The Study
Abstract P1095: Hair Cortisol Concentration, Perceived Stress, and Physical Activity Among Patients with Heart Failure
This study looked at whether people with heart failure who are more active have higher stress hormones, and it found a weird link in just a few people. But it didn't watch them over time, so we can't say if being active made their stress hormones go up — or if people with higher stress hormones just happened to be more active.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
In people with a type of heart failure called HFpEF, those who move more have higher levels of a stress hormone in their hair — even though they don’t feel more stressed.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 535 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1This is surprising — usually more stress means more cortisol, but here, moving more seems to raise cortisol without people feeling stressed, possibly because activity itself is a physical stressor in HFpEF.
- 2In HFpEF patients, physical activity and hair cortisol levels were strongly linked (r = 0.91); no link found between feeling stressed and cortisol levels in any group.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Circulation
Year
2025
Authors
Lauren Pageau, D. Pathak, M. Karve, D. Pickford, P. Deka
Related Content
Claims (3)
Physical exercise lowers levels of biological stress indicators and enhances the functioning of the hormonal and nervous systems that regulate stress responses.
In people with heart failure and normal pumping ability, higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in hair are linked to higher self-reported physical activity levels.
In people with heart failure, self-reported stress levels do not correlate with the amount of cortisol measured in hair, indicating that subjective stress reports do not align with this objective biological marker of stress.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.