A claim you hear on longevity podcasts

Does a challenge response to stress raise cardiac output?

Leaning for. Of 10 studies that test it, 6 partly agree, 3 agree and 1 disagrees.

Best for:: people who tense up before a talk, test or game and want to know what a challenge response changes in the body.
Price:: Free to read, with every receipt. Pro is $9 a month or $79 a year and adds AI Ask.

The claim checked: Meeting stress as a challenge rather than a threat brings more cardiac output, less inflammation afterwards and longer telomeres Hear it at 11:56

What do the studies say?

Leaning for

In three studies, people told to see a stressor as a challenge, or who rated it that way, had higher cardiac output and lower vascular resistance. In six more the link was partial: reappraisal shifted the heart pattern without changing how people rated the task, or ratings matched the pattern only before the task. In adolescents aged 13 to 17, how they rated a speech task did not predict cardiac output.

Computed from 10 studies that test this point, each judged by two readers, in full. 10 more studies are waiting for a full read and do not count yet.

What was said on the podcast?

“So if you're having more of the challenge response at the end of it you're less inflamed. So just in the lab within an hour or two we see that they're they didn't trigger all that pro-inflammatory response”

Elissa Epel, a guest on Huberman Lab · Essentials: Manage Stress & Build Resilience | Dr. Elissa Epel · 11:56 on YouTube

Point 1 of 3 Leaning for

When two people face the same stressor, the one who meets it as a challenge rather than a threat has a different cardiovascular response: more cardiac output and less vasoconstriction, while blood pressure rises in both

Agree 3

controlled trial · 2012

“Taken together, the reappraisal condition was associated with lower TPR and greater CO, which indicates a more adaptive physiological response while engaged in a motivated performance task like the one used here (e.g.,).”

Mind over matter: reappraising arousal improves cardiovascular and cognitive responses to stress. J Exp Psychol Gen
Who: Adults from the Cambridge, MA area (mean age 21.9, 25 men and 25 women) screened for hypertension and cardiac conditions
PMID 21942377

other primary study · 2014

“Specifically, challenge instructions that only promoted high self-efficacy, high perceived control, and approach goals led to challenge CV reactivity.”

Manipulating cardiovascular indices of challenge and threat using resource appraisals. Int J Psychophysiol
Who: UK university undergraduates (and some academic staff in Study 1), normotensive and in good health, mean age about 21-22, randomly allocated to challenge or threat instructions before a bean-bag throwing task (Study 1) or a climbing task (Study 2)
PMID 25036595

trial or observed group · 2010

“As predicted, during anticipation of the stressor, increased challenge was associated with decreased vascular resistance and increased myocardial reactivity.”

Appraisal predicts hemodynamic reactivity in a naturalistic stressor. Int J Psychophysiol
Who: men aged 19-28 at the University of Aberdeen giving a real class or job presentation, monitored with ambulatory Portapres
PMID 20417669

Partly agree 6

other primary study · 2013

“Specifically, challenge CV reactivity predicted superior performance in a pressured cricket Batting Test compared with threat CV reactivity.”

Who thrives under pressure? Predicting the performance of elite academy cricketers using the cardiovascular indicators of challenge and threat states. J Sport Exerc Psychol
Who: Elite male national (n = 30) and county (n = 12) academy cricketers, mean age 16.5, normotensive
PMID 23966448

other primary study · 2019

“Nevertheless, even the differences we observed in reported appraisals across clusters before the start of the task were modest, suggesting the need for further refinement of ways to assess perceived stress and coping in motivated performance tasks.”

Physiological indices of challenge and threat: A data-driven investigation of autonomic nervous system reactivity during an active coping stressor task. Psychophysiology
Who: Adults aged 18-65 recruited in the greater Boston area, without cardiovascular illness or autonomically active medication, doing a mental arithmetic stressor
PMID 31407813

other primary study · 2020

“self-report data and CV responses was weak.”

The benefits of a challenge approach on match day: Investigating cardiovascular reactivity in professional academy soccer players. Eur J Sport Sci
Who: male professional academy soccer players (U18s/U21s, Premier League Category 1 academy), mean age 17.95, tested before competitive matches
PMID 31167615

controlled trial · 2024

“The groups did not show statistically significant differences in either CO reactivity ( F (2, 59) = 0.503, p = 0.697, η2 G = 0.02) or TPR reactivity ( F (2, 58) = 0.758, p = 0.473, η2 G = 0.03) (Fig. 2 ).”

