Authors: Emma Childs Harriet de Wit
Publish Date: 2008/10/21
Volume: 203, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-
Abstract
There are complex relationships between stress and smoking smoking may reduce the emotional discomfort of stress yet nicotine activates stress systems and may alter responses to acute stress It is important to understand how smoking affects physiological and psychological outcomes after stress and how these may interact to motivate smokingHealthy male nonsmokers n = 20 and smokers n = 15 participated in two experimental sessions involving a standardized public speaking stress procedure and a control nonstressful task The outcome measures included selfreported mood cardiovascular measures heart rate and blood pressure and plasma hormone levels noradrenaline cortisol progesterone and allopregnanoloneSmokers exhibited blunted increases in cortisol after the Trier Social Stress Test and they reported greater and more prolonged subjective agitation than nonsmokers Stressinduced changes in progesterone were similar between smokers and nonsmokers although responses overall were smaller among smokers Stress did not significantly alter levels of allopregnanolone but smokers exhibited lower plasma concentrations of this neurosteroidThese findings suggest that smoking dampens hormonal responses to stress and prolongs subjective discomfort Dysregulated stress responses may represent a breakdown in the body’s ability to cope efficiently and effectively with stress and may contribute to smokers’ susceptibility to acute stress especially during abstinenceThese experiments complied with current US laws The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest This research was supported by NIDA DA02812 and the University of Chicago Hospital’s GCRC USPHS MO1RR000555 We thank Ben Cunningham Stephen Sittler Lisa Vicini Heather Phillips and Nicholas Van Dam for their technical assistance
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