Stress Control: Your Body Has a Budget & Overdrafting Makes You Sick! Scientists have found that the brain uses incoming sensory information to estimate the body’s state and anticipate what will happen next. If a demanding situation is predicted, the brain marshals the body’s resources (changing blood pressure, secreting hormones, metabolizing glucose) to begin to meet those needs before they arise. It could explain why people who experience high levels of stress due to trauma, financial hardship, divorce, or racism, also have higher rates of diseases. “Just like companies that have a financial office to keep track of accounts and make sure that their overall budget is balanced, your brain manages the budget for all the accounts in your body, keeping track of water, salt, glucose, and other resources that keep a person alive and well... Like a financial budget, a body budget can run a deficit, and over the long term, a bankrupt body budget results in illness.” Dysfunctions and degeneration in this network are not just linked to depression and Alzheimer’s disease but to many other illnesses such as diabetes, as well as chronic stress, obesity, and addiction. …see more