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. 2015 Mar 25;10(3):e0119025.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0119025. eCollection 2015.

Chronic stress induces a hyporeactivity of the autonomic nervous system in response to acute mental stressor and impairs cognitive performance in business executives

Renata Roland Teixeira  1 , Miguel Mauricio Díaz  1 , Tatiane Vanessa da Silva Santos  1 , Jean Tofoles Martins Bernardes  1 , Leonardo Gomes Peixoto  1 , Olga Lucia Bocanegra  1 , Morun Bernardino Neto  2 , Foued Salmen Espindola  1
Affiliations

Chronic stress induces a hyporeactivity of the autonomic nervous system in response to acute mental stressor and impairs cognitive performance in business executives

Renata Roland Teixeira et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The present study examined the incidence of chronic stress in business executives (109 subjects: 75 male and 34 female) and its relationship with cortisol levels, cognitive performance, and autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity after an acute mental stressor. Blood samples were collected from the subjects to measure cortisol concentration. After the sample collection, the subjects completed the Lipp Inventory of Stress Symptoms for Adults and the Stroop Color-Word Test to evaluate stress and cognitive performance levels, respectively. Saliva samples were collected prior to, immediately after, and five minutes after the test. The results revealed that 90.1% of the stressed subjects experienced stress phases that are considered chronic stress. At rest, the subjects with chronic stress showed higher cortisol levels, and no gender differences were observed. No differences were found between the stressed and non-stressed subjects regarding salivary amylase activity prior to test. Chronic stress also impaired performance on the Stroop test, which revealed higher rates of error and longer reaction times in the incongruent stimulus task independently of gender. For the congruent stimulus task of the Stroop test, the stressed males presented a higher rate of errors than the non-stressed males and a longer reaction time than the stressed females. After the acute mental stressor, the non-stressed male group showed an increase in salivary alpha-amylase activity, which returned to the initial values five minutes after the test; this ANS reactivity was not observed in the chronically stressed male subjects. The ANS responses of the non-stressed vs stressed female groups were not different prior to or after the Stroop test. This study is the first to demonstrate a blunted reactivity of the ANS when male subjects with chronic psychological stress were subjected to an acute mental stressor, and this change could contribute to impairments in cognitive performance.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Experimental design.
Numbers indicate time in minutes after the collection of blood sample. Stroop Color-Word Test is divided in two tasks, T1: Stroop Color task and T2: Stroop Color-Word task. ISSL test: Lipp Inventory of Stress Symptoms.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Biological variables in non-stressed (NS) and stressed (S) subjects.
A. Serum cortisol in non-stressed and stressed male and female subjects at rest. B. Salivary alpha-amylase activity prior to the cognitive task in non-stressed and stressed male and female groups. (*) Indicates significant differences, p ≤ 0.05 (One-way ANOVA).
Fig 3
Fig 3. Cognitive performance of non-stressed (NS) and stressed (S) subjects during the Stroop test.
A. Accuracy of response in Color task and Color-Word task of Stroop test in male and female subjects. B. Reaction time in both tasks of the Stroop test in male and female subjects. (*) Indicates significant differences, p ≤ 0.05 (One-way ANOVA).
Fig 4
Fig 4. Salivary alpha-amylase activity during an acute mental stress test in non-stressed (NS) and stressed (S) subjects.
A. Salivary alpha-amylase activity assessed prior to the Stroop test (T1), immediately after the Stroop test (T2) and five minutes after the test (T3) in non-stressed and stressed males subjects. B. Salivary alpha-amylase activity assessed at T1, T2 and T3 in non-stressed and stressed females subjects. (*) Indicates significant differences, p ≤ 0.05 (One-way ANOVA).
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