How Does Stress Affect Memory?

Stress can activate an inflammatory response in your body and, in turn, in your brain.

Inflammation is one of the key drivers of memory problems and changes in the brain because of various kinds of stressors that occur in the body due to increased levels of cortisol.

You can release higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol for many reasons. Increased cortisol could be due to:

• a virus
• not getting proper sleep
• going through trauma
• being a caregiver and having to care for a loved one day in and day out

There’s many different kinds of stress, but it all ends up as inflammation. And inflammation is a common factor to stress-related diseases like high blood pressure, cognitive problems and higher risk of Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

Is it forgetfulness? Is it Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)? What happens to memory in Alzheimer’s?

Memory Problems: Is it Forgetfulness or Selective Memory?

We all have selective memory. That’s true for all of us. We are all forgetting lots of things that happen to us.

If I asked you what you had for breakfast yesterday, you’d be able to tell me. Most people can. But if I asked you what you had for breakfast on Tuesday a month ago, it’s unlikely that you would remember. Because you don’t have to remember that.

So, we’re forgetting all kinds of things that we don’t consider to be important. That’s selective memory and not forgetfulness.

But here’s another very important occurrence that happens in Alzheimer’s that doesn’t happen in aging.

Mild Cognitive Impairment or MCI vs Normal Aging: How are They Different?

Normal aging is when you might forget someone’s name, but you haven’t forgotten who that person is. Or you might forget where you put your keys, but you don’t forget how to drive a car. You might not quite remember the details of some previous event, but you don’t forget that the event happened.

MCI is more difficult to define.

We may see someone who seems to be having more of these memory slips than we would expect for someone of that age, with that background and level of education. This makes us suspicious that it might be something more than normal memory problems with age. So, we call it mild cognitive impairment.

This individual is having little bits of memory problems, but they are not yet interfering with his or her life. But their cognitive health might be impaired. And it’s a red flag.

This person may end up having more difficulty with memory down the road. Or not. A significant number of people who get a diagnosis of MCI end up reversing it and being perfectly fine. 

In normal aging, you may think that you’re forgetting things. They happened in your past, but you don’t remember. But when you are given the right reminders, you remember those events.

Whereas once a brain is damaged with the kind of damage that we see in Alzheimer’s, those individuals have truly lost those previous events.