Title: How Stress Affects the Hippocampus
Headings: Academia
Academia
Effects of Stress on the Hippocampus

Content: As our brain hands decision making to the low road, we lose our ability to think at our best” (p. 268). Increased stress and anxiety also can impair motor performance (Noteboom et al., 2001). “ The ascendant amygdala handicaps our abilities for learning, for holding information and working memory, for reacting flexibly and creatively, for focusing attention at will, and for planning and organizing effectively. We plunge into what neuroscientists call ‘cognitive dysfunction’” (p. 268). Based on findings by McEwen (1998) that increased levels of cortisol caused by excessive worry and over arousal can damage the hippocampus, Soutar (n.d.) stated, “Not only does this result in loss of short-term memory function, but also depresses immune function as the hippocampus is a key switching mechanism for global immune system function” (para. 30). Lupien et al. ( 2009) explained that a rise in plasma glucocorticoid in adults can negatively affect both hippocampal volume as well as memory, and both these impairments are noted in Alzheimer’s disease.