Body as an Economy
The metaphorical model of energy and money in the human body
Aidai Imankulova

Editor Айдай Иманкулова

Translator Айдай Иманкулова

Cover designer Айдай Иманкулова

Cover designer DALL-E

© Aidai Imankulova, 2026

© Айдай Иманкулова, translation, 2026

© Айдай Иманкулова, cover design, 2026

© DALL-E, cover design, 2026

ISBN 978-5-0070-6896-3

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

A note to the reader

Why the Body Can Be Viewed as an Economy

Almost every chapter in this book begins with the words:

«Imagine…»

Not because I was too lazy to come up with a different opening.

And not because all the chapters were written from the same template.

It’s simply because every act of understanding begins exactly there.

When we encounter something complex, the brain first builds a model. It tries to understand the invisible through something familiar. That’s why children play with miniature cities, engineers draw diagrams, and scientists create models that help them see what cannot be observed directly.

This book offers one such model.

It invites you to look at the human body not only as a collection of organs, tissues, and biochemical reactions, but also as a vast and remarkably complex economy.

At first, that may sound strange.

We usually associate the word economy with countries, companies, banks, markets, investments, and financial crises. It seems like all of those things exist somewhere outside the human body.

But if you look more closely, an astonishing similarity begins to emerge.

Every economy operates with limited resources. It must acquire them, distribute them, store them, protect them, and use them as efficiently as possible.

The body does exactly the same thing.

Every second, it receives resources from the outside world, processes them, distributes them among its organs, builds reserves for the future, protects itself from threats, and constantly decides where available energy should be directed.

When we eat, new resources enter the system.

When we move, resources are spent.

When we sleep, restoration and redistribution take place.

When we experience stress, spending priorities change.

When we become ill, part of the available resources is redirected toward defense and recovery.

The body continuously manages its internal budget, even when we never stop to think about it.

Of course, this is not a literal economy.

There are no actual banks, ministries, or financial markets inside us.

But there are processes that can be explained remarkably well through these images.

Throughout this book, we will use a simple metaphorical model.

In it, ATP (adenosine triphosphate) becomes the body’s internal currency.

Glycogen resembles a bank account.

Adipose tissue functions as a sovereign wealth fund.

Blood serves as the transportation network.

The brain acts as the government.

The immune system becomes the ministry of defense.

And hormones serve as the tools of long-term strategic management.

There is one important thing to understand.

The economic analogies in this book are not meant to replace biology.

They exist to make biology easier to understand.

Biology answers the question:

«What is the system made of?»

The economic model helps answer a different question:

«Why does the system behave the way it does?»

That is why some chapters begin with unusual situations.

Some begin with everyday examples.

Others begin with economic images that may seem far removed from physiology at first glance.

This is intentional.

Complex systems rarely become clear after a single definition.

More often, understanding emerges when the same principle can be viewed from different angles.

That is why certain ideas will appear again and again.

Not as repetition.

But as an opportunity to gradually assemble separate pieces into a single picture.

And there is one more important point.

This book is not trying to turn the reader into a physician, biochemist, or physiology specialist.

Its goal is much more modest.

To help you see the body as a unified resource-management system.

A system that is constantly balancing income and expenditure, reserves and shortages, risk and security, immediate needs and future investments.

If, at some point while reading, you find yourself thinking:

«This is strange. It’s only a metaphor, yet now I understand much better what’s happening inside my body,»

then this book is accomplishing exactly what it was meant to do.

Welcome to the economy that operates inside every one of us.

PART I. ENERGY

1.1 What Is the Body’s Energy Currency? ATP as the Cell’s Money

Imagine a country with factories, roads, warehouses, ministries, transportation companies, and millions of workers.

But one morning, all the money disappears.

Not the food.

Not the raw materials.

Not the businesses.

The money itself.

What would happen?

Factories would stop operating. Transport companies would cease their work. Workers would no longer be able to receive payment. Even if warehouses were overflowing with resources, the economy would begin to grind to a halt.

The problem would not be a lack of wealth. The problem would be the absence of something that can pay for work right now.

The body faces a similar challenge every second.

Many people think that the body’s energy is food.

Eat an apple — get energy.

Eat porridge — get energy.

Eat a chocolate bar — get energy.

At first glance, that seems exactly right.

But if you look a little deeper, something interesting appears.

Cells cannot pay with apples, sugar, or fat.

To them, these are simply resources.

In the same way that oil, timber, or metal are not money in an economy.

They are valuable assets.

But they are not convenient for paying for every transaction.

A universal currency is needed.

That currency in the body is ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

The name may sound complicated, but for the purposes of this book, it is enough to remember one idea:

ATP is the cell’s money.

Not a savings account.

Not an investment.

Not a bank account.

It is the money used to pay for work here and now.

When a muscle contracts, it spends ATP.

When a neuron sends a signal, it spends ATP.

When a cell builds a protein, powers a membrane pump, or transports a substance across its cellular border, ATP is being spent.

Every action has a price.

Every operation requires payment.

Without payment, work stops.

This brings us to an important distinction between resources and money.

Imagine a person who owns an apartment, a car, and a large bank deposit.

That person is wealthy.

But if they have no cash or available funds at the moment, they may not even be able to buy a cup of coffee.

The problem is not a lack of assets.

The problem is a lack of spending money for current expenses.

Something similar happens in the body.

You can have large fat reserves.

You can have full glycogen stores.

You can have plenty of food available.

But if a cell cannot quickly obtain ATP, it begins to experience an energy shortage.

This creates an interesting picture.

Glucose is not money.

Fat is not money either.

Glycogen is not money.

These are resources and reserves.

They are more like raw materials, warehouses, and bank accounts.

To use them, the body must first convert them into real currency.

That is the job of the mitochondria.

If we continue the economic model of this book, mitochondria can be viewed as issuing banks.

This is where the body’s energy currency is created.

Raw materials enter.

Numerous biochemical processes take place.

