Allostatic load (Bruce McEwen) is the cumulative physiologic cost of chronic stress and chronic stress-system activation. The price of repeated stress responses that don't fully resolve.
Mechanism — Repeated cortisol elevation, sympathetic dominance, immune dysregulation, and metabolic shifts accumulate damage in cardiovascular, metabolic, and neural tissue. Multi-biomarker scores capture it: cortisol, CRP, HbA1c, blood pressure, lipids, HRV.
Use case — Reduce via recovery practices, sleep, stress modulation (meditation, breathwork, time outdoors), and addressing the source of unresolved demand. Tracking biomarker trends over years is the practical readout.
Caveats — Allostatic load is a construct, not a single test. Address upstream causes, not just the markers. Chronic stress that you can't resolve has different intervention needs than acute stress you can.