Angela Clow

TL;DR: A review explores reasons for discrepancies in normative data including confounding factors such as gender, age, awakening time, light and participant adherence that suggest the awakening cortisol response is under a distinct regulatory influence different from the rest of the diurnal cortisol secretory cycle.

TL;DR: In this paper, the results of an exploratory study (n = 25) to establish whether salivary cortisol can act as a biomarker for variation in stress levels which may be associated with varying levels of exposure to green spaces, and whether recruitment and adherence to the required, unsupervised, salive cortisol sampling protocol within the domestic setting could be achieved in a highly deprived urban population.

TL;DR: Consensus guidelines are presented on central aspects of CAR assessment, including objective control of sampling accuracy/adherence, participant instructions, covariate accounting, sampling protocols, quantification strategies as well as reporting and interpreting of CAR data.

TL;DR: Evidence is presented for reduced adrenal sensitivity to rising levels of ACTH in the pre-awakening period, mediated by an extra-pituitary pathway to the adrenal from the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).

TL;DR: It is concluded that higher levels of green space in residential neighbourhoods, for this deprived urban population of middle-aged men and women not in work, are linked with lower perceived stress and a steeper (healthier) diurnal cortisol decline.