And the result is ATP — the cell’s money supply.

That is why the question, «Where does the body get its energy?» is not entirely accurate.

A more precise question would be:

How does the body produce its currency?

Because energy becomes useful to a cell only when it is converted into a form that can pay for work.

This is why health cannot be judged solely by the amount of food consumed.

What matters is not only how many resources enter the body’s economy.

What also matters is how efficiently those resources are converted into money.

A person can receive plenty of fuel and still experience an energy deficit.

And another can have relatively modest resources but a highly effective ATP production system.

If you view the body as an economy, ATP turns out to be one of the most important players in the entire system.

It is not a warehouse.

Not a reserve.

Not an investment.

It is the currency of everyday circulation.

The money that changes hands every second inside a vast nation called the body.

And before we talk about reserves, crises, investments, and governance, we need to understand one essential idea:

The life of a cell is not paid for with glucose.

It is not paid for with fat.

The life of a cell is paid for with ATP.

1.2 Where Resources Come From: Food, Oxygen, and Water

Imagine a city that decides to live without supplies.

Its warehouses gradually empty.

Fuel runs out.

Transportation begins to break down.

Production slows.

At first, the residents barely notice anything. Then the first problems appear. And later it becomes obvious: an economy cannot exist on its own. It constantly needs new resources.

The human body works in a similar way.

We often think of energy as something that simply exists inside us. But in reality, the body depends continuously on the outside world.

Every day, new resources enter the system.

Every day, it receives the raw materials for its internal economy.

And there are three main sources:

• food;

• oxygen;

• water.

At first glance, they seem completely different.

We eat food.

We drink water.

We breathe air.

But for the body, they all serve the same purpose — they keep the system running.

After the previous chapter, a logical question may arise.

If ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is the body’s money, where does that money come from?

After all, nobody prints money out of thin air.

Any bank must first receive resources before it can create a money supply.

The mitochondria — the issuing banks of the body — work in exactly the same way.

To produce ATP, they need raw materials.

That is why the body constantly requires supplies from the outside world.

The first source of resources is food.

If we continue the economic metaphor, food is like cargo arriving in a country through seaports, rail terminals, and transportation hubs.

But arriving cargo does not automatically become part of the economy.

It must be received, inspected, distributed, and prepared for use.

This is where the body’s food economy begins.

The stomach can be imagined as a cargo port where raw materials are unloaded.

Everything a person eats arrives here first.

The cargo is then sent onward.

The small intestine acts as both a customs service and a distribution center.

This is where the body decides which substances will be accepted and which will pass through.

After that, nutrients enter the transportation network and begin their journey throughout the body.

However, food itself is not money.

A piece of bread cannot directly make a muscle contract.

An apple cannot immediately power a neuron.

The substances contained in food must first go through a long process of transformation.

Only then can they participate in ATP production.

So food is not money.

Food is the raw material of the economy.

But even enormous reserves of raw materials are not enough.

Imagine a modern factory.

It may be full of materials.

Its warehouses may contain everything needed for production.

But if the electricity is cut off, the factory stops.

The body faces a similar limitation.

To produce its energy currency, it needs oxygen.

Oxygen is often viewed as simply a component of air.

In reality, its role is much more important.

In the body’s economic model, oxygen is an essential condition for carrying out energy transactions.

It is not money.

It is not raw material.

But without it, the production of the money supply falls dramatically.

That is why a person can survive for weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without air.

The body’s economy depends too heavily on a continuous supply of oxygen.

Entering through the lungs, oxygen passes into the blood.

From there, the body’s transportation network delivers it throughout the entire country.

Red blood cells function as transportation units.

They pick up cargo in the lungs and deliver it to billions of cells.

Every cell is waiting for that shipment.

Every cell depends on it.

Because without oxygen, its ability to produce ATP is drastically reduced.

There is one more resource that people rarely take seriously.

Water.

Most people notice its absence only when they become thirsty.

But in the body’s economy, water plays a unique role.

It is not raw material.

It is not money.

It creates the conditions that make the movement of resources possible.

That is why, in our model, water represents system liquidity.

In economics, liquidity is the ability of money to move freely between participants in a market.

When liquidity is insufficient, delays, disruptions, and payment problems begin to appear.

Something very similar happens in the body.

When there is not enough water, the blood becomes more concentrated.

Transporting substances becomes more difficult.

The functioning of countless processes is disrupted.

Even when food and oxygen are available, the system begins to operate less efficiently.

This creates an interesting picture.

You can have enough raw materials.

You can have fully functioning issuing banks.

You can have cells that are ready to work.

But if liquidity is impaired, the economy begins to struggle.

When you look at the body as a country, it becomes clear that its prosperity does not depend on a single resource.

It is not enough just to eat.

It is not enough just to drink.

It is not enough just to breathe.

The system can function only when all major resources arrive at the same time.

Food supplies raw materials.

Oxygen makes energy transactions possible.

Water maintains liquidity and keeps resources moving.

And only together do they allow the mitochondria to issue the very currency we discussed in the previous chapter.

ATP.

The money on which the entire economy of the body depends.

So the next time you drink a glass of water, take a breath, or sit down for a meal, you can look at it a little differently.

These are not just everyday actions.

They are the arrival of new supplies into a vast economic system that is operating inside you every second.

1.3 How the Body Produces Energy: The Basics of Energy Metabolism

Imagine that a country is receiving shipments around the clock.

Trains bring in raw materials.

Trucks deliver supplies.

Essential resources cross the border every day.

The supply chain is working perfectly.

Warehouses are full.

But then an unexpected question arises.

What happens next?

Raw materials alone do not produce anything.

Steel does not turn into a car simply because it is sitting in a warehouse.

Oil does not start moving vehicles simply because it has been extracted.

Flour does not become bread the moment it arrives at a bakery.

Between receiving resources and using them, there is always another stage.

Processing.

This is where a real economy begins.

