A review of physiological prestress adaptation: Effects of duration and context

This review focuses on 3 aspects of experimental designs for prestress, physiological adaptation periods: (1) effects of duration on stabilization of various physiological parameters; (2) effect of type of activity and instruction on prestress physiological adaptation; and (3) definitions of physiological baselines. Analyses of the literature revealed that for many physiological parameters it remains unclear how much time is required for stabilization and that for the remaining variables the necessary duration of prestress adaptation varies greatly, with blood pressure potentially being the slowest variable to stabilize. Effects of type of activity are essentially unknown. Instructions which create certainty about experimental procedures in subjects tend to facilitate adaptation to the laboratory environment. Baseline definitions were remarkably variable with no less than 15 different definitions being used across the 50 studies reviewed. Suggestions for future research and recommendations for prestress experimental designs are put forward in the discussion.