Individuals who poorly regulate emotion exhibit premature aging and worse general health. Telomere shortening, a prognostic biomarker of physical health, is related to aging, poor immunocompetence and autonomic nervous system functioning. Cognitive reappraisal is one type of emotion regulation strategy, which involves changing one's appraisal of an aversive situation to modify its emotional impact. Heart rate variability (HRV; i.e., oscillations in heart rate) relates to emotion regulatory processes, such that higher HRV typically reflects greater regulatory capacity. Previous research has identified a positive association between HRV and telomere length. Importantly, the association between HRV and telomere length may change depending on how often an individual uses cognitive reappraisal. One hundred and thirty-seven healthy participants completed measures of cognitive reappraisal frequency, HRV, and underwent blood draws to measure telomere length (computed with the relative ratio of telomere repeat copy number to single copy gene number) in the T cell effector population, CD8+CD28-. Cognitive reappraisal moderated the relationship between telomere length and HRV such that individuals with high cognitive reappraisal frequency had a significant positive association between HRV and telomere length, while individuals with average and less than average frequency did not exhibit this relationship. The results suggest that frequent usage of cognitive reappraisal enhances the already positive influence of HRV on chromosomal integrity in CD8+CD28- T lymphocytes. Although future research is needed to test these effects causally, these findings suggest that regularly using emotion regulation techniques may buffer the relationship between autonomic nervous system functioning and chromosomal integrity in immune cells.

中文翻译：

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连接认知、心脏病学和染色体：认知重新评估影响 CD8+CD28– 细胞中心率变异性和端粒长度之间的关系

情绪调节不佳的人会表现出过早衰老和较差的整体健康状况。端粒缩短是身体健康的预后生物标志物，与衰老、免疫功能低下和自主神经系统功能有关。认知重评是情绪调节策略的一种，涉及改变一个人对厌恶情境的评价，以改变其情绪影响。心率变异性（HRV；即心率波动）与情绪调节过程相关，因此较高的 HRV 通常反映较强的调节能力。先前的研究已经发现 HRV 与端粒长度之间存在正相关关系。重要的是，HRV 和端粒长度之间的关联可能会根据个人使用认知重新评估的频率而变化。137 名健康参与者完成了认知重新评估频率 HRV 的测量，并进行了抽血测量 T 细胞效应群体 CD8 中的端粒长度（通过端粒重复拷贝数与单拷贝基因数的相对比率计算） +CD28-。认知重评调节了端粒长度和HRV之间的关系，认知重评频率高的个体HRV和端粒长度之间存在显着的正相关，而平均频率和低于平均频率的个体则没有表现出这种关系。结果表明，频繁使用认知重新评估增强了 HRV 对 CD8+CD28- T 淋巴细胞染色体完整性的积极影响。尽管需要未来的研究来测试这些影响的因果关系，但这些发现表明，定期使用情绪调节技术可能会缓冲自主神经系统功能与免疫细胞染色体完整性之间的关系。