Challenge or Threat? The Effects of the Standard and a Second-Generation Mindfulness Intervention with Buddhist Practices on Cognitive Appraisals of Stress: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Experiment Performed in Switzerland. J Relig Health
Who: adults aged 18-40 without regular meditation practice, Lausanne region, Switzerland, randomized to MBSR, MBSR-B or wait-list control, then given the Trier Social Stress Test
PMID 38135834

Show 2 more Show fewer

other primary study · 2021

“Finally, across groups subjective challenge ratings were significantly positively associated with CO reactivity to stress ( r = .27, p = .021) and unrelated to TPR reactivity ( r = −0.10, p = .402), while no significant relationships emerged between subjective threat ratings and both TPR reactivity ( r = .01, p = .943) and CO reactivity ( r = .08, p = .524).”

A brief positive psychological intervention prior to a potentially stressful task facilitates more challenge-like cardiovascular reactivity in high trait anxious individuals. Psychophysiology
Who: 74 healthy young adults (49 women, 25 men; mean age 23.27) free of medication and chronic/acute illness, recruited around a university campus; 82 tested, 8 excluded for artifacts/ectopic beats
PMID 33118206

controlled trial · 2025

“The results revealed that the WE intervention led to a more favorable resources-demands differential after the BBN task, whereas the SAR instructions were effective in improving the students’ cardiovascular index of challenge and threat during the task.”

A randomized controlled trial evaluating stress arousal reappraisal and worked example effects on psychophysiological responses during breaking bad news. Sci Rep
Who: Third-year medical students from four Swiss universities (Bern, Basel, Fribourg, Zurich), mean age 22.42, 69% female, without cardiovascular/neuroendocrine conditions or interfering medication, delivering a Trisomy 21 diagnosis to a simulated pregnant patient
PMID 40604103

Disagree 1

other primary study · 2014

“In a linear regression predicting change in CO (ΔCO; M =0.77, SD =1.15) from baseline to the speech task based on pre-task stress appraisal, no association was observed between pre-task appraisal and changes in CO, B =−0.001, p =0.99, R2=0.07.”

The biopsychosocial model of stress in adolescence: self-awareness of performance versus stress reactivity. Stress
Who: Adolescents aged 13-17 recruited in Boston and Cambridge, MA (49 female, 30 male), during a Trier Social Stress Test speech
PMID 24491123

Point 2 of 3 Not enough evidence

After a lab stressor, people with more of a challenge response than a threat response are less inflamed: within an hour or two they do not trigger as much of a pro-inflammatory response

No study that tests this has been read in full yet. Three that may test it, one of them a pooled analysis of appraisals and immune responses, are waiting for a full read and do not count.

No study we found tests this point yet. 3 more studies are waiting for a full read and do not count yet.

No study we found tests this point. These were read, and each tests a different question:

Point 3 of 3 Not enough evidence

People whose stress response leans toward challenge rather than threat tend to have longer telomeres

One study tests it, in postmenopausal women who were dementia caregivers or low-stress controls. Feeling more threatened before a stressor went with shorter telomeres, but challenge appraisals were not linked to telomere length.

Computed from 1 study that test this point, each judged by two readers, in full. Fewer than 3 sources so far.

Agree 0· none of the studies we read

Partly agree 1

other primary study · 2012

“In contrast, chronic stress was not associated with altered challenge appraisals, and challenge appraisals were not independently associated with telomere length.”

Stress appraisals and cellular aging: a key role for anticipatory threat in the relationship between psychological stress and telomere length. Brain Behav Immun
Who: healthy non-smoking postmenopausal women in the San Francisco Bay Area, dementia caregivers with high perceived stress and low-stress non-caregiving controls, mean age 62
PMID 22293459

Disagree 0· none of the studies we read

More on mind and stress

Strong consensus for Chronic loneliness raises the risk of early death by up to 30% Read the check → Strong consensus for Evening screen use can harm sleep for some people Read the check → Leaning for Regular smartphone use appears to lead to deficits in attention Read the check →