The storm within: predicting stress inflammation and its toll on cardiovascular and pulmonary health

doi:10.15406/ipmrj.2025.10.00393

eISSN: 2574-9838

International Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Journal

Editorial Volume 10 Issue 1

The storm within: predicting stress inflammation and its toll on cardiovascular and pulmonary health

Lisa MM Hayes

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Assistant Professor, American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), Mary Baldwin University, USA

Correspondence: Lisa MM Hayes, Assistant Professor, American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), Mary Baldwin University, USA

Received: May 21, 2025 | Published: May 22, 2025

Citation: Hayes LM. The storm within: predicting stress inflammation and its toll on cardiovascular and pulmonary health. Int Phys Med Rehab J. 2025;10(1):27. DOI: 10.15406/ipmrj.2025.10.00393

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Editorial

The inspiration for this editorial is based on my anecdotal experience with stress over these past few years as a rehabilitation clinician, healthcare educator, caregiver and adult living in our current global state considered to be post pandemic.¹ Stress can have physical, emotional and behavioral manifestations which make me curious about these prolonged states of stress and what that means for population health as well as the healthcare systems that will need to respond to those manifestations.

In the clinical realm, I continue to hear about the American healthcare system shrinking in services compared to what was offered from 2020 - 2022 without much change in the demand and presence of health needs. If anything, Covid-19 has created more disease management, disability and caregiver burden than we had prior to the pandemic. I would not be surprised to be informed that U.S.A. is better off than many other countries globally, which only compounds the healthcare challenge. We are still so close to the beginning of the pandemic that the truly long-term effects of Covid-19 infections which include generalized inflammation together with comorbidities are still in the discovery phase. In addition to adding Covid-19 to our healthcare queue, the American "boomer silver tsunami”² generation moves more fully into their 6^th decade and beyond. There are contradictory predictions about what effect this generation will have but the truth is that this group is bigger than the previous retired generations before them. What are healthcare systems doing now to prepare? Are these waves of need already upon us?

When I shift to the groups of students that I have interacted with, the stress is palpable. It has transitioned from the isolation of learning remotely to the juggle of returning to in person learning with higher costs of living. When these students look ahead at their careers, there is even more stress related to student loan reimbursement and finding a job that will support their cost of living in a reasonable manner. The saddest part is that these are the caregivers of the future, and they are starting their careers with higher stress levels even compared to 1 decade ago. These statistics are supported in international research.^3–6 How will the healthcare professionals of the future fair when they are likely also going to be in need of support when all this stress inflammation manifests?

As a cardiovascular and pulmonary clinical specialist in physical therapy, I am aware of how stress affects these systems specifically, but that long term inflammation is still an area of learning for me and an area of concern as I look forward to my future practice. It is my hope that this editorial sparks curiosity in these journals readers and maybe we all take a moment of meditation both by ourselves and with our patients, students and loved ones.