Emotional Reactivity and Regulation: Associations with Heart Rate Variability During Experimental Worry and Relaxation Inductions

Introduction: Emotionality and emotion dysregulation both influence cardiovascular health, putting individuals at a heightened risk for increased morbidity and mortality. Heart rate variability (HRV) is influenced by the frequency and intensity of our emotions (e.g., emotionality) as well as how we regulate our emotions. This study tested whether negative and positive affect covaried with HRV across a baseline resting period along with experimentally induced worry and relaxation conditions to assess the interplay among emotionality, emotion regulation, and cardiovascular function among physically healthy adults. Methods: Community participants (n = 85) completed a resting baseline HRV assessment followed by experimentally induced worry and relaxation conditions. Participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) to measure emotionality at baseline and following each experimental condition. HRV was also measured during the worry and relaxation conditions. Linear mixed models were used to assess covariation between affect and HRV across conditions. Results: Negative affect was significantly linked to HRV across conditions. As hypothesized, when participants reported higher negative affect, their HRV was significantly lower. In contrast, positive affect did not significantly covary with HRV across the study conditions. Conclusion: Findings highlight how negative affect and HRV are linked throughout a lab-based task of emotionality and emotion regulation. These findings provide insight into a potential pathway through which negative emotionality may be linked to poor health and how implementing emotion regulation skills training can mitigate these effects.