Reduced Sympathetic Nervous System Responsivity Associated with the Relaxation Response

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 215; no. 4529; pp. 190 - 192
• Main Authors: Hoffman, John W., Benson, Herbert, Arns, Patricia A., Stainbrook, Gene L., Landsberg, Lewis, Young, James B., Gill, Andrew
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States The American Association for the Advancement of Science 08.01.1982; American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Adult; Blood; Blood plasma; Blood Pressure; Control groups; Crossovers; Female; Heart Rate; Humans; Male; Muscle Contraction; Muscle Relaxation; Nervous system, Sympathetic; Norepinephrine; Norepinephrine - blood; Relaxation; Relaxation Therapy; Stress (Psychology); Stress management; Stress, Physiological - physiopathology; Sympathetic nervous system; Sympathetic Nervous System - physiology
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.7031901

Sympathetic nervous system activity was assessed in experimental and control subjects who were exposed to graded orthostatic and isometric stress during monthly hospital visits. After the first session, the experimental subjects practiced a technique that elicited the relaxation response. Their concentrations of plasma norepinephrine during subsequent graded stresses were significantly higher. No such changes were noted in the control group. These results were then replicated in the control group in a crossover experiment. The groups did not differ in their heart rate and blood pressure responses. These observations are consistent with reduced norepinephrine end-organ responsivity after regular elicitation of the relaxation response.