Research

Stress, Sleep, and Health

This research examines relationships among psychological stress, sleep, and physical and psychological health. Published work has addressed sleep quality and duration, insomnia, repetitive negative thinking at bedtime, adverse childhood experiences, and health in college student and community samples.

Physiological and psychophysiological measurement provides another perspective on these relationships. Studies have examined secretory immunoglobulin A, skin-barrier function, blood pressure, and heart rate variability alongside psychological and behavioral measures.

These approaches help examine how subjective experiences of stress relate to sleep and bodily processes, without treating any single measure as a complete account of health. The lab’s research also considers stress reactivity and recovery, including heart rate variability and pre-ejection period.

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Sensory Processing Sensitivity and Individual Differences

This theme focuses on individual differences in sensory processing sensitivity and their associations with stress, sleep, psychological functioning, and physical symptoms. It overlaps with the stress and health program through questions about how people experience and respond to their environments.

Published studies have examined perceived stress as a mediator of sensitivity–health associations, adverse childhood experiences in relation to sensitivity and depression, and sensitivity in relation to vagally mediated heart rate variability.

Work on the Sensory Hypersensitivity Scale also reflects an interest in measuring individual differences. Physiological measures are considered within these research questions, alongside self-report and other psychological measures.

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Selected publications

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