If you want to maintain a healthy brain and escape the plagues of anxiety, depression and Alzheimer’s, one unavoidable part of life that you will need to learn to avoid or manger is STRESS.
The problem with stress is that it causes our body to release a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol, in turn, can cause us to feel anxious, inhibit sleep, and block essential chemical messengers in the hippocampus (memory control center of our brain), making it harder to think and recall information. This is essentially what happens when a person experiences test anxiety, or stage fright.
Whenever we experience trauma, whether it’s a threat of harm, an infection, or some other stressful event, our cortisol levels go up. While these can help energize us for a “fight or flight” response, high levels over a prolonged period not only make it difficult for us to think clearly and remember, but in time, can contribute to depression, and can damage or even cause the death of delicate memory cells in the hippocampus.
So both long-term and acute stress can dampen our mood and inhibit our memory. That is one reason why people who have had high anxiety or been depressed for extended periods—two years or more—are at greater risk for dementia. However, taking steps to reduce the stress in our life can do much to improve brain function.
