Why health is more than biology: The power of social stress and well-being

Our body is structured as an interchange factory between the inside and the outside. By starting like that we can know the importance of being able to overcome the influence of the Biomedical approach, a method that – useful as it is – doesn’t consider the diagnosis psyche and the social part of the “Individualism”. The sociologist Pierpaolo Donati, in 2013, talked for the first time about Social genomics; this is where I would like to start to express the meaning of the Health Science methodology.

The Biopsychosocial consideration is in these concepts the main theme, especially if we consider it a mixing between biomedical and social science approaches (Harris, K. M., 2010). For Harris, K. M., & Schorpp, K. M. economic income plays a crucial role as without money from the person and without investment from the State people can’t have in most cases access to medicine. So now that the concept is being introduced it’s important to talk about biomarkers one of which is the Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and in this concept the HPA axis (Hypotalam-Pituitary-Adrenal axis) is what can be the railway station of our health.

The HRQoL

We talked about how the social aspect can influence the quality of life, as it can cause stress and hyperactivation of the HPA axis, but let’s go into more detail, to understand better how the social point can influence the health travel of a person. Kivimäki, M. et all conducted in 2006 a research by linking stress and workplaces, which found that work stress, or better burnout, can increase considerevolly the risk of heart disease, by up to 50%. This data can let us know how the social impact can modify directly (or not) the quality of life.

HPA Axis

By going on, from the previous paragraph one aspect that is understandable is that our body system is interconnected. Wippold, G. M. et al. in 2021 studied the connection between Loneliness and Stress. They understood how the two concepts are reciprocally influenced as one modifies the other and upside down.

By linking this research to stress in the workplace we can say that if one person is stressed he/she can maybe isolate himself/herself from society and this behavior can maybe let the person far from the research of the health solution; this could be a progression toward a sever disease into a health continuum. House, J. S. in 2005 found in research the correlation between low income and stress level, and the stress level, as we have seen, is directly connected with psychological points such as the loneliness effect. But let’s go over that.

Correlations to Biopsychosocial Aspect

The previous paragraphs are important to understand that is needed a step over the biomedical approach, the person that is experiencing work burnout can go into severe diseases just by starting from the stress level created in the workplace. As Engel Said, biology, psychology, and sociology are in a person linked and one influences the other. For the health continuum, Education, Awareness, and Growth are the steps to go toward the World Health Organization (WHO) consideration of health that is not the absence of illness but the presence of total well-being. By letting our worker know where his illness is starting, we are letting him take a step toward the wellness state.

Conclusion

We have taken a look into the future of the medical approach, hyperspecialization is sometimes a limit if we don’t let the professionals link between themself. Our body is interconnected and all the details that can seem not so important can be vital to creating the real vision of well-being by going over the simple consideration of wellness as the absence of illness.

As we said previously, WHO in 1946 said that Wellness is not the absence of illness, it is the perfect physical, mental, and social being. We are more than biology, we are an interconnected system that creates a multi-leveled dialog with itself and the world around us. What further evidence could help us better understand the link between social stress and long-term health outcomes?

References

Harris, k. M. (2010). An integrative Approach to Health. Demography, 47(1), 1–

http://www.jstor.org/stable/25651487

Harris, K. M., & Schorpp, K. M. (2018). Integrating Biomarkers in Social Stratification and

Health. Research. Annual Review of Sociology, 44, 361–386.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/44863940

Kivimäki, M., Virtanen, M., Elovainio, M., Kouvonen, A., Väänänen, A., & Vahtera, J. (2006).

Work stress in the etiology of coronary heart disease—a meta-analysis. Scandinavian Journal

of Work, Environment & Health, 32(6), 431–442. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40967596

Wippold, G. M., Tucker, C. M., Roncoroni, J., & Henry, M. A. (2021). Impact of stress and

loneliness on health-related quality of life among low income senior African Americans.

Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 8(4), 1089–1097.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/48707737