There are sev­eral brain fit­ness top­ics where we still see a large dis­con­nect between research and pop­u­lar knowl­edge, and a major one is the rela­tion­ship between mem­ory and stress. Car­o­line and I col­lab­o­rated on this post to bring you some con­text and tips.

Our soci­ety has changed faster than our genes. Instead of being faced with phys­i­cal, imme­di­ately life-threatening crises that demand instant action, these days we deal with events and ill­nesses that gnaw away at us slowly, that stress us out and that, believe it or not, end up hurt­ing our mem­ory and brain.

Dr. Robert Sapol­sky, in an inter­view about his book Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, points out that humans uniquely “can get stressed sim­ply with thought, turn­ing on the same stress response as does the zebra.” But, the zebra releases the stress hor­mones through life-preserving action, while we usu­ally just keep mud­dling along, get­ting more anx­ious by the moment.

What is the rela­tion­ship between stress and mem­ory? We all know chronic stress is bad for our heart, our weight, and our mood, but how about our mem­ory? Inter­est­ingly, acute stress can help us focus and remem­ber things more vividly. Chronic stress, on the other hand, reduce our abil­ity to focus and can specif­i­cally dam­age cells in the hip­pocam­pus, a brain struc­ture crit­i­cal to encod­ing short term memory.

When is stress chronic? When one feels out of con­trol. Irri­ta­ble, anx­ious. While every indi­vid­ual varies in their response the type and quan­tity of stress, there are some things we can do to feel more in con­trol of your envi­ron­ment. This sense of empow­er­ment can lower stress, and as a result, help memory.

What are the best defenses against chronic stress, that will help our mind and mem­ory remain healthy for life?

1– Exer­cise strength­ens the body and can reduce the expe­ri­ence of stress, depres­sion, and anx­i­ety. Doing some­thing car­dio­vas­cu­lar at least twice a week is the minimum.

2– Relax­ation through med­i­ta­tion, tai chi, yoga, or other tech­niques to slow res­pi­ra­tion, slow metab­o­lism, and release mus­cle ten­sion. Sim­ply invest­ing 10 min­utes per day can make a difference.

3– Biofeed­back pro­grams and games that pro­vide real-time infor­ma­tion and track­ing, allow­ing one to learn effec­tive tech­niques for reduc­ing stress levels.

4– Appre­ci­a­tion. Make sure you appre­ci­ate the good things you have and have done, and your sup­port group around you.

5– A good social net­work of friends, fam­ily, and even pets help fos­ter trust, sup­port, and relaxation.

6– This may be obvious…except that we may not do it pre­cisely when we need it the most: Use a cal­en­dar to sched­ule impor­tant things. Give items a date and a priority.

7– This one too: Make a list of things that need to be done. Even if it’s a long list. It is reward­ing to cross off items as you com­plete them.

8– Pri­or­i­tize. Ask your­self how impor­tant some­thing truly is to you. Maybe you’re stress­ing over some­thing that you are bet­ter off just let­ting go. Do you really need to remem­ber 25 new names from that party? Focus on the 5 you want to see again.

9– Get enough sleep so that you can recharge your bat­ter­ies.
10– There is no solid evi­dence that Ginko Biloba helps. Of course, the placebo effect does, so if you are already tak­ing it, you think it helps you, and you can afford it, well, just skip this point (which you will prob­a­bly do, any­way). But please ask your doc­tor if you are tak­ing pre­scrip­tion drugs; there may be interactions.

These are not mag­i­cal cures, but habits that you can develop with prac­tice to improve your mem­ory and qual­ity of life.

OK, my turn to prac­tice #9.

Be Socia­ble, Share!

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