Beyond Food & Exercise: The Overlooked Factor
When it comes to health, the focus is often limited to what you eat and how much time you spend exercising. While nutrition and movement are important, they only tell part of the story.
What’s missing? Emotional wellbeing.
Your body isn’t a machine that just runs on the right fuel and exercise. It’s a complex system where stress, emotions, and mental state play a massive role in overall health. Chronic stress and emotional suppression can dysregulate the nervous system, increase inflammation, and weaken immunity—driving conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer.
Yet, in the obsession with “being healthy,” many overlook this dimension entirely. In reality, you can eat all the kale and run all the miles, but if you’re constantly stressed, uneasy, and suppressing your emotions, your health will likely suffer.
More often than not, these patterns show up in people-pleasers—those who constantly put others’ needs before their own, whether it’s their family, children, friends, or boss at work.
As a self-confessed "recovering people-pleaser", I know this story all too well. For most of my adult life, I was laser-focused on my "duties" towards my children and my work; never really considering my own wellbeing. I was hyper-aware of how others felt, always ready to support, fix, or accommodate.
What I didn’t realize was that in bottling up all my emotions and putting my own needs at the bottom of the pile, I was slowly depleting myself. Over time, the stress accumulated, affecting my energy and ultimately, my physical health.
This blog explores the link between people-pleasing and chronic disease—how constantly prioritising others over yourself can create chronic stress that fuels inflammation, weakens immunity, and increases disease risk.
We’ll dive into:
How emotional suppression impacts physical health
The link between stress, inflammation, and chronic disease
Why people-pleasers are particularly vulnerable
Practical strategies to break the cycle without changing who you are
By the end, you’ll hopefully have a deeper understanding of how emotional wellbeing shapes your health—and actionable steps to protect both.
Key Takeaway: Health isn’t just about food and exercise—it’s about the daily choices we make. Ignoring emotional wellbeing creates biological stress that is difficult to fix with diet and exercise.
The Missed Dimension: Emotional Wellbeing
We often think of stress as just a mental or emotional burden—something we can manage, suppress, or push through. But stress isn’t just in your head. It’s a biological event that affects nearly every system in the body.
How Emotional Suppression Affects the Body
When stress becomes chronic, the nervous system stays in fight-or-flight mode, keeping cortisol and inflammatory markers elevated.
Over time, this leads to:
Increased inflammation – a key driver of conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders
Weakened immunity – making the body more vulnerable to infections and even cancer
Hormonal and metabolic dysregulation – affecting insulin sensitivity, digestion, and overall energy balance
A 12-year study published in Psychosomatic Medicine found that individuals who habitually suppress emotions had significantly higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker for chronic inflammation. The researchers concluded that emotional repression contributes to a pro-inflammatory state, increasing disease susceptibility (Appleton et al., 2013).
The Link to Chronic Disease
The connection between emotional health and disease is well-established:
Heart disease – Studies show that chronic emotional stress increases the risk of hypertension, arterial inflammation, and heart attacks. Research published in The Lancet found that heightened activity in the amygdala (the brain’s fear and stress center) is directly linked to increased inflammation in the arteries, a predictor of future cardiovascular events (Tawakol et al., 2017).
Diabetes – Chronic stress and emotional trauma disrupt insulin regulation, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes. A study in Diabetes Care found that individuals with high stress and suppressed emotions had poorer glucose control and higher insulin resistance (Hackett & Steptoe, 2017).
Autoimmune conditions – Suppressed emotions and unresolved trauma can lead to immune dysregulation, increasing the risk of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. A study in Frontiers in Immunology linked chronic stress to immune overactivation and persistent inflammation, common triggers for autoimmune disorders (Dhabhar, 2014).
The Cancer Connection
Cancer research increasingly acknowledges the role of chronic stress and emotional suppression in disease progression.
Dr. Kelly Turner, author of Radical Remission, analyzed over 1,500 cases of unexpected cancer recovery and found that nearly all survivors had one thing in common: they actively worked on releasing suppressed emotions and reducing chronic stress.
Dr. Nasha Winters, in The Metabolic Approach to Cancer, explains that emotional trauma creates metabolic dysfunction, increasing oxidative stress and inflammation—both of which fuel cancer growth.
Key Takeaway: Your emotional state isn’t just about how you feel—it has measurable biological effects on inflammation, immunity, and chronic disease risk. Suppressing emotions and living in chronic stress don’t just impact mental health—they create conditions where physical illness prevails.
Why People Pleasing can be Detrimental to Health
If you identify as a people-pleaser, you’re not alone. Many of us have been conditioned to prioritise the needs of others over our own—whether in family, work, or social settings. But while being kind and considerate is a strength, chronic people-pleasing can come at a cost.
The Hidden Stress of People-Pleasing
People-pleasers often:
Struggle to say no, even when overwhelmed
Avoid conflict, suppressing their own feelings to keep the peace
Take on too many responsibilities, leading to burnout
Prioritise others’ emotional needs over their own
Over time, this constant self-neglect creates chronic stress, keeping the body in a prolonged state of fight-or-flight. The result? Elevated cortisol, increased inflammation, and a weakened immune system—all of which contribute to long-term health risks.
Key Takeaway: Being supportive and caring is important, but when it comes at the expense of your own health, it creates biological stress that increases your risk for chronic illness. Prioritising your wellbeing isn’t selfish—it’s essential.
How to Stop People Pleasing Without Changing Who You Are
The goal isn’t to become selfish—it’s to create balance. Setting boundaries allows you to show up for others without depleting yourself.
A Framework for Healthier Boundaries: V.A.L.U.E.
✅ Voice It – Suppressing emotions fuels stress; expressing them helps release it. Journaling, therapy, or simply speaking your mind lowers cortisol levels and improves resilience.
✅ Align It – Make decisions based on your core values, not just external expectations. If a request doesn’t align with what matters most to you, reconsider it.
✅ Listen to Your Body – Stress manifests physically before we recognize it mentally. Tension, fatigue, headaches, and gut issues are often signs you need to pause and reassess.
✅ Use the Word ‘No’ – You don’t need to over-explain or justify your boundaries. Every time you say ‘no’ to something that drains you, you’re saying ‘yes’ to your health and wellbeing.
✅ Engage in True Connection – Surround yourself with people who respect your boundaries and uplift you. Healthy relationships should energise you, not drain you.
Key Takeaway: You don’t need to stop caring about others—you just need to start caring about yourself too.
More About Nada
As a Certified Executive Health Coach, I help busy professionals and parents achieve lasting health by restoring balance—not just through food and exercise, but by addressing the emotional and psychological factors that shape wellbeing.
My approach is deeply personal. After overcoming stage 3 ovarian cancer, I experienced firsthand how stress, emotional suppression, and people-pleasing can take a serious toll on health. I learned that what you eat matters—but how you feel, set boundaries, and manage stress matters just as much.
Previously a Partner at a top-tier strategy consulting firm, I understand the pressures of high-performance environments and the difficulty of prioritising health while juggling a career and family.
I founded The Healthy Chain to help others avoid the wake-up call I had—empowering them to reclaim their health without extreme diets, rigid exercise plans, or burnout.
The choices you make in your 30s and 40s lay the foundation for long-term health. If you’re constantly putting yourself last, it’s time to change that—without sacrificing success, relationships, or joy.
Ready to prioritise your health?
Book a free discovery call to explore how health coaching can support you.
Thank you,
Nada Soubra
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