Counter anecdata. I monitor my heartrate (along with other relevant statistics like speed, distance, elevation, and barometric pressure) while engaged in activities like mountaineering. Even when I'm not physically straining myself but just carefully traversing an exposed face, I don't consider a raised heartrate there 'less healthy' in and of itself because it's a side-effect of the excitement I'm feeling, and that feeling (sometimes not necessarily in the moment, but always afterwards) gives me an overall sense of improved wellbeing. Do I get stressed out sometimes? Sure, it's a dangerous activity. But overcoming that and accomplishing my goal rewards my mental health in a different way. Only half tongue-in-cheek: Maybe the faster driver was simply having more fun?
In this case you're probably right that the faster driver was just more stressed for no real benefit, but an EEG is not always a good proxy for how "healthy" something is (even ignoring obvious cases like physical exertion).
If you have a link to the study I'd love to read more.
EDIT:
One other thing I missed on the first read of your comment was the fact that the driver was instructed to "drive as fast as possible" and then given access to roads with no speed limits. I feel like that would have the potential to exacerbate the 'negative' side of things and that a more reasonable middle-ground could be found both in terms of driver stress and also fuel economy.
In this case you're probably right that the faster driver was just more stressed for no real benefit, but an EEG is not always a good proxy for how "healthy" something is (even ignoring obvious cases like physical exertion).
If you have a link to the study I'd love to read more.
EDIT:
One other thing I missed on the first read of your comment was the fact that the driver was instructed to "drive as fast as possible" and then given access to roads with no speed limits. I feel like that would have the potential to exacerbate the 'negative' side of things and that a more reasonable middle-ground could be found both in terms of driver stress and also fuel economy.