Stress & Memory
Author: Susie Mantell

Q: I have been under such physical and emotional stress lately, I even forgot my dad's birthday. Does stress effect memory...and if so, how?

A: Absolutely! One very simple way to understand this is if you visualize the total energy and capability of the human system as a pie. (This pie has considerable capacity for expansiveness, but ultimately there is a finite amount of physical and emotional energy available for processing in any one of us in any given moment.) Picture the pie being portioned out, with slices pre-designated for energy to work, for day-to-day living activities like walking, eating, reading etc., attention to family and friends, energy for necessary bodily functions: breathing, digestion, circulation, immune function, etc. Now imagine that there is also a sliver "on reserve" for an unexpected crisis. 7:00 AM: You wake up with a slight low backache. A stain on the jacket you'd planned to wear for your presentation today takes a bit of that "reserve sliver" to quickly find something else to wear and change clothes.

7:30 AM: A little more "reserve" gets summoned for your child who wakes with a miserable cold, and the effort required to find last-minute child care so you can get to work.

8:15 AM: A bit more of that emergency coping reserve gets called up now because you are running behind... and sitting in traffic.

9:20 AM: You enter the building 20 minutes late and... Oh! No! The elevator's out of order and you walk up 4 flights only to find there's a small leak above your desk and you must pack up and move into a temporary office. (That low back is beginning to really ache now.) NOTE: Nothing "life and death" here...just day-to-day stress. As you're packing, the phone rings and you learn that FEDEX has lost your presentation materials for today. Just about now, you feel the beginnings of a scratchy throat and pray you're not getting Strep ...again. You look around for some echinacea and call the doctor to see if he can squeeze you in this week and are put "on hold" as you unpack your office necessities. 2 minutes...5 minutes...(Your back is killing you. Client due in 30 minutes.) ...now 9 minutes "on hold". When you finally get through, a fairly cranky receptionist tells you that your doctor is out of town, and by the way... she reminds you that your account is past-due. (You pai! d that bill!) "Please send us the cancelled check." etc...etc...etc...and it's only 10 AM! How can you possibly remember a birthday? You are on "system overload" and the system is prioritizing urgency. Breathing and Circulation will always trump Remembering.

[PAUSE: Wow! That was even stressful to READ wasn't it? Sorry about that! Take 30 seconds here to close your eyes...inhale some sparkling light to soothe and clear inside your head...let the light float behind your eyes, gently massaging the inside of your eyelids...inside your scalp...soothing away the "drama". Inhaling light...exhaling tension. OK. You can read on now...]

Now this was an EXTREME example of a very stressful day, but for some, not that far from reality. (Same tune--different words.) Can you begin to see how your reserve power can be depleted by many such small, cumulative stressors? Imagine when that is compounded by caring for an aging parent, or job relocation, or divorce, or chemotherapy, or any number of HUGE show-stopping stressors! Understandably, when our physical and emotional energy is being drained off by stressful experiences, there is simply less energy of all kinds for us to fend off germs let alone retain phone numbers, and lunch dates, and hair-cut appointments or school plays...

There is very exciting research under way at the NIH and elsewhere right now, exploring the neuro-biology and neuro-psychology of memory, the workings of the brain, no longer necessarily synonymous with "mind". Paradigm-shifting work is being done in the area of memory and emotions and stress, and many scientists would now say these reside not only in our heads as previously believed...but in fact at a cellular level with information communicated constantly throughout the body via transmitters... peptides... One very interesting, very readable book on this subject is Candace Pert's, "Molecules of Emotion." (Dr. Pert is a bench scientist at Georgetown whose work is well-known, but she explains it in language for non-scientists.) Another great book, clearly explaining how it is that stress can play such a tremendous role in our physical and mental health is "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers" by Robert M. Sapolsky. Also very readable and broken up into bite-size sections.

There is no need for us to remember EVERYthing. Many of the zillions of insignificant or less-meaningful images and emotions we experience are quickly forgotten. (Maybe not lost altogether but sort of stored "on microfiche" at a level we don't frequent. In fact traumatic events sometimes get express-routed there immediately, as in the case of the Central Park Jogger.) The limbic system is a clearing house where we are believed to process emotions and images and determine which are 'just passing through' and which we'll retain for future reference. In the limbic system, the amiygdala is involved with conscious emotional response to an event, positive or negative, and is responsible for the tension you feel when you smell smoke unexpectedly or a teary response to a Hallmark commercial. It is what says, "man in ski mask in dark alley = "danger". The hippocampus is strongly associated with memory as well. Significant emotional connections and particular emotional memories from ou! r childhood..or the birth of a baby...or a profound loss..can stay for a lifetime, while sometimes we can't remember where we left our keys! The limbic system and hypothalamus are responsible for sensory experience, pleasure, pain, attraction, revulsion, anxiety, etc. (You can see where stress might have impact on memory here!)

None of us is getting any younger chronologically, but there is also unprecedented work being done exploring how "inevitable" memory loss really is as part of healthy aging --in the absence of significant illness. Many factors come into play here including genetics and one's own attitudes, nutrition, fitness and expectations for aging. Belief systems strongly influence what becomes of us in life, and the quality of that life, whatever its challenges.

Every week there are new breakthroughs in this realm as scientists the world over, in governments and the private sector, race to complete sequencing the human genome and decode applications, and work with stem cells to generate tissue that may hold answers for example, for reversing some forms of paralysis, Alzheimers Disease, etc.. The possibilities are astounding (once all the serious ethical questions are ironed out, of course.) But for us...for now...there are strong suggestions that intentionally keeping the mind and body active, especially in senior years, (e.g. doing puzzles or hobbies, playing cards, making music, walking, reading or taking courses that interest us) may greatly enhance memory and quality of relationships. Like exercising a muscle...the "use it or lose it" principle.

So...making a point of avoiding stress where that is possible, and releasing the inevitable stress we experience-- on a regular basis and in various ways that are pleasurable and personally effective-- can in fact help us process and retain information we wish to access again more readily. Now....If we can just Remember to do that! (LOL) ?








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Stress-relief expert Susie Mantell's award-winning relaxation CD,"Your Present: A Half-Hour of Peace" has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, NBC,ABC -TV, Billboard, Town & Country, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, The American Pain Society, Hazelden, and is clinically approved to soothe stress, sleeplessness, PTSD and depression. Listeners include The Mayo Clinic, and Canyon Ranch ("BEST SPA.") Customizing programs for Fortune 500 companies, distinguished medical centers and spas, Mantell's techniques are seen in leading magazines, syndicated media, medical and corporate newsletters. [Copyright 2000, '01,'02,'03,'04 All rights reserved. Federal law prohibits use of this content in whole or part without written consent of Relax. . .Intuit (tm)L.L.C. Kindly email reprint requests to info@relaxintuit.com. Find more of Susie's
stress-relief tips, and order "Your Present: A Half-Hour of Peace" at:
http://www.relaxintuit.com

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