Memory loss anxiety

The Relationship Between Anxiety and Memory Loss

Examining the Stress Response

Understanding how anxiety and memory loss are connected begins with the stress response. Your body’s “fight-or-flight” reaction helps you counter real or perceived life-threatening situations quickly, and that includes when you’re anxious.

How It Happens

The stress response begins in your brain, according to Harvard Health Publishing. When you perceive danger, a distress signal is sent from the eyes or ears to an emotional processing area of the brain (amygdala), which interprets the images and sounds. If they are considered dangerous, a distress signal is sent to the brain’s command center (hypothalamus).

All of this takes place so quickly that you aren’t aware of what’s happening. That applies to a series of events that includes your body pumping adrenaline through your bloodstream, causing physiological changes like increased pulse rate and blood pressure, rapid breathing, and sharper senses. If your brain still perceives danger, it releases cortisol to keep your body on high alert. Cortisol is your body’s main stress hormone and acts like a built-in alarm system to control mood, motivation, and fear.

Similar to how a car regulates speed, your body is able to regulate its stress response. If the threat has passed, cortisol levels will fall, and your body presses the “brake” on everything. If the threat is still present, your body will keep certain parts of the nervous system “pressed down” like a gas pedal.

Note that the stress response will continue when the threat is simply perceived to be present. If the life-threatening event has passed but you still perceive it to be present, the stress response will continue. If the threat wasn’t life-threatening, your body can overreact to the stressor, which may lead to negative effects on your physical and psychological health.

The Link to Memory

The stress response helps you confront life-threatening situations, and its benefits extend to psychological functions like memory. This notion is verified in research, although there are caveats.

Everyday anxiety can help you remember things better, according to a study published in Brain Sciences. Researchers split participants who had levels of anxiety into two groups: those with “low” and “high” anxiety. No participants had clinically significant levels of anxiety. The two groups were asked to answer questions about the spelling or meaning of words overlaid onto neutral images, like a house, or negative images, like a car accident.

Memory performance didn’t differ based on anxiety levels, but the study found that the group with higher anxiety was able to remember words displayed over negative images. “Their memories were more emotionally tinted,” said the study’s co-author Myra Fernandes, “and as a result rendered more memorable.” The study verified previous research suggesting that emotional content can strengthen memories.

Of course, there is a limit to that effect. “To some degree, there is an optimal level of anxiety that is going to benefit your memory,” according to Fernandes. “But we know from other research that high levels of anxiety can cause people to reach a tipping point, which impacts their memories and performance.”

Excessive anxiety can exhaust your body and undermine benefits associated with the stress response. Chronic stress can lead to physical problems like headaches, breathing problems, and increased risk of hypertension, heart attack, and stroke. There is also negative psychological impact, such as with your memory.

How Anxiety and Memory Loss Are Connected

The stress response sheds light on how repeated anxiety can lead to memory loss. When your body reacts to real or perceived threats, electrical activity in the brain increases and produces adrenaline and cortisol. Memory loss can result if that process occurs when fear or anxiety is excessive or persists beyond developmentally appropriate periods. That’s because anxiety and stress tax the body’s resources.

Research like the study published in Brain Sciences acknowledges the relationship between high levels of anxiety and memory loss. One study in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry found that anxiety disorder is interrelated and inseparable with loss of memory. It added how anxiety is likely an early predictor of future cognitive decline and possibly future cognitive impairment.

People who have anxiety disorders like generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, agoraphobia, and specific phobia can experience memory loss. For instance, Behavior Therapy found that individuals with clinically severe GAD had greater difficulty remembering childhood attachment experiences than non-anxious counterparts. Some adult anxiety may be rooted in childhood experiences that leave a child uncertain of whether a protective figure is available in times of trouble. The study discussed how repressing such traumatic experiences can lead to memory issues. Additionally, worry is associated with substantial cognitive avoidance, which prevents the processing of disturbing emotional material.

There is still a great deal to learn about the connection between anxiety and memory loss, which is an ongoing research topic. For instance, thanks to a first-of-its-kind study, there is now evidence that acute stress disrupts the process behind collecting and storing memories. Researchers found that short-term stress-activated certain molecules that in turn limit processes in the brain’s learning and memory region. As a result, given the link between anxiety and stress, both long-term and short-term anxiety can impact memory.

Understanding Anxiety

The implication of anxiety on memory and learning is a major area of study in psychology. Research and theories have developed in an effort to understand this broad topic, mental processes overall, and specific mental health disorders.

If you’re interested in learning more, you can earn your online B.A. in Psychology to help you reach your career goals in mental health. Rivier University’s program takes place in a convenient online learning environment, which means you can pursue your education while maintaining your current work and personal schedule. Multiple term starts, a generous transfer credit policy, and competitive tuition rates are all designed to help you begin and earn your degree faster.

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Anxiety and Memory Loss: What's the Connection?

Anxiety conditions provoke strong, persistent feelings of worry and fear, often about things and situations you can’t change or control.

With anxiety, you might find yourself stuck in a cycle of nervousness and worry, unable to stop mentally running through dreaded potential outcomes. This anxiety loop can take up a lot of mental energy.

Many people find that this state of near-constant stress and hypervigilance takes a toll on their memory.

Anxiety-related memory loss can lead to more anxiety as you:

are unable to recall key details at work or school
forget things, like birthdays and other significant events, leading to tension or conflict in personal relationships
have trouble remembering things that can make essential daily tasks, like driving, parenting, or cooking, easier (and safer)

Wondering why anxiety causes memory problems? Looking for tips to stop the cycle? You’ll find more details below.

You won’t necessarily find yourself unable to recall key events in your life, since anxiety generally affects working memory.

Instead, you might have difficulty remembering things like:

task instructions
directions to a friend’s house
a child’s play date
conversations you had with others
information in a textbook chapter you just studied

A few different factors play a part in anxiety-related memory loss:

Elevated cortisol levels

Ever heard of the stress hormone? Cortisol earns this nickname