In the previous chapter, we discussed the three main resources the body receives: food, oxygen, and water.

But if receiving resources automatically meant receiving energy, life would be much simpler.

Eat an apple — get ATP.

Drink some water — get ATP.

Take a breath — get ATP.

In reality, things work differently.

The body does not receive energy in a ready-made form.

It produces it.

Every second.

In every cell.

Throughout an entire lifetime.

This is an important point.

People often say:

«This food gives you energy.»

In fact, food does not provide energy directly.

It supplies the raw materials needed to produce energy.

In much the same way that timber is not a finished house and iron ore is not a finished car.

Between a resource and a result, there is always a production process.

If we look at the body as an economy, energy production resembles the issuance of money.

First, resources enter the system.

Then they are processed.

After that, specialized structures create a universal currency from them.

ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

The very money of the body that we discussed in the previous chapter.

The primary producers of this currency are the mitochondria.

In our model, they serve as issuing banks.

Not warehouses.

Not transportation companies.

Not the government.

Banks.

They issue the money supply required to keep the entire system running.

Every cell has its own tiny issuing banks.

Some cells contain especially large numbers of them.

For example, the cells of the heart, muscles, and brain.

The circulation of money in these areas is so intense that they require the constant work of large numbers of mitochondria.

But even an issuing bank cannot print money out of thin air.

It needs resources.

Glucose arrives as fast income.

Fatty acids arrive as long-term assets.

Blood delivers oxygen.

Water provides the liquidity that keeps all processes moving smoothly.

And then the most interesting part begins.

Production.

Put simply, the cell gradually breaks incoming substances down into smaller components and extracts useful energy from them.

It is much like processing raw materials at an industrial facility.

Some of that energy is used immediately.

Some is directed toward the production of ATP.

This entire process is known as energy metabolism.

At this point, it is useful to become familiar with two important mechanisms.

The first is called glycolysis.

The name may sound complicated, but the idea is quite simple.

Imagine an economy that urgently needs money.

Right now.

There is no time to launch major production lines.

No time for lengthy resource processing.

So a rapid liquidity injection is activated.

In our economic model, this is exactly the role of glycolysis.

It allows the body to produce a small amount of ATP from glucose very quickly.

It is not the most efficient method of production, but it is extremely fast.

When the body suddenly needs energy, this mechanism becomes incredibly useful.

The second mechanism is associated with the work of the mitochondria.

Here, the process takes longer, but it is far more efficient.

If glycolysis resembles an emergency release of cash into circulation, mitochondrial production resembles the full-scale operation of a central banking system.

Using incoming resources and oxygen, mitochondria generate much larger amounts of ATP.

This is why oxygen plays such a critical role.

Without it, the production of the money supply drops dramatically.

You can think of the economy as operating in two different modes.

The first mode is fast.

Get money now.

Maybe not much.

Maybe not very efficiently.

The important thing is immediate availability.

The second mode is full-scale production.

Slower.

More complex.

But far more profitable.

The body can use both approaches.

In fact, it constantly switches between them depending on circumstances.

Interestingly, energy metabolism never comes to a complete stop.

Not even when you are asleep.

Not even when you are lying completely still.

Not even when it seems that nothing is happening.

The heart continues to work.

The lungs continue to support international resource exchange.

The brain continues to coordinate the system.

Cells continue repairing damage.

The immune system remains on duty.

All of this requires money.

ATP continues to be spent.

Which means production cannot stop.

In essence, life is a continuous process of turning resources into work.

Food enters the economy.

Oxygen makes production possible.

Water keeps processes moving.

Blood delivers everything to the cells that need it.

And the issuing banks produce the body’s currency.

When you look at the body as a whole, it becomes clear that energy is not some mysterious force that simply exists within us.

Energy is the result of an enormous system at work.

Resources enter.

Logistics delivers them where they are needed.

Issuing banks produce the money supply.

Cells spend it to perform their functions.

And the process repeats itself again and again.

Every second.

For as long as life exists.

That is why energy metabolism is not just another biochemical process buried deep inside a cell.

It is the foundation of the body’s entire economy.

The process that transforms incoming resources into the ability to live, move, think

1.4 Mitochondria: The Body’s Issuing Banks. Not an Energy Warehouse, but the Place Where the Money Supply Is Created

Sometimes you hear people say:

«Mitochondria are the cell’s energy storage units.»

It sounds logical.

If mitochondria are connected to energy, then there must be energy reserves stored somewhere inside them.

Almost like a country’s gold reserves kept in a secure vault.

But if you look more closely, that is not quite how things work.

Mitochondria do not store energy.

They produce it.

And the difference between those two ideas is far more important than it might seem at first glance.

Imagine the economy of a large country.

It may have warehouses filled with raw materials.

It may have bank accounts.

It may have reserves for times of crisis.

But reserves alone do not solve the problem of day-to-day expenses.

The country needs money that can be used to pay for work right now.

That is why there is a system for issuing money.

As long as that system functions, the economy stays alive.

If it stops, problems begin regardless of how large the reserves may be.

The body works in a similar way.

It has resources.

There is glucose — fast income.

There are fatty acids — long-term assets.

There is glycogen — a bank account.

There is adipose tissue — a sovereign wealth fund.

But none of these resources is money.

They merely create the possibility of producing it.

The body’s money is ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

ATP is what pays for the work performed by cells.

Muscle contraction.

The transmission of nerve signals.

The creation of new proteins.

The operation of cellular pumps.

The repair of damage.

Almost everything that happens inside a living organism.

This raises an important question:

Who issues this money?

This is where mitochondria enter the stage.

Using the economic model of our book, mitochondria are the body’s issuing banks.

Not warehouses.

Not vaults.

Not savings funds.

Banks that issue the money supply.

This distinction is important.

Imagine a national mint.

Paper, ink, and security materials are delivered there.

But those materials are not money by themselves.

They become money only after a complex production process.

Something very similar happens inside mitochondria.

Resources obtained from food arrive there.

