Stress Can Cause Brain Damage and Memory Loss

One of the body’s responses to stress is a heightened mental state and the ability to think on your feet. While this sounds wonderful, the downside is that the chemical that causes this mental alertness, cortisol, also kills brain cells. According to Dr. Robert Sapolsky, a Stanford University biologist who has extensively researched the physical effects of stress, the cells that are most vulnerable to destruction are the ones located in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory. The hippocampus is also the area that deteriorates when patients contract Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders. This research seems to point to the idea that prolonged stress could be directly related to memory problems and other cognitive disorders.
Now that we’ve seen the toll that stress takes on the body and the emotions, let’s look at several strategies for managing stress.