Lifestyle and genetics, as well as a variety of other factors both within and outside of our control, are known to play a role in the development of metabolic syndrome, a group of conditions that increase the risk of serious health problems.
A new study has discovered that stress, due to its proclivity to increase inflammation in the body, is also linked to metabolic syndrome, leading researchers to suggest that inexpensive and relatively simple stress-management techniques may be one way to help improve biological health outcomes.
“We were specifically examining people in midlife, a time that is critical to determine those who will experience accelerated aging. Stress is an important contributor to several negative health outcomes as we age. There are many variables that influence metabolic syndrome, some we can’t modify, but others that we can. Everybody experiences stress. And stress management is one modifiable factor that’s cost-effective as well as something people can do in their daily lives without having to get medical professionals involved,”
said senior author Jasmeet Hayes, associate professor of psychology at The Ohio State University.
Metabolic Syndrome and Stress
The relationship between stress and biological health is well-established; however, the role of inflammation in stress’s association with metabolic syndrome has not received much attention in prior research.
Metabolic syndrome is defined as having at least three of the five risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, and other health problems: excess belly fat, high blood pressure, low HDL (good) cholesterol, and high levels of fasting blood glucose and triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood. Insulin resistance syndrome is another name for this illness.
First author Savana Jurgens developed a statistical model to assess how inflammation might fit into the relationship between stress and metabolic syndrome using data from a sample of 648 participants (average age 52) in a national survey titled Midlife in the United States. Information from respondents’ reported perceived stress, blood biomarkers for inflammation, and physical exam results indicating risk factors for metabolic syndrome was used for the analysis.
“There’s a lot of work that suggests stress is associated with inflammation, inflammation is associated with metabolic syndrome, and stress is associated with metabolic syndrome. But putting all those pieces together is rare,”
said Jurgens, a psychology graduate student in Hayes’ lab.
Inflammatory Pathways
Biomarkers that aid in the recruitment of white blood cells during inflammation, such as fibrinogen, a protein crucial to blood clot formation, and the well-known IL-6 and C-reactive protein, were also used to calculate inflammation composite scores.
The statistical modelling revealed that stress does, in fact, have a link with metabolic syndrome, and inflammation explained more than half of that link – 61.5%, to be exact.
“There is a small effect of perceived stress on metabolic syndrome, but inflammation explained a large proportion of that,”
Jurgens said.
The findings made sense; stress is simply one of many things that can throw health markers off balance. Other variables include inactivity, improper eating habits, smoking, and lack of sleep, as well as low socioeconomic position, old age, and gender.
Beyond Metabolic Health Consequences
However, given that one in every three American adults has metabolic syndrome, knowing how to reduce risk or prevent it completely is critical, according to Hayes. The findings also add to the growing body of evidence that stress, particularly its link to inflammation, can have a significant influence on biological health in general.
“People think of stress as mental health, that it’s all psychological. It is not. There are real physical effects to having chronic stress,” Hayes said. “It could be inflammation, it could be metabolic syndrome, or a number of things. This is another reminder of that.”
Future investigations will focus on determining whether stress is a causative factor in metabolic syndrome and evaluating the most effective stress-reduction strategies. The research was supported by the National Institute on Aging and Ohio State’s Discovery Themes Chronic Brain Injury Program, where Hayes is an investigator.
Reference:
- Savana M. Jurgens, Sarah Prieto, Jasmeet P. Hayes. Inflammatory biomarkers link perceived stress with metabolic dysregulation. Brain, Behavior, & Immunity – Health, 2023; 34: 100696 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100696