Title: The link between memory and stress | CNN
Headings: Chronic stress can hurt your memory
Chronic stress can hurt your memory
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(CNN) —

Content: the memory that helps you recall locations and relate objects. Hence, your missing car keys. University of Iowa researchers recently found a connection between the stress hormone cortisol and short-term memory loss in older rats. Their findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience this week, showed that cortisol reduced synapses – connections between neurons – in the animals’ pre-frontal cortex, the area of the brain that houses short-term memory. But there’s a difference between how your brain processes long-term job stress, for example, and the stress of getting into a car accident. Research suggests low levels of anxiety can affect your ability to recall memories; acute or high-anxiety situations, on the other hand, can actually reinforce the learning process. Trust your memory? Maybe you shouldn’t
Acute stress increases your brain’s ability to encode and recall traumatic events, according to studies. These memories get stored in the part of the brain responsible for survival, and serve as a warning and defense mechanism against future trauma.