Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators

Abstract

Blood-pressure responses to this experimental stress predicted elevated ambulatory blood pressure during periods of perceived stress in everyday life.9 Genetics may also have a role in susceptibility to cardiovascular stress; many people whose blood pressure remains elevated for several hours after the stress of an arithmetic test have a parent with hypertension.10 One's physical condition has obvious implications for one's ability to mount an appropriate physiologic response to stressful stimuli, and there may be a genetic component to the response as well.