Considering how bad stress is supposed to be for our bodies, it’s still a confusing concept. Is it worse for our health to have too much work or too little? To have too much responsibility or to be bored? The COVID-19 pandemic triggered lots of stress — even in people who never got the virus. It’s not clear how much the forced isolation, fear or job loss harmed our health. But scientists are starting to identify the kinds of stress that damage us physically by studying other species — not just lab rats, but animals from whales to iguanas to fish. That research has already generated some understanding of the harms we have imposed on them through captivity, pollution, and underwater noise. It might also help us understand the harms we impose on each other. Decades ago, scientists established a questionable narrative that stress was associated with “Type A” personalities — people who try to do too much. Much of the foundational research was funded primarily by the tobacco industry. That research came out at a time in the mid-20th century when heart disease had been sharply rising in the United States in parallel with the rise in smoking.

Flam, F. (2021, June 21). What animals can teach humans about living with stress. BusinessWorld, p. S1/6.