I recently watched "Killer Stress", a National Geographic special, on Netflix. Robert Sapolsky (cited in the article and an awesome crazy-haried guy that lives with the Baboons) talks about how it is stressful to be at the bottom. By taking blood samples, he is able to measure stress levels.

Sapolsky sounds liks a stand up guy. If you read the article, Sapolsky does not discredit the new findings, "The study is both impressive and surprising, said Robert Sapolsky".