The biology of work stress
Understanding what your P-PRI results mean for your physical health.
The stress response
Acute stress (eustress): the HPA axis and sympathetic nervous system activate briefly, cortisol and adrenaline rise, performance improves, then the system returns to baseline. This is normal and adaptive.
Chronic stress: when activation is sustained without sufficient recovery, cortisol remains elevated, inflammatory markers rise, and downstream effects accumulate across multiple physiological systems.
From P-PRI domains to your biomarkers
Cholesterol (LDL/HDL)
Chronic cortisol elevation promotes hepatic lipid synthesis, raising LDL cholesterol. Effort-reward imbalance is independently associated with adverse lipid profiles in longitudinal studies.
Preventa test: Full lipid profile (HDL, LDL, total, ratio)
Long-term glucose (HbA1c)
Cortisol promotes gluconeogenesis and insulin resistance. High work pressure with poor recovery is associated with elevated HbA1c in working populations, independent of diet and BMI.
Preventa test: HbA1c — average blood glucose over 3 months
Excess body fat
Chronic cortisol promotes visceral fat accumulation around the abdomen. Poor sleep — a common feature of high Need for Recovery — independently predicts waist circumference growth.
Preventa test: Waist-to-height ratio
Hypertension
The Karasek high-strain profile (high demand, low control) is the most robustly evidenced psychosocial predictor of hypertension and cardiovascular disease in occupational health research.
Preventa test: Blood pressure at rest and under light activity
Psychosocial risk
The P-PRI composite score integrates demand, resource, and recovery dimensions to provide a systemic profile of psychosocial risk. This is the assessment you just completed.
Preventa test: P-PRI 65-item assessment
Kidney function
Sustained hypertension and metabolic dysregulation from chronic stress progressively affect kidney filtration. Early detection via urine albumin-to-creatinine enables timely intervention.
Preventa test: Urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio
Stress is not the enemy
The Yerkes-Dodson inverted-U describes how performance and wellbeing change with demand. Too little demand leads to boredom and disengagement; optimal demand drives peak performance and meaning; too much demand without recovery becomes strain. P-PRI identifies where on this curve your current work situation sits.
Your P-PRI report places you on the Demands × Resources map (Karasek / JD-R) — a more diagnostic two-dimensional view of this same curve.