To determine whether a simple, structured self-report of overall sleep quality is associated with the presence of the metabolic syndrome and its component risk factors. An observational, cross-sectional study comparing global scores on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index with concurrently collected measures of the components of the metabolic syndrome and presence or absence of the syndrome. The metabolic syndrome criterion of the American Heart Association/National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute was adopted. University laboratory. Two hundred ten volunteers with a mean age of 46 years (57% men) screened for the presence of serious illness and related medications. N/A. All analyses were adjusted for sex and age. Logistic regression showed that poor global sleep-quality scores on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were related significantly to the presence of the metabolic syndrome—an increase of the global sleep score of 2.6 points (approximately 1 SD) was associated with an odds of having the metabolic syndrome of 1.44 (p = .04, confidence interval = 1.01-2.06). Linear-regression results showed that the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index global sleep-quality score was related significantly to waist circumference, body mass index, percentage of body fat, serum levels of insulin and glucose, and estimated insulin resistance. Self-reported global sleep quality is significantly related to the metabolic syndrome and several of its core components.

This Committee Report provides methodological, interpretive, and reporting guidance for researchers who use measures of heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) in psychophysiological research. We provide brief summaries of best practices in measuring HR and HRV via electrocardiographic and photoplethysmographic signals in laboratory, field (ambulatory), and brain‐imaging contexts to address research questions incorporating measures of HR and HRV. The Report emphasizes evidence for the strengths and weaknesses of different recording and derivation methods for measures of HR and HRV. Along with this guidance, the Report reviews what is known about the origin of the heartbeat and its neural control, including factors that produce and influence HRV metrics. The Report concludes with checklists to guide authors in study design and analysis considerations, as well as guidance on the reporting of key methodological details and characteristics of the samples under study. It is expected that rigorous and transparent recording and reporting of HR and HRV measures will strengthen inferences across the many applications of these metrics in psychophysiology. The prior Committee Reports on HR and HRV are several decades old. Since their appearance, technologies for human cardiac and vascular monitoring in laboratory and daily life (i.e., ambulatory) contexts have greatly expanded. This Committee Report was prepared for the Society for Psychophysiological Research to provide updated methodological and interpretive guidance, as well as to summarize best practices for reporting HR and HRV studies in humans.

Background— Hemodynamic reactions to mental stress may contribute to atherosclerosis. We previously observed cross-sectional relationships between blood pressure reactions to a standardized stress battery and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease (KIHD) study. These are the first prospective results on this relationship. Methods and Results— Men from 4 age cohorts (42 to 60 years old at study onset) were challenged with a standardized mental stress battery, and heart rate and blood pressure reactions were assessed. Ultrasound measures of common carotid IMT were collected at this time and 7 years later as noninvasive markers of atherosclerosis. Data were collected from a sample of 756 men at both times. Systolic blood pressure reactions to mental stress at study onset were positively related to mean carotid IMT 7 years later (β=0.035, P =0.001, by blood pressure quartile, IMT=0.91, 0.93, 0.96, 1.00 mm) and to the progression of IMT (β=0.020, P =0.006, by blood pressure quartile, ΔIMT=0.08, 0.09, 0.11, 0.11 mm). Similar significant relations were shown for maximal IMT and plaque height. Diastolic blood pressure responses were less strongly related to carotid IMT than were systolic responses. Heart-rate responses were unrelated. Adjustment for standard risk factors did not substantially reduce the relation between systolic blood pressure reactivity and the progression of mean carotid IMT (standardized β=0.059, P =0.026), maximal carotid IMT (standardized β=0.084, P =0.006), or plaque height (standardized β=0.093, P =0.008). Conclusions— The degree of systolic blood pressure reactivity to mental challenge is prospectively related to carotid IMT in middle-aged and older men, independent of known risk factors.

Objective: To determine whether memory performance in hypertensive subjects induces diminished parietal and prefrontal blood flow activation relative to normotensive subjects but compensatory amygdala/hippocampal activation. Methods: Thirty-seven untreated hypertensive subjects and 59 normotensive control subjects performed in two memory and one sensorimotor task while global and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was assessed with [¹⁵O]water and PET. Neuropsychological, carotid artery ultrasound, and MRI assessments were obtained. Results: When they were engaged in memory tasks, increases of CBF in hypertensive subjects were less than in normotensive subjects in the posterior parietal area, as expected; blunted responses were also shown within the middle posterior arterial watershed and thalamus. Relative to all other participants, hypertensive subjects that performed relatively well on verbal memory showed an enhanced rCBF response in the right amygdala/hippocampus. Furthermore, hypertensive, but not normotensive, subjects showed task-induced rCBF in the amygdala/hippocampal area that was significantly correlated with task-induced prefrontal rCBF. No confounding influences were identified from carotid artery or MRI measures. Conclusions: Memory performance in hypertensive individuals is related to a blunted regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) response, particularly in parietal cortex. Potentially compensatory rCBF responses appear to occur in midbrain and correlate with prefrontal rCBF.

Mental preparation aids performance and induces multiple physiological changes that should inform concepts of preparation. To date, however, these changes have been interpreted as being due to a global preparatory process (e.g., attention or alertness). The authors review psychophysiological and performance investigations of preparation. Concepts of the central regulation of action offer an integrative framework for understanding the psychophysiology of preparation. If people process multiple streams of information concurrently, then preparatory processing requires a form of supervisory attention- central regulation to maintain unity of action. This concept is consistent with existing psychophysiological results and links them to current views of information processing. Conversely, psychophysiological measures may provide indices to test concepts within theories of the central regulation of action.