It is known that stress does not do much good. From grinding your teeth to sleeping poorly and being nauseous to having unpleasant feelings. Now something has been added: memory loss. Scientists have even found that stress causes your brain to shrink. This is what stress does to your memory.
Research
When you are stressed, the hormone ‘cortisol’ is released. In a study of more than 2,000 healthy participants, it was found that those with high levels of this hormone in the blood performed worse on memory tests. You also saw that their brain volume was smaller than average, which indicates a reduction in gray matter (the place in the brain where information is processed). Not a very nice discovery.
Adrenaline
The reason for a reduction in gray matter is that when cortisol is released in the body, adrenaline is also released. This stress hormone provides your body with energy to flee or defend itself in a dangerous situation. This is super useful as it gives you a chance to survive. It just shouldn’t stay in the body for too long. As a result of the release of these hormones, some bodily functions such as digestion, reproduction and growth are temporarily stopped. When the body is under persistent stress, cortisol levels remain at high levels and brain functions function less well than normal for a longer period of time.
Short-term consequences
In the short term, when you are in a stressful situation, it is logical that at that moment your mind goes blank and you do not have the time to absorb new events. You go, to put it dramatically, into survival mode and are only concerned with keeping yourself alive. Your brain is processing too much and there is no room to store anything.
Long-term consequences
In the long term, stress affects memory, as there is a link between chronic stress and depressive symptoms and anxiety. Anxiety sometimes makes you overthink and worry about unnecessary things. The brain has a limited capacity, so you don’t think clearly because it is full of worries. Stress also reduces the quality of sleep. If you don’t sleep well, the system for clearing waste products in the central nervous system is not activated. This results in a so-called brain fog, also called brain fog, after a night of poor sleep. Another reason to take a step back and give yourself more rest. You deserve that.
What to do?
By first assessing a situation, getting enough sleep (6 to 8 hours) and exercise, opening up to others and, above all, continuing to take good care of yourself, you will reduce your stress and thus hopefully memory loss. Does this not work and do your memory problems persist? Then go to the doctor to be sure. Besides stress, it might be something else. Stay calm, otherwise you will only make things worse.
