People in the U.S. aren’t that much more stressed than the rest of the world, but Americans tend to exhibit lower heart-rate variability and health resilience than many of their international peers
Americans aren’t the most stressed, but when it comes to recovery (defined as how effectively the body restores itself after stress) they’re weaker than many of their peers abroad.
That conclusion emerges from new data spanning 23 countries and more than 1.5 million users of Welltory, a personalized health-tracking app that measures physiological signals to assess how the body responds to daily strain.
The analysis draws on metrics tracked by Welltory, including stress level, recovery, heart-rate variability, and what it calls health resilience.
Similar Stress, Different Outcomes
In the U.S., average stress measured 68.44%. That figure is high, but it’s not the highest in the dataset. Several countries reported comparable or higher stress, including the Philippines and Singapore.
Where the U.S. diverges is in recovery. Americans recorded an average recovery score of 73.63%, alongside lower heart-rate variability and health resilience than many of their peers. Those figures place the U.S. behind much of Europe and several countries in Asia on measures tied to how effectively the body restores itself after stress.
The contrast becomes more noticeable when countries with similar stress levels are compared.
Across Europe, even nations with moderate to relatively high stress generally show stronger recovery and resilience. In Northern and Western Europe in particular, recovery scores tend to cluster in the high 70s, alongside higher heart-rate variability.
Asia presents a wider range of outcomes. Some countries pair high stress with weaker recovery, while others show that moderate stress can coexist with strong recovery and resilience. The Philippines sits at one extreme, with the highest stress level in the dataset and the lowest recovery score. At the other end, Kazakhstan records the lowest stress level overall and the strongest heart-rate variability.
Canada and Australia also report high stress, but both show stronger recovery than the U.S. Canada, in particular, posts lower stress and higher recovery, while Australia reports stress levels similar to the U.S. alongside better recovery.
While Welltory notes that stress on its own is a normal physiological response (and can even be beneficial in short bursts), it becomes harmful when it’s persistent and recovery falls short. In those cases, Welltory notes the body never fully returns to baseline, which can allow strain to build over time.
By contrast with the U.S., those in Europe tend to show moderate stress with a stronger recovery. Even in countries with relatively higher stress levels, such as Greece (66.06%) and Belgium (65.39%), recovery and health resilience scores remain solid. Welltory says this pattern may point to the role of cultural practices and lifestyle habits in shaping how the body adapts to stress.
“Higher stress levels and lower recovery levels and resilience scores in countries like the U.S., Canada and Australia could be influenced by long working hours, high work pressure, commuting time and less emphasis on daily rest compared to most of the European countries,” Welltory mental health expert Dr. Anna Elitzur said. “Environmental factors, diet and social support systems also play a role, showing that while stress is universal, how our bodies cope is shaped by both culture and daily habits.”
Can Stress Be Interrupted Earlier?
The gap between stress levels and recovery in the U.S. is an area worth closer attention, Dr. Elitzur believes.
“The data should be eye-opening for policymakers and public health officials, highlighting the need to study how lifestyle, cultural habits and environmental factors shape stress adaptation and how we can improve this so people from all around the world recover quicker and are more health resilient,” she said.
Of course, the next question is how Americans might interrupt the stress cycle earlier, before recovery even becomes an issue. One emerging answer may lie in physical activity.
Recent research from a team at Université Laval suggests that exercise may help protect the brain from the biological effects of chronic stress. In experiments involving animals exposed to sustained social stress, both physical activity and enriched living environments helped preserve the integrity of the blood-brain barrier in regions linked to mood and emotional regulation.
The study, published this month in Nature Communications, points to the role of a brain protein known as Fgf2, which appears to support resilience under stress. Animals that remained physically active showed fewer anxiety- and depression-like behaviors and retained key protective proteins that stress otherwise erodes.
While the findings are based largely on laboratory models, the researchers suggest they may help explain why regular movement and supportive environments are consistently linked to better mental-health outcomes.
