Stress and Memory
Don't "stress out" about it, but stress can cause memory loss. A recent study, by Dr. Sonia Lupien at McGill University, showed that children living under stressfull conditions did not perform as well as children in less stressfull situations. Similar findings showed that people of all ages are sensitive to stress and it shows up most dramatically in memory performance.The culprit is cortisol, a steroid produced by the adrenal glands. Under stress, it causes blood sugar to rise so the brain has more energy-giving glucose. It also regulates blood pressure, cardiovascular function, and the processing of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. This is good for dealing with genuine danger. But chronic stress can cause a continual release of cortisol damaging brain function. In older adults it can actually result in a shrunken hippocampus which is the part of the brain that remembers.
So relax and live longer and better.
I can offer some advice on how to do that in another article but the short answer is to keep a sense of humor.
posted by Henry Bowles @ 10:41 PM
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