@heyjoe415 No, no medical training. But in my military specialty, I was called on to provide base-wide lectures in stress management, retirement planning, and other forms of 'human resources' issues. Naturally I had to learn my topics well enough to be able to speak extemporaneously about them and to answer pointed and specific questions.

There is eustress and stress. Eustress is what 'doesn't kill us and makes us stronger.' An example , also known as the 'hormesis effect', is exposure to mild amounts of radiation. We are told that radiation is bad and that a single ionizing photon can cause DNA damage. That's true. But when we measure longevity and overall health in populations, those exposed to low radiation actually do better! We could call it a form of 'eustress'. But the kind of stress that raises cortisol and adrenalin, the kind that makes us ruminate at night and be unable to fall asleep or to fall back asleep, eats away at us and can bring heart disease, dementia, hypertension, etc.

You are right about inflammation and sugar. Good for picking up on that!