ESSENTIAL 5 · READING GUIDE
Allostatic Load
From the cost of adaptation to the choices behind a multi-system index.
A curated introduction to the question, with a reason to read each selection. This guide is not a systematic review or an evidence ranking.
- 01
Begin with the concept: how was the cumulative cost of adaptation framed?
1993 · Conceptual reviewStress and the individual. Mechanisms leading to disease
Bruce S. McEwen · Eliot Stellar
Archives of Internal Medicine - 02
Then examine the mediators: how can a protective response also carry a cost?
1998 · ReviewProtective and damaging effects of stress mediators
Bruce S. McEwen
New England Journal of Medicine - 03
Follow the concept into measurement: which biological systems have researchers included?
2010 · ReviewAllostatic load biomarkers of chronic stress and impact on health and cognition
Robert-Paul Juster · Bruce S. McEwen · Sonia J. Lupien
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews - 04
Compare the methods: what changes when studies choose different markers and thresholds?
2022 · Systematic reviewAllostatic Load Measurement: A Systematic Review of Reviews, Database Inventory, and Considerations for Neighborhood Research
Shawna Beese · Julie Postma · Janessa M. Graves
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - 05
Read a harmonisation effort: how can multiple cohorts inform a more comparable measure?
2023 · Meta-analysisTowards a consensus definition of allostatic load: a multi-cohort, multi-system, multi-biomarker individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis
Cathal McCrory · Sinead McLoughlin · Richard Layte · Cliona NiCheallaigh · Aisling M. O’Halloran · Henrique Barros · Lisa F. Berkman · Murielle Bochud · Eileen M. Crimmins · Meagan T. Farrell · Silvia Fraga · Emily Grundy · Michelle Kelly-Irving · Dusan Petrovic · Teresa Seeman · Silvia Stringhini · Peter Vollenveider · Rose Anne Kenny
Psychoneuroendocrinology
A way into the research.
Choose a question. Read the selections in order, then explore the full library.
Allostatic Load
From the cost of adaptation to the choices behind a multi-system index.
Recovery Science
Connect recovery at work, after lost sleep and in sport—while keeping the outcomes distinct.
Reserve & Resilience
Separate capacity from response, and follow how different fields define resilience.
Measurement
Understand what a signal, questionnaire or composite index actually measures.
Selected for a useful reading sequence. The order is not an evidence ranking.