Money Worries Effect

"People worrying about having enough money to pay their bills tend to lose temporarily the equivalent of 13 IQ points, scientists found when they gave intelligence tests to shoppers at a New Jersey mall and farmers in India."  Eldar Shafir, Princeton University

Now there is research evidence of the damage that worrying about money causes.  Those of us who are caregivers not only have all the responsibility of carefully stewarding money, but we have the worry of wondering if there will be enough to meet the needs of the person with dementia, and enough left over to see us through our time here on earth.  Financial stress monopolizes thinking, leaving less energy for creative thinking.  One may think we are just thinking of Third World countries, but the money-and-brain crunch applies to over 100 million Americans who face financial squeezes.  The research is not about poverty, but about those people struggling to make ends meet.  Money worries take over the functioning of the brain, leaving less brain power to deal with other things.  For people who are poor, it may not be their values but their situations that impair their decision-making.  For those of us who are caregivers, we need to do the best we can to prepare for and pay for services needed.  And, beyond that, we need to do what we can to stop worrying.