Stress is already stressful. It can cause headaches, muscular tension, sleeplessness, fatigue and anxiety. And over time, stress has been shown to have a deleterious impact on our overall health, increasing our risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity. But what about cognitive health? Does living a stressful life cause your brain to decline with time? According to Kerry J. Ressler, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, while the data isn’t completely clear, it does suggest a link.
“We know that in the short term, stressful events can cause a deficit in cognitive function. As the brain puts its resources towards fight or flight, there are less resources available for higher executive functioning and cognition,” says Ressler.
Different parts of the brain are always competing for attention, he says. During a stressful event, the amygdala, the portion of the brain associated with our basic survival, competes with higher-order ...
