Anxiety and stress have been continually elevated among American adults over the past decade and may even be spiking higher in 2025, with political unrest and the potential instability of financial markets. While heightened and chronic stress have long been known to be associated with decreased physical well-being, new research illuminates a specific connection between heightened stress and the risk of a very serious medical event—having a stroke.

The research, which appeared in Neurology, looked specifically at younger adults. It focused on 426 people between the ages of 18 and 49 who had suffered an ischemic stroke that had had no specifically known cause. They were then compared, while being matched for age and sex, with 426 people who had not had a stroke, and all participants reported their stress over a one-month period. Those who had had a stroke were asked to recall their stress levels in the one-month period before their stroke. The stress questionnaire that was used resulted in a score between 0 and 40, with 27 and above representing high stress.

Those who had had a stroke averaged a stress score of 13, as opposed to those who had not had a stroke, who had an average of 10. Moreover, people who had had a stroke were more likely to report at least moderate stress levels, defined as 14 and above, with 46 percent having moderate or high stress levels, compared to only 33 percent of those who had not had a stroke.

Interestingly, when variables like education level, alcohol use, and blood pressure were controlled for, the link between stress and stroke disappeared for men. But it remained for women, with moderate stress creating a 78 percent increased risk of stroke and high stress associated with a 6 percent increased risk.

This study raises some important questions. Why might stress matter more for women than men when it comes to the risk of stroke? Why might moderate stress for women represent a higher risk than high stress?

It’s worth pointing out that having people retroactively rate their stress before their stroke occurred may not be the most accurate or objective measurement; one would imagine all kinds of disruptions that the stroke brought about that could affect their ability to look back as accurately as possible (a problem even among those who have not had a stroke).

Moreover, this study looked only at adults aged 49 and younger; as stroke risk generally increases with age, it would be important to look at the risk of stroke and its connection to stress in other adults. Finally, it’s crucial to note that this study is only correlational—it can’t determine whether the stress was actually causal to the stroke.

Nonetheless, these results are intriguing and lend a bit more specificity to one of the ways that long-term stress can potentially put someone at higher risk for a very specific and devastating health event. Perhaps future research will be able to answer some of the questions that were raised by this study.