Is this the surprising cause of your memory problems?
Louise Hallinan is the international award-winning author of Smart Brain Healthy Brain and a Natural Health Practitioner. She founded the Smart Brain Health Centre in Sydney which specialises in mood and memory problems.
Stress is a condition that we are all very familiar with. I am sure we have all experienced stress for one reason or another and it seems to be a part of the fast-paced lives we are living. There are many reasons for stress, whether it is simply running late for an appointment, sitting in traffic, a high-pressured job with tight deadlines, lack of sleep, so many things to do and not enough time. Stress really does take a toll on your brain and results in causing memory problems.
There have been two reported cases within the last few months of ‘Forgotten Baby Syndrome’. Parents being under such extreme stress that they have actually forgotten they had left their baby or child in the back seat of the car. They went off to work leaving the child in the car for hours, with one case ending in tragedy. For this to happen it really demonstrates the extreme levels of stress many of us are under these days.
What is stress?
Stress is your body’s physical reaction to change and involves the fight or flight response activated by your autonomic nervous system. This controls and stimulates the production of two hormones, cortisol and adrenaline. Cortisol is the main stress hormone produced by the adrenal glands, which sit on top of your kidneys.
What does cortisol do?
These hormones make your heart beat faster, elevate your blood pressure, change your digestive processes and boost glucose levels in your bloodstream, to give you the energy needed to fight or flight. When the possible threat or danger has passed, your body system slowly returns to normal.
But for some people like Julie for example, this never happens. Julie is a super busy working mum, she cares for her husband, two children, the home, runs her own business, and also cares for her elderly parents. Her body system remains in this constant state of emergency, never getting back to normal. She is in emergency mode from the time she wakes up till the time she goes to bed, running from home to school, to work, to shopping, to school, to caring for the family. Due to such extreme stress, there is no time to prepare healthy meals and she ends up eating poorly by having packaged or fast foods on the run, eating too much sugar and living on caffeine.
Both sugar and caffeine are stimulants which keep Julie constantly hyper-stimulated and as a result, her body stays in fight or flight mode and she never gets to rest, digest, relax and heal.
High cortisol levels
Julie’s cortisol levels are always elevated and constantly spiking. These high cortisol levels lead to blood sugar spikes, which leads to insulin spikes, which then leads to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome and ultimately, diabetes.
Constant stress is chronic stress and is thought to raise the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and depression.
So how does stress affect our memory?
Thousands of neurons (brain cells) can die off when you are stressed and produce the stress hormone cortisol.
Excess cortisol levels cause a decline in the daily function of your brain and robs the brain of its only source of fuel, which is glucose. It also wreaks havoc on your brain’s chemical messengers – called Neurotransmitters. These Neurotransmitters carry your thoughts from one brain cell to the next. When your Neurotransmitter function is disrupted and when your brain’s fuel supply drops, it is difficult for you to concentrate and to remember.
Many scientists now believe that excessive exposure to stress (excess cortisol levels) can actually shrink our brains and can thin the part of the brain that helps control decision making and moods called the anterior cingulate cortex.
Reduce your stress and levels of cortisol
So now you know a little more about stress, cortisol and how stress can affect your memory, it is important to know the next steps, what you can do yourself to reduce your stress levels. Here are a few tips that will definitely help.
1. Change to an anti-inflammatory diet
An anti-inflammatory diet is low in processed foods and sugar, and high in antioxidants, fibre and nutrients to balance your hormones and control sugar cravings. The best foods to lower Cortisol levels are:
- Fresh vegetables and fruit
- Coconut oil or olive oil
- Nuts and seeds
- Eggs, fish and grass-fed beef
- Probiotic foods (e.g. yoghurt, cultured vegetables and kefir)
2. Exercise
Exercise is one of the best ways to manage your stress, sleep better, balance your hormones and balance your blood sugar levels. But do not over-exert yourself, otherwise that may cause more Cortisol to be released.
3. Meditation and mindfulness
Not only does meditation improve your brain health, there are studies that show that meditating for about 15 to 30 minutes daily can reduce your levels of cortisol. Meditation helps to teach the body and brain to turn off the stress response and learn to relax more.