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The 5 Markers That Reveal Your Body's Stress Load
Last time, we talked about how illness is usually accumulated, not spontaneous. This week, let's look at how we actually measure that accumulation.
You are built to adapt to stress. When you face a demand, such as a deadline, a poor night's sleep, an argument, or an illness, your systems shift to meet it, then return to baseline. It's your nature to do this.
The problem begins when the demands never fully switch off. Over months and years, the "wear and tear" of staying switched on leaves a measurable mark on the body. Scientists call this allostatic load - the cumulative cost of chronic stress on your physiology.
The remarkable thing is that this hidden cost shows up in ordinary lab and clinic numbers, long before a diagnosis appears. |
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In my practice, I look at a small, practical panel to estimate it:
1. CRP:
A marker of low-grade /dinflammation, CRP tells us that your immune system is on high alert. It should ideally be less than 2.0 mg/L.
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2. Resting heart rate:
Contrary to what most people believe, your resting heart rate tells us about the state of your nervous system (you were thinking heart, right?) and how you are handling rest and stress. It should be 80 beats per minute (bpm) or less.
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3. HDL Cholesterol:
A well-known marker of metabolic and cardiovascular resilience, HDL cholesterol is also a major player in managing the body's stress and inflammatory responses. A target of greater than 1.3 mmol/L is what we aim for.
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4. Waist-to-height ratio:
A simple measure of stress-linked central weight. Abdominal fat cells contain a considerably higher concentration of receptors for the stress hormone cortisol, so when cortisol is chronically elevated, it triggers these fat cells to store fat. An ideal waist-to-height ratio is between 0.4 and 0.49, meaning your waist measurement should be less than half your height.
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5. HbA1c:
HbA1c acts as a 3-month physiological ledger of your blood sugar. It's a running tally of your blood sugar over the past quarter, and both diet and chronic stress can drive that number up. For the general population (those without type 1 diabetes), a normal HbA1c level is below 5.6%. In contrast, the HbA1c target for most non-pregnant adults with Type 1 Diabetes is below 7.0%.
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Together, these biomarkers sketch a picture of how much load your body is carrying right now - and, importantly, they give us something concrete to move over time.
What To Take From This:
These aren't "pass/fail" tests. They're a starting map. When we lower the load, these numbers tend to move with you - which is exactly why we measure them at the beginning and track them as we work together.
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If you haven't had these measured in the last 6 to 12 months, it's worth doing now, for two reasons. First, it establishes your baseline. Second, it shows us where we need to go to reduce the allostatic load your body is carrying, which is directly linked to improving your overall health.
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Next week: the part of stress that blood tests can't see. |
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Until then, scroll intentionally.
Dr. Dominika
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