Of course, the brain is where chronic stress starts. But its influences on the body roam far and wide, working insidiously through the neuroendocrine and immune systems, depositing its hazards on the heart, encouraging tumors and discouraging bodily defenses against colds and flu. It’s not surprising that stress chips away at health; as George Bernard Shaw wrote over a century ago, “the sound body is a product of the sound mind.” But Seppa reports new details about how long-lasting stress physicalizes what we experience psychologically, to our body’s detriment. The latest evidence offers insights into how the psyche can sabotage the body. It also shows how very fuzzy is the line we draw between body and mind. What affects one probably influences the other, even if scientists have yet to reveal all the connections and mechanisms.