How stress steals your memory, and what to do about it!

We all know that stress is bad for us - but did you know that chronic stress actually changes the structures in your brain? We have two main types of memory - long term memory, and short term memory. You can think of short term as being your working memory - it concerns what is happening right now. You know if you are having short term memory problems if you can’t remember where you just put that important file down, or that phone number you just looked up. Your short term memory is a function of your hippocampus - if you have a good hippocampus, you have a good working memory - if you have a damaged hippocampus, you can remember the name of your first grade teacher, but not the name of the person you just met. Chronic stress causes release of cortisol - and cortisol is very bad for your hippocampus. CT scans will show visible, even profound, shrinking of the hippocampus - it actually becomes smaller.

So do you need to go live in a cave? Only if you want to - a state of self hypnosis is the physical opposite of stress. If you want a good working memory throughout your life, learning and using self-hypnosis can decrease your physical stress response and spare your brain.