Some people may deal with stress (as Sapolsky describes), so the effects of cortisol are not pronounced.
Those that cannot deal with the stressors, are those most affected and they are those that will admit they are stressed.
It is an issue of people tending to admit something, in a qualitative study.
1) People who say they don't stress 2) People who say they stress but don't believe it's harmful 3) People who say they stress and believe it's harmful
I find the (3) group is the one actually stressing, feeling all the anxiety etc.
The (2) group just talks about feeling stressed, but they just mean that they had lots of responsibilities etc, they didn't suffer actual stress (the mental issues associated with it) like the (3) group.
Stress has unique biochemical pattern that can be measured.
By the power of thinking. That is, by considering the provided data, and coming up with what looks to be more plausible.
Sure, it might be wrong.
But without that ability, even the best data are useless, because data are nothing without the interpretation part.
>Stress has unique biochemical pattern that can be measured.
That's irrelevant, though, in this case, because they didn't measure those. As the grandparent quotes: "They started asking people, “how much stress have you experienced in the last year?" -- so it's based on self-reporting.
I'm not sure the causation goes in that direction. Couldn't it also be that those who take damage from stress feel that stress is bad for them, and those who aren't affected by stress negatively feel that it's good for them? To throw a silly example... Vampires believe that sun is harmful, humans believe a bit of sun is good for them. But believing won't make a difference for the vampire.