Oxygen delivered through the body’s transportation network arrives there as well.

After a series of complex processes, ATP appears.

New money.

A new money supply.

A new ability to pay for the work of cells.

Interestingly, mitochondria do not operate as a centralized system.

There is no single giant energy bank inside the body.

Every cell has its own banking system.

Sometimes small.

Sometimes very large.

It all depends on demand.

For example, skin cells use relatively little energy.

Heart cells, on the other hand, work continuously for decades.

Imagine a company that never closes for a single minute after it begins operating.

That is how the heart works.

As a result, its cells contain enormous numbers of mitochondria.

They require a constant issuance of money.

No weekends.

No vacations.

No holidays.

The brain is also one of the body’s largest consumers of energy.

Although it makes up only a small portion of total body mass, its economic activity is extraordinarily high.

The government’s job is to constantly receive information, analyze it, make decisions, and coordinate the work of the entire system.

All of that requires a continuous flow of ATP.

And that means continuously operating issuing banks.

At this point, another interesting idea becomes clear.

Energy problems do not always mean a shortage of resources.

Sometimes resources are plentiful.

Glucose is available.

Fat reserves are present.

Oxygen is sufficient.

But the mitochondria themselves are operating less efficiently.

In that situation, the economy finds itself in an unusual position.

There is raw material.

There is not enough money.

Imagine a country with enormous reserves of oil, metals, and food.

At first glance, it should be thriving.

But if its banking system cannot efficiently convert resources into money, the economy will still struggle.

A similar logic applies to the body.

What matters is not only the amount of resources available.

What matters is the quality of their conversion.

That is why mitochondria occupy such a special place in our model.

They stand at the intersection of two worlds.

On one side, they receive resources from outside.

On the other, they provide the internal economy with money.

They connect the supply of raw materials to the actual work performed by cells.

If you look at the body as a nation, it becomes clear that life depends not only on reserves and not only on supplies.

It depends on the ability to convert resources into usable currency.

Food provides raw materials.

The lungs ensure a supply of oxygen.

Blood delivers everything through the transportation network.

But it is the mitochondria that perform the economy’s most important act — issuing the body’s money.

That is why mitochondria are not an energy warehouse.

Not a battery.

Not a storage room for resources.

They are far more important than that.

They are issuing banks where, every second, the money supply required for the entire economy of the body is created.

And as long as these banks continue to operate, life goes on.

1.5 Metabolism as Resource Turnover: Income, Expenses, and Investments

Imagine someone who decides to take a closer look at their finances.

They open their banking app and see only one number — the balance in their account.

Let’s say it shows one hundred thousand rubles.

Is that a lot or a little?

In reality, it is impossible to tell.

If that person earns two hundred thousand rubles each month and spends one hundred and fifty thousand, their financial situation is quite stable.

If they are unemployed and spending the last of their savings every month, the picture looks very different.

The same account balance can represent either prosperity or an approaching crisis.

To understand the state of an economy, it is not enough to know the size of its capital.

You need to understand the movement of resources.

Income.

Expenses.

Savings.

Investments.

This is what economists call turnover.

The body operates according to a similar principle.

When people talk about metabolism, they often imagine something mysterious.

Something invisible.

Something happening deep inside cells.

But when viewed through the lens of our economic model, the picture becomes much clearer.

Metabolism is the turnover of resources within the body.

A continuous movement of income, expenses, savings, and redistribution.

The economic life of the body.

Every day, new resources enter the system.

Food brings in raw materials.

The lungs provide a supply of oxygen.

Water maintains the liquidity of the system.

Through the digestive economy, resources are processed and distributed.

After that, they become part of the body’s internal turnover.

This is the revenue side of the body’s budget.

But no economy survives on income alone.

It also carries expenses.

And the body is no exception.

In fact, most expenses occur even when a person appears to be doing nothing.

As you read these lines, your heart continues to work.

Your lungs continue to support resource exchange.

Your brain continues to coordinate the system.

Your kidneys continue to clean the internal environment.

The ministry of defense remains on alert.

Billions of cells continue performing their duties.

Every operation requires payment.

Every operation spends ATP.

This creates an interesting paradox.

Even complete rest does not mean the absence of costs.

The body’s economy never comes to a complete stop.

It can slow down.

It can speed up.

But it cannot switch off.

Life itself requires continuous spending.

When income exceeds expenses, the system gains the ability to build reserves.

In a country, those reserves may take the form of savings funds or bank accounts.

In the body, that role is played by glycogen and adipose tissue.

Some resources are set aside for the future.

Not because they are needed right now.

But because the system understands that tomorrow may look different.

You can think of glycogen as a bank account for short-term needs.

When the body needs rapid access to resources, this is where it turns first.

Adipose tissue serves a different purpose.

It is a sovereign wealth fund.

A long-term reserve.

A strategic stockpile designed for more serious periods of shortage.

But an economy is not limited to income, expenses, and savings.

There is another category.

Investments.

Imagine a company that spends all its money only on current expenses.

It pays its bills.

It pays salaries.

It keeps its equipment running.

But it never develops.

It never modernizes production.

It never invests in the future.

Over time, such a company begins to lose ground to more forward-thinking competitors.

The body knows how to invest as well.

And it does so constantly.

Muscle growth after training.

Tissue repair.

The creation of new cells.

Learning and memory formation.

The development of the reproductive system.

All of these require resources that could have been spent immediately.

Instead, the system chooses to invest them in the future.

That is why the body’s investments are always connected to a choice.

Use resources immediately or direct them toward growth.

Spend everything today or expand tomorrow’s possibilities.

At this point, the special role of hormones becomes easier to understand.

In our model, hormones are not money.

They do not participate in transactions.

They do not function as resources.

Their role is different.

They help the body make economic decisions.

In practice, they are signals that guide investment policy.

Sex hormones help shift the system into a mode of growth and reproduction.

Adrenaline can temporarily move the economy into a state of emergency mobilization.

