Stress Reactivity: What Pushes Us Higher, Faster, and Longer—and Why It Matters

Abstract

Brief everyday stressors can provoke cardiovascular, hormonal, and immune changes, and the magnitude and duration of these responses can vary considerably. Acute responses to daily stressors can differ widely among individuals experiencing the same stressor, and these physiological responses may not align with stress appraisals. This review highlights individual and dyadic factors that may heighten and prolong stress reactivity, along with their implications for health. We discuss depression, rumination, early life adversity, and social evaluation as individual-level factors and interpersonal stress processes and relationship quality as dyadic-level factors that may influence physiological stress responses. Heightened and prolonged stress reactivity can provide a gateway to the physiological dysregulation that underlies depression and chronic disease, which themselves alter stress reactivity—a vicious cycle. Interventions that may dampen physiological stress reactivity include yoga, meditation, health behaviors (diet, exercise, and sleep), and cognitive behavior therapy.