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Biological basis of stress-related mortality

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  • Sterling, Peter
  • Eyer, Joe

Abstract

It is believed in primitive society that physical health depends on harmonious social relations and that sickness follows social disruption. The mortality patterns of adults in modern society support this view, but its biological basis is not widely appreciated. This essay reviews the mechanisms by which chronic psychological arousal produces chronic physiological arousal and, in turn, specific biological pathology. The brain sets for the body a broad pattern of physiological and metabolic activity and enforces it by control over the autonomic and endocrine systems. Under conditions of arousal the brain sets a pattern of catabolism, mobilizing all the mechanisms that produce energy for "coping" and suppressing the mechanisms that store energy or use it for growth, repair, and surveillance against pathogens. As part of this adaptive response the brain mobilizes cardiac, vascular, and renal mechanisms to raise blood pressure. When arousal is chronic, the high pressure causes damage which, in interaction with a variety of arousal-induced chemical changes, leads to endstage diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease. The biological causes of cancer and diabetes are not fully known but seem to be powerfully influenced by arousal-induced endocrine patterns. Treatment of arousal pathology at the end stages has been highly technological, of limited success, and very expensive. The leading alternative has been an attempt to prevent endstage disease by treating mild hypertension on a mass scale (23-60 million patients in U.S.) with potent drugs. As drugs block peripheral pressor mechanisms, the brain drives them to compensate and to require blocking by additional drugs. Over the decades of prophylaxis for which drugs are intended, their cumulative iatrogenic effects are likely to be serious. Psychosocial treatments for mild hypertension (including placebo, relaxation techniques, and social support) appear to be quite effective. These treatments appear to work by reducing chronic arousal, and tend not to evoke compensatory or iatrogenic responses. The extraordinary sensitivity of the brain and the neuro-endocrine system to psychosocial intervention suggests that in modern, as in primitive society, these are the treatments that will prove safest and most effective.

Suggested Citation

  • Sterling, Peter & Eyer, Joe, 1981. "Biological basis of stress-related mortality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 3-42, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:15:y:1981:i:1:p:3-42
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    Cited by:

    1. Johnson, Sarah C. & Cavallaro, Francesca L. & Leon, David A., 2017. "A systematic review of allostatic load in relation to socioeconomic position: Poor fidelity and major inconsistencies in biomarkers employed," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 66-73.
    2. Lazareva, Olga, 2020. "The effect of labor market shocks on health: The case of the Russian transition," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    3. Simon Chang & Kamhon Kan & Xiaobo Zhang, 2024. "Too Many Men, Too-Short Lives: The Effect of the Male-Biased Sex Ratio on Mortality," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 59(2), pages 604-626.
    4. Aniruddha Das & Stephanie Nairn, 2016. "Editor's choice Religious Attendance and Physiological Problems in Late Life," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 71(2), pages 291-308.
    5. Otto Lenhart, 2017. "The impact of minimum wages on population health: evidence from 24 OECD countries," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 18(8), pages 1031-1039, November.
    6. Wenhuan Yu & Lin He & Xianhao Lin & Thomas Freudenreich & Tao Liu, 2022. "Irrational Consumption during the COVID-19 Period," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-13, April.
    7. José A. Tapia Granados & Edward L. Ionides, 2017. "Population health and the economy: Mortality and the Great Recession in Europe," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(12), pages 219-235, December.
    8. Riphahn, Regina T. & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 1998. "The Mortality Crisis in East Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 6, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Otto Lenhart, 2019. "The effects of income on health: new evidence from the Earned Income Tax Credit," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 377-410, June.
    10. Das, Aniruddha, 2013. "How does race get “under the skin”?: Inflammation, weathering, and metabolic problems in late life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 75-83.

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