary behaviour and psychological stress, and how this may be linked to cardiovascular disease.

Our early work, supported by the Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, investigated the interrelationships between how inflammatory responses to acute psychological stress are related by differing levels of  sedentary behaviour and physical activity. In this work, we found that higher levels of habitual sedentary behaviour were associated with a larger increase in inflammatory markers to acute psychological stress. We used ‘gold-standard’ measures of sitting time and were the first group to use this approach to capture sitting time in our participants. Some of our work has also looked at the effect of  breaking up sitting time with resistance exercise, and how this might affect how we respond to acute psychological stress.  

Our more recent work, funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences, has investigated the changes in different types of inflammatory markers, in response to different types of stress. Psychological stress can be active (where the participant is directly involved/taking part in the task e.g., doing a presentation to an audience) or passive (where the participant is not actively something in response to the stress e.g., having to view or watch images on a screen). 

This is the first study to investigate the potential differences in how we respond, based on the type of stress we are exposed to. We found that while changes in blood pressure and heart rate were higher during the active stress task, there were no differences in how big the changes in inflammatory markers were. This is really important to help us better understand how our inflammatory markers respond to passive stress, in comparison to an active stress task.  This is linked to our other research which has looked at different immune cells and found that they also might respond differently based on the type of stress task people were completing – this is important as it might explain how stress links to the risk of heart disease by changes in different markers of inflammation when under stress.

Our other work has look at the effects of psychological stress in HGV drivers, who traditionally have a highly sedentary lifestyle. As part of an NIHR funded study, we’ve found that that symptoms of anxiety and persistent fatigue were related to an attenuated (reduced) systolic blood pressure reactivity in a short psychological stress task.  We’ve also found relationships between diastolic blood pressure changes to a stress task and the links with symptoms of fatigue 6 months later.

Activities

Psychobiology of Health Research Meeting

In July 2023, we hosted a ‘Psychobiology of Health’ Research Day, which brought together academics from across the UK to hear about ongoing research in the areas of psychological stress reactivity. It was also a fantastic day to network with other researchers in this area and develop new connections. This event was supported with funds from a research grant awarded to Dr Nicola Paine from the Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard Award Scheme.

Public lectures

We deliver public lectures to explain our research to the public, so that they can better understand how stress can impact on our health. Below is an example public lecture, where Dr Nicola Paine talks about the links between psychological stress and physical health 

Below is a recording from a seminar series of expert talks providing a continued professional development opportunity for individuals working within healthcare who have a special interest in lifestyle medicine. These talks discuss the links between sitting time and health (including stress).

Get in touch!

If you’d like to hear more about this work, collaborate, or be kept up to date with activities and work in this area, then please get in touch using the form below. Your information will be held in accordance with our privacy policy. We will only use your information to contact you about the topics you indicate on the form.