Stay Informed

Sign up for news & alerts

Already signed up?
Login here
What Can I Do?


Get Help
Need alcohol or drug help for yourself or someone else? GET HELP
Resources
Resources
Find useful publications, online documents & more.


DrugScreening.org


 
Study Finds Link Between Heart Rate, Addiction
June 30, 2004

Email
Email
Print
Print
SubscribeSubscribe
Research Summary

Research from the Universitat Jaume I in Castellon, Spain, and McGill University in Montreal, Canada, finds that people who experience an increased heartbeat after consuming alcohol are more likely to have an "addictive" personality, Medical Research News reported June 28.

For the longitudinal study, 66 participants who never drank alcohol were administered a small amount of ethanol while they were between the ages of 16 and 18. Researchers recorded the effect the alcohol had on their hearts. At age 21, the participants were given a questionnaire to measure their degree of sensitivity to rewards and punishment.

The researchers found that participants who had an increase in their heart rate after drinking alcohol were twice as likely to have a personality type deemed more sensitive to rewards, possibly making them more susceptible to any type of addiction.

"The idea is that when the first experience with a reinforcing stimulus, such as alcohol, occurs, the organism reacts in different ways in different people, and those that have a stronger predisposition to addictions are the ones whose organism reacts in a more vigorous way by increasing the rate at which their heart beats," said Cesar Avila, one of the authors of the study from the Department of Basic Psychology at the Universitat Jaume I.

Researchers said that the change in heart rate could be used to screen people at elevated risk of developing a future addiction.

The study's findings are published in the March 2004 issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

Your Turn! Post a public comment (read guidelines):

Name:

Comment:
(limit 200
words)
Enter this word
(help):		 Change

GUIDELINES: 
To keep this feature useful for everyone, please:

  1. Keep it clean, courteous, focused, and on-topic. Comments are meant for thoughtful discussion of the article published above.

  2. Do not post personal requests for help or general promotions for your organization (Get help).

  3. Proof your comments carefully, use good spelling and punctuation, and don't use ALL CAPS. Comments are published immediately and cannot be edited.

Deceptive, slanderous and commercially-motivated posts are prohibited. We reserve the right to remove comments not conforming to these guidelines. (Report a comment).

Have questions or feedback? Contact us.