Cortisol helps the system endure difficult periods and redistribute resources.

Thyroid hormones influence the pace of economic activity throughout the body.

None of them brings money into the system.

Each one helps determine how that money will be used.

When you look at metabolism as a whole, it becomes clear that it is far more than simply the «rate of metabolism.»

It is the continuous turnover of resources within a vast living economy.

Resources enter the system.

They are distributed.

They are converted into money.

They are spent.

They are saved.

They are invested.

And then they return to circulation once again.

That is why questions about health are often not questions about the quantity of resources.

Sometimes the problem arises from insufficient income.

Sometimes from excessive expenses.

Sometimes from inefficient distribution.

And sometimes because the body’s economy has stopped investing wisely in its own future.

If you remember only one idea from this chapter, let it be this:

Metabolism is not a single process taking place inside a cell.

Metabolism is the entire economic life of the body.

The movement of resources from arrival to expenditure.

From income to investment.

From today’s needs to tomorrow’s opportunities.

And as long as that turnover continues, the economy of the body remains alive.

1.6 Energy Balance: When the Economy Operates Sustainably

Imagine a small country.

Every day, resources flow into it.

Businesses operate.

Salaries are paid.

Roads are built.

Security is maintained.

Transportation systems keep moving.

The economy goes about its daily life.

And then a question arises:

What makes such a system sustainable?

Large financial reserves?

Massive warehouses?

Powerful industries?

In reality, sustainability rarely depends on any single factor.

More often, it is determined by balance.

Even the wealthiest country can run into trouble if its expenses consistently exceed its income.

But the opposite situation is not always beneficial either.

If an economy does nothing but accumulate resources and rarely uses them for development, it can also become less efficient.

Sustainability emerges when income, expenses, reserves, and investments remain in reasonable balance.

The body operates according to the same principles.

Every day, resources enter the system.

Food provides raw materials.

The lungs support international resource exchange and the delivery of oxygen.

Water maintains the liquidity of the system.

The digestive economy processes incoming resources and passes them on.

At first glance, it may seem that the problem has been solved.

But in reality, this is only the beginning.

The resources that enter the body must be allocated.

Some will be used immediately.

Some will be placed into reserves.

Some will be directed toward tissue repair.

Some will become investments in the body’s future development.

This is where the concept of energy balance appears.

Put simply, energy balance is the relationship between incoming and outgoing resources.

Not just today.

Not just after a single meal.

But over extended periods of time.

Imagine a family budget.

Today you might spend more than usual.

Tomorrow you might spend less.

But if expenses exceed income for months on end, savings will begin to disappear.

Sooner or later, reserves will have to be used.

The body behaves in much the same way.

When current income is insufficient, it turns to its reserves.

At first, glycogen may be used — the bank account of the reserve economy.

If the shortage continues for longer, the sovereign wealth fund enters service — adipose tissue.

The economy begins living on resources accumulated in the past.

But there is also the opposite situation.

When income consistently exceeds expenses.

In that case, the system begins building additional reserves.

Some resources are directed into glycogen.

Some may be stored in adipose tissue.

This is how the body protects itself against future uncertainty.

Interestingly, a positive or negative balance is not necessarily a problem by itself.

The problem arises when such a condition becomes permanent.

Temporary use of reserves is a normal part of any economy.

Temporary accumulation of resources is also a normal strategy.

The body constantly moves between these two modes.

That is exactly how a living system should function.

There is another important point to understand.

Energy balance is not simply a matter of calorie arithmetic.

In reality, the body’s economy is far more complex.

The quality of resources matters.

Their distribution matters.

The condition of reserves matters.

The performance of logistics matters.

The efficiency of the issuing banks — the mitochondria — matters.

Even the pace of economic activity, which is heavily influenced by thyroid hormones, plays an important role.

Imagine two countries with identical budgets.

One uses its resources efficiently.

The other constantly struggles with losses, supply delays, and poor management.

Formally, both have the same amount of resources.

But their outcomes will be completely different.

The body works in a similar way.

The stability of the system is determined not only by the quantity of resources available.

It also depends on how wisely those resources are used.

This becomes especially clear during periods of increased spending.

For example, during illness.

The ministry of defense shifts into active operation.

Additional forces are mobilized.

Inflammation activates a state of emergency economy.

Expenses rise sharply.

What was an adequate budget yesterday may become the minimum required level today.

The same thing happens during intense training, recovery from injuries, growth, pregnancy, or prolonged stress.

Economic activity changes.

And with it, the demand for resources changes as well.

That is why a sustainable energy balance cannot be reduced to a single universal number.

It always depends on the situation.

On the tasks facing the body.

On the condition of its reserves.

On its current expenses.

On its future investments.

When you view the body as a unified economy, it becomes clear that health closely resembles the financial stability of a country.

You do not need the largest reserves.

You do not need the highest income.

What matters far more is maintaining a reasonable balance between income, expenses, savings, and investments.

When that balance exists, the economy of the body operates smoothly.

Resources arrive when they are needed.

Logistics delivers them to the right destinations.

The issuing banks produce sufficient amounts of the body’s currency.

Reserves remain reliable protection against future uncertainty.

And the organs can perform their tasks without constantly operating in a state of emergency.

If you remember one idea from this chapter, let it be this:

Energy balance is not about how much energy entered the system today.

It is about the sustainability of the entire system.

It is about the body’s ability to meet today’s needs without bankrupting its future.

That is what a truly healthy body economy looks like.

PART II. ARCHITECTURE

2.1 The Cell as an Economic Agent: The Fundamental Unit of the Body’s Economy

Imagine a vast country.

Factories operate there.

Banks conduct business.

Transportation companies move goods.

Construction firms build infrastructure.

Research centers create new knowledge.

Security services maintain order.

Government institutions coordinate the system.

The country’s economy may be wealthy or poor.

It may be growing or struggling through a crisis.

It may use its resources efficiently or waste them.

But there is one important question.

What is this economy actually made of?

We are accustomed to looking at a country from above.

We see cities, roads, businesses, and ministries.

But if you zoom in far enough, you discover that every economy is made up of millions of individual participants.

They are the ones who work.

They are the ones who produce.

They are the ones who consume.

They are the ones who make decisions at their own level.

The body is organized in much the same way.

We say that the brain thinks.

The heart pumps blood.

The liver processes substances.

The muscles move the body.

But if you zoom in far enough, you discover that no organ actually does anything by itself.

Cells do the work.

Always cells.

Every organ is a vast workforce of specialized employees.

Every tissue is an association of millions of economic agents.

That is why the cell can be called the fundamental unit of the body’s economy.

When a person feels tired, it is not the entire body that becomes tired.

Cells become tired.

When a person recovers from illness, cells recover.

When a person grows, learns, gains muscle mass, or ages, all of these processes take place at the cellular level.

Organs merely provide the overall structure.

The real work happens much deeper.

Using the economic model of our book, each cell resembles an individual company.

It has its own budget.

Its own infrastructure.

Its own production capacity.

Its own needs.

Its own expenses.

Every cell must receive resources.

Every cell must perform useful work.

Every cell must maintain its own existence.

Otherwise, it ceases to function.

To operate, a cell requires a continuous source of income.

Its primary source of fast income is glucose.

Its long-term assets are fatty acids.

Oxygen remains an essential condition for the entire economy.

Water provides the liquidity of the system.

Electrolytes support the operation of the internal financial infrastructure.

But these resources are not money by themselves.

They are only raw materials.

Like oil, metal, or grain in a conventional economy.

For raw materials to become money, production is required.

Inside the cell are mitochondria — the body’s issuing banks.

This is where incoming resources are converted into ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the universal currency of the cellular economy.

As long as ATP is available, the cell can pay its expenses.

It can build new structures.

It can repair damage.

It can transmit signals.

It can perform its specialized work.

When money becomes scarce, the cell’s capabilities begin to shrink.

Interestingly, cells are very different from one another.

A neuron resembles a high-tech communications company.

A muscle cell resembles a large manufacturing enterprise.

A liver cell works like a financial specialist involved in managing resources for the entire organism.

An immune cell functions as a member of the security services.

Yet despite these differences, the economic rules are the same for everyone.

Resources must be acquired.

They must be converted into ATP.

The resulting funds must be spent wisely.

The body can be viewed as an economic union of trillions of companies.

Each one solves its own problems.

Each one depends on resource supplies.

Each one contributes to the common effort.

When most cells have access to sufficient resources and can produce enough ATP, the body’s economy develops in a stable way.

When resources become scarce or energy production is disrupted, problems first appear at the level of individual cells and only later become visible throughout the organism.

That is why, when discussing the economy of the body, it is important to remember one simple idea.

The primary participant in this economy is not an organ.

Not an organ system.

And not even the organism as a whole.

The body’s primary economic agent is the cell.

It is the cell that earns, spends, produces, builds, repairs, and sustains life every second.

And the entire economy of the body emerges from the combined work of trillions of these small participants.

2.2 DNA as the Constitution: The Supreme Book of Rules

Imagine a country.

Factories operate within it.

Banks conduct business.

Roads connect cities.

Security services maintain order.

Government institutions coordinate the system.

Every day, decisions are made.

New projects are built.

Infrastructure is repaired.

Resources are distributed.

But a question arises.

How does the entire system know what it is allowed to do and what it is not?

Why don’t ministries simply act however they please?

Why do courts, the military, banks, and businesses all operate according to common rules?

Because there is a document that stands above individual decisions.

The Constitution.

It does not manage the country minute by minute.

It does not issue commands.

It does not direct traffic.

Yet it defines the rules by which the entire system exists.

The body has something remarkably similar.

It is DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).

Many people have heard DNA described as the «carrier of hereditary information.»

The statement is correct.

But it rarely helps us feel what is actually happening inside a cell.

So let us look at DNA from a different perspective.

Imagine that a cell is an individual company within the larger economy of the body.

The company has employees.

It has production facilities.

It has infrastructure.

It has management.

But all of it must operate according to a specific set of rules.

DNA serves as that rulebook.

Within DNA is an enormous collection of instructions.

How to build proteins.

How a cell should divide.

How to respond to changes in the environment.

How to repair damage.

Which functions to perform.

Which substances to produce.

You could say that DNA contains the fundamental laws by which a cell exists.

That is why, in our model, DNA is the Constitution of the body.

Interestingly, a constitution does not handle day-to-day management.

It establishes the framework.

A president does not reread the Constitution before every decision.

A ministry does not open it every time a document needs to be sent.

But if a decision contradicts the Constitution, the system begins to function improperly.

Something similar happens inside a cell.

Most processes run automatically.

Yet all of them rely on information that was once written into DNA.

At this point, it is important not to confuse the roles.

In our economic model, DNA is the Constitution.

The cell nucleus is the board of directors.

These are different things.

The Constitution contains the rules.

The board of directors decides which rules should be used at a particular moment.

Imagine a construction company.

In its archives is a massive collection of instructions.

Everything is there:

• how to build bridges;

• how to construct houses;

• how to repair roads;

• how to conduct inspections.

But the company does not use every instruction at the same time.

It selects only the ones that are needed right now.

A cell works in exactly the same way.

Its DNA contains far more information than is being used at any given moment.

A skin cell and a muscle cell contain almost identical DNA.

Yet they function differently.

Because they use different sections of the same Constitution.

When the body needs to repair damage, one set of instructions is activated.

When it needs to fight an infection, another set is used.

When growth is taking place, a third set becomes active.

The Constitution itself remains unchanged.

Only the sections being consulted change.

Sometimes errors appear in DNA.

This is similar to typographical mistakes in important laws.

Most of these errors can be corrected by the system itself.

Special mechanisms exist for inspection and repair.

But if an error remains, its consequences may accumulate over time.

Sometimes it has little effect on function.

Sometimes it leads to serious disruptions.

That is why the integrity of DNA is so important to the stability of the body’s entire economy.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing is the scale.

Nearly every cell in the body contains a complete copy of this Constitution.

Not a single page.

Not a single chapter.

But almost the entire body of laws.

It is as if every company in a country possessed its own copy of the nation’s founding legal document.

This makes the system extraordinarily resilient.

So when we talk about DNA, we are not simply talking about a molecule.

We are talking about the foundation of the body’s internal economy.

Money may come and go.

Resources may be accumulated and spent.

Organs may perform different tasks.

But all of them exist within the framework of a single set of rules.

That is why, in the economy of the body, DNA is the Constitution.

The supreme document upon which the operation of the entire system is built.

2.3 The Nucleus as the Board of Directors: Decision-Making Inside the Cell

Imagine a large company.

It has buildings, warehouses, employees, transportation systems, equipment, and money in its accounts.

But a question arises.

Who actually decides what will be produced today?

When should the company expand?

When should equipment be repaired?

When should a new project be launched?

Money does not make decisions by itself.

Even when an economy is well supplied with resources, it still needs a management center.

The same thing happens inside the body.

Every cell is constantly doing something.

It produces proteins, repairs damage, receives resources, spends energy, and disposes of waste.

But who determines which tasks are most important right now?

Where is the leadership located?

If we look at a cell as a small economic system, its main governing body is the nucleus.

In our model, the nucleus is the cell’s board of directors.

This is where the supreme rulebook is stored — DNA, the Constitution of the cellular economy.

But it is important to understand one thing.

The board of directors does not perform all the work itself.

It does not transport goods.

It does not manufacture products.

It does not create money.

It does not deliver resources.

Its role is to make decisions and issue instructions.

The nucleus functions in exactly the same way.

Imagine a company that produces thousands of different products.

On an ordinary day, one set of production lines is needed.

During repairs, a different set is required.

During a crisis, yet another set becomes necessary.

If the company tried to produce everything all the time, it would quickly go bankrupt.

That is why management decides which programs should be running and which should be temporarily shut down.

A cell faces the same challenge.

It contains thousands of genes.

But far from all of them are used at the same time.

Some instructions are active right now.

Some will be needed later.

Some may never be needed by that particular cell.

A liver cell and a brain cell contain virtually identical DNA.

Yet they perform completely different jobs.

The reason is that the boards of directors in those cells make different decisions about which instructions should be used.

The cell constantly receives information from the outside world.

The availability of resources changes.

Signals arrive from the government of the body — the brain.

Instructions come through the communication network — the nervous system.

Signals from hormones arrive as well, helping define the development strategy of the body’s economy.

All of this influences the work of the nucleus.

After receiving information, the board of directors decides which instructions should be issued to the production lines.

As a result, RNA (ribonucleic acid) molecules are created — management instructions.

They leave the nucleus and travel to the ribosomes, the production lines of the cell.

That is where the real work begins.

Proteins are manufactured.

New structures are built.

Old structures are repaired.

Necessary processes are launched.

Sometimes a cell finds itself in a difficult situation.

For example, damage occurs.

An infection appears.

Or resource availability suddenly changes.

When that happens, the board of directors shifts its priorities.

Instead of development projects, survival programs are activated.

Instead of constructing new facilities, resources are directed toward repairs.

Instead of growth, the focus turns to protection.

For any economy, this is a familiar situation.

During a crisis, companies postpone nonessential spending and concentrate on what matters most.

Cells do exactly the same thing.

Interestingly, the nucleus does not work alone.

Even the wisest board of directors is useless if the economy receives no information about what is happening.

That is why the nucleus constantly interacts with other parts of the cell.

The cell membrane — the customs service — reports what is arriving from outside.

The mitochondria report the state of the energy sector.

The production lines report their workload.

The waste-disposal services report the accumulation of waste.

Only by combining all of this information can sound decisions be made.

That is why the nucleus should not be viewed merely as a storage place for DNA.

In the body’s economic model, it is the active management center of the cell.

Resources are not produced here.

Money is not created here.

Deliveries are not organized here.

Something different happens here.

This is where decisions are made about how everything else will be used.

That is why the nucleus can be viewed as the board of directors of the cellular economy.

And DNA can be viewed as the Constitution upon which that board bases its decisions.

When we look at a cell in this way, an important idea becomes clear:

The life of a cell is not a chaotic collection of chemical reactions.

It is a managed economy in which resources, production, and development operate under a system of rules and decisions.

2.4 Ribosomes as Production Lines. Creating the Products

Imagine a city with a government, laws, development plans, and a financial system.

But a simple question arises.

What would happen if that city had no factories at all?

You could create the most brilliant strategies.

You could issue orders.

You could have enormous reserves of resources.

But if nobody produces anything, the economy comes to a halt.

Sooner or later, goods, components, materials, and equipment would run out.

The system would begin to fall apart from within.

The same principle applies inside a cell.

Instructions alone are not enough.

Once the board of directors has made a decision, it must be turned into a real result.

Someone has to do the work.

Someone has to manufacture the products.

In the economy of the cell, that role belongs to ribosomes.

In our model, ribosomes are the production lines.

This is where instructions are transformed into finished products.

Imagine a large factory.

A technical specification arrives at the production line.

The workers do not invent the project themselves.

They simply receive a document and assemble the product according to the instructions.

Ribosomes work in much the same way.

After the nucleus issues management instructions in the form of RNA, those instructions are delivered to the production lines.

The ribosomes read them and begin creating products.

The primary product of the cellular economy is protein.

The word «protein» is often associated only with food.

But inside the body, proteins are almost everything.

Some proteins become building materials.

Others serve as transportation systems.

Still others function as tools, accelerating chemical processes.

And others help cells communicate with one another.

In fact, a significant portion of the body’s economy is built on proteins.

That is why ribosomes can be compared to factories that manufacture goods for the entire country.

Interestingly, different cells order different products.

A skin cell requires one set of goods.

A liver cell requires another.

A neuron requires a third.

Although they share the same Constitution, their production plans are different.

This is much like a national economy.

An aircraft factory and a bakery operate under the same laws of the country, yet produce entirely different products.

Likewise, ribosomes manufacture only what a particular cell needs at a given moment.

Production lines require resources to operate.

They need energy.

They need raw materials.

They need instructions.

If even one of these elements is missing, production slows down.

Imagine a factory that no longer receives raw materials.

The machinery remains in place.

The workers are ready to work.

But output begins to decline.

The same thing happens inside a cell.

If there is not enough energy generated by the issuing banks — the mitochondria — the production lines begin to operate more slowly.

If building materials are in short supply, production becomes limited.

The economy of the cell always depends on the availability of resources.

There is another interesting feature.

Ribosomes do not work in isolation.

They are part of a much larger system.

The nucleus makes decisions.

RNA delivers the instructions.

Ribosomes manufacture the products.

The endoplasmic reticulum serves as a network of industrial workshops where products undergo further processing.

The Golgi apparatus packages finished goods and prepares them for shipment.

Together, they form an entire production chain.

Very much like a real industrial enterprise.

When the body needs to recover after exertion, the production lines increase their output.

When tissues are damaged, the production of repair materials rises.

When a child is growing, production volumes become especially high.

Growth, renewal, and recovery always require the work of ribosomes.

Without them, the development of the body’s economy would be impossible.

That is why ribosomes should not be viewed as merely simple cellular structures.

In the economic model of the body, they are the production lines where decisions are turned into real goods.

The nucleus may make the perfect decision.

DNA may contain flawless rules.

RNA may deliver the most precise instructions.

But until the production line begins operating, nothing changes.

This is where ideas become products.

This is where plans become results.

And that is why ribosomes are the factories of the cellular economy through which the body literally builds itself every single day.

2.5 Muscles as the Manufacturing Sector: The Body’s Main Workforce

Imagine a country with a highly effective government.

There are laws.

There are banks.

There is a transportation network.

There are businesses and industries.

But an important question remains.

Who does the actual work?

Who builds the roads?

Who transports the goods?

Who creates products and services?

Who turns resources into real results?

Any economist will tell you that an economy does not exist for the sake of money. It exists for the work that can be accomplished with that money.

The same principle applies in the body.

ATP (adenosine triphosphate) can be produced in billions of molecules.

Resources may arrive in abundance.

But if no one performs the work, the entire system loses its purpose.

When people think about muscles, they usually think about sports.

Training.

Strength.

Physical exercise.

However, muscles do much more than that.

Every movement of the eyes.

Every breath.

Every step.

Every change in body position.

Every contraction of the heart.

All of these are forms of muscular work.

This means that muscles are the primary performers of most of the body’s tasks.

If we look at the body as an economy, muscles can be seen as the largest manufacturing sector in the country.

It is here that a significant share of resources is converted into useful work.

It is here that the body’s energy currency — ATP — is actively spent.

It is here that the purpose of the issuing banks — the mitochondria — becomes especially clear.

Imagine a vast industrial region.

Factories operate around the clock.

Machines never stop.

Goods are constantly moving.

Such a region requires enormous amounts of energy.

Muscles are very much like that industrial zone.

Even when a person is resting, muscles continue to work.

They maintain posture.

They stabilize joints.

They participate in breathing.

They keep the body ready for movement.

The economy never comes to a complete standstill.

Interestingly, muscles are not only major consumers of resources; they are also an important factor in the stability of the body’s entire economy.

The more active muscle tissue there is, the greater the capacity to use incoming resources.

Imagine a country with a large number of modern factories.

It can process raw materials more quickly and efficiently.

Its economy becomes more flexible and resilient.

Something similar happens with muscles.

They actively use glucose, fatty acids, and the energy that has been produced.

As a result, a well-developed manufacturing sector helps maintain the overall energy balance.

During physical activity, it becomes especially clear how the body’s unified system operates.

Muscles increase their demand for energy.

The mitochondria expand the production of the money supply.

The lungs intensify international resource trade and deliver more oxygen.

The heart accelerates the transportation network.

The blood increases the volume of resource deliveries.

The brain coordinates the actions of the entire system.

No element works in isolation.

The entire economy begins to function as a single integrated whole.

People sometimes view fatigue as a problem of the muscles alone.

In reality, fatigue often reflects the condition of the body’s entire economy.

Perhaps there are not enough resources.

Perhaps the transportation network is operating inefficiently.

Perhaps energy production is failing to keep pace with demand.

Perhaps the body’s government is temporarily restricting spending.

The muscles become the place where the consequences of these decisions are most visible.

That is why muscles are far more than a mechanism for movement.

In the body’s economic model, they represent the largest manufacturing sector.

A significant portion of the energy currency is spent here.

Resources are transformed into work here.

The efficiency of the entire system becomes visible here.

When the manufacturing sector is well supplied with resources, the economy operates with confidence.

When resources are insufficient, the first signs of shortage often appear here.

That is why muscles can be called the body’s main workforce — the sector of the economy that transforms the system’s internal capabilities into real actions every single day.

2.6 The Liver as the Ministry of Finance: Resource Allocation and Control

Imagine a country that receives thousands of truckloads of goods every day.

Food, raw materials, supplies, fuel.

All of it arrives in a continuous stream.

But an important question arises.

What would happen if that entire flow were simply released into circulation without any control?

Some regions would be flooded with resources.

Others would begin to experience shortages.

Some areas would accumulate surpluses that could not be used.

Elsewhere, businesses would be forced to stop operating because supplies had run out.

That is why every economy needs more than production and transportation alone.

It needs a central authority that understands how many resources have arrived, what their quality is, where they should be directed now, and what should be set aside for the future.