Drivers & Capacity
External evidence synthesis · Foundational · 1998
Repeated or poorly regulated stress responses can disrupt cardiovascular, metabolic, immune, and brain systems
McEwen’s review describes four pathways through which stress responses can produce allostatic load: repeated activation, failure to adapt to recurring stress, delayed shut-down after stress, and an inadequate response that triggers compensatory overactivity in other systems. The review links these patterns to dysregulation of cortisol and catecholamines, blood pressure, glucose and lipid metabolism, inflammatory activity, and memory-related brain systems.
Research basis
Integrative scientific review. Human and experimental stress-physiology research.
What it supports
A scientific bridge between repeated demands, physiological regulation, cumulative load, and differential vulnerability.
Boundary
This is a foundational synthesis of human and experimental research, not a single intervention study. It does not establish that every stress exposure produces every listed effect, quantify one common effect size, or demonstrate leader-specific outcomes.
BOL relevance
Supports BOL's distinction between immediate state effects and accumulated biological effects across time.
Source class
Peer-reviewed research
Role in BOL
Foundational
Population context
General adult population
Evidence basis
Conceptual or synthesized
Source record checked 26 July 2026.