“Have you ever felt like your to-do list keeps growing no matter how much you cross off? Or like you’re always running out of time, juggling responsibilities, and feeling the weight of it all? You’re not alone. Stress has become so normal in our society that we barely question it anymore—but it’s making us sick.”
The stress response is a mandatory survival function for any living being. When activated, our stress apparatus immediately empowers us to confront or escape threats to our existence or the existence or well-being of those we care for. It’s an impressive whole-body event involving virtually every organ and system. But here’s the thing: there are two sides to stress. One side is acute stress—the short, necessary kind that’s helpful in the right circumstances. The other side to stress is chronic stress—the ongoing, unrelenting kind that impacts our health over time. Chronic stress dysregulates the HPA axis leading to excess levels of cortisol and adrenaline in the body. These elevated stress hormones fuel physiological changes, disrupting almost all the body functions, which drives illness.
Chronic Stress
- Makes us anxious and depressed
- Suppresses our immune system
- Promotes inflammation
- Narrows blood vessels promoting vascular disease
- Encourages cancer growth
- Thins our bones
- Makes us resistant to our own insulin, inducing diabetes
- Contributes to abdominal obesity, elevating the risk of cardiovascular disease and metabolic problems
- Impairs essential cognitive and emotional circuits in the brain
- Elevates blood pressure and increases the risk of blood clotting, raising the risk of heart attacks or strokes
Chronic stress, whatever its source, puts the nervous system on edge, distorts the hormonal apparatus, impairs immunity, promotes inflammation, and undermines physical and mental well-being.
Our society is experiencing more stress than ever before leading to both negative psychiatric and physical outcomes. But what in our society are the most widespread emotional triggers for stress? Psychological factors such as uncertainty, conflict, lack of control, and lack of information are considered the most stressful stimuli and strongly activate the HPA axis. A society that breeds these conditions, as capitalism inevitably does, is a superpowered generator of stressors that tax human health.
A Society Wired for Chronic Stress
The endless pressure to achieve, produce, and consume creates a perfect storm of stressors. Our society thrives on uncertainty, conflict, lack of control, and constant comparison—all of which amplify chronic stress.
Technology keeps us connected to work and social pressures 24/7, leaving little room for rest. Hustle culture glorifies burnout, while work-life balance is often treated as a luxury. The education system pushes performance over well-being, planting the seeds of stress early. Meanwhile, rising housing costs, inaccessible healthcare, and systemic inequalities leave many people struggling to survive.
Even existential challenges like climate change and the breakdown of community bonds fuel a pervasive sense of anxiety and helplessness. For marginalized groups, systemic discrimination and injustices create an additional, constant layer of stress.
When you take a step back, it’s clear that chronic stress isn’t just a personal issue—it’s systemic. It’s a symptom of a society that asks too much while offering too little in return. And while ‘self-care’ has its place, we can’t do yoga or journal our way out of a system designed to keep us stressed.
A Human Solution to a Systemic Problem
When you take a step back, it’s clear that chronic stress isn’t just a personal issue—it’s systemic. It’s not just about how much we’re taking on individually, but about the world we live in and the structures that shape our lives. Our bodies are reacting exactly as they’re meant to in the face of endless demands, uncertainty, and inequities. But this response, designed for survival, becomes detrimental when the stress never lets up.
So what can we do? The first step is recognizing that we’re not broken—our systems are. It’s not about “handling stress better” it’s about addressing the root causes. While personal care matters, we also need collective action to advocate for systems that prioritize well-being.
Change begins when we stop normalizing stress and start demanding better—for ourselves and our communities.