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"The basic idea is that the brain is shunting its resources because it's in survival mode, not memory mode," says Dr. For example, if you are in a dangerous or emotionally taxing situation, the amygdala (the part of your brain that governs your survival instincts) may take over, leaving the parts of your brain that help to store memories and perform higher-order tasks with less energy and ability to get their own jobs done. Researchers believe that when one part of your brain is engaged, the other parts of your brain may not have as much energy to handle their own vital tasks, he says. Your brain isn't just a single unit, but a group of different parts that perform different tasks, says Dr. To understand why stress affects thinking and memory, it's important to understand a little about how the brain works. In addition, it can affect men and women differently, she says. Thus, stress has been associated with multiple chronic diseases of the brain and heart. Stress affects not only memory and many other brain functions, like mood and anxiety, but also promotes inflammation, which adversely affects heart health, says Jill Goldstein, a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Harvard Medical School. (For the latter, researchers might challenge subjects to perform a difficult task, such as counting backward from the number 1,073 by 13s while being graded.) Either type of stress seems to interfere with cognition, attention, and memory, he says.
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Scientists have seen changes in how the brain processes information when people experience either real-life stress or stress manufactured in a research setting. Kerry Ressler, chief scientific officer at McLean Hospital and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Studies in both animals and people show pretty clearly that stress can affect how the brain functions, says Dr. But over the long term, stress may actually change your brain in ways that affect your memory. It's not uncommon to feel disorganized and forgetful when you're under a lot of stress. Stress management may reduce health problems linked to stress, which include cognitive problems and a higher risk for Alzheimer's disease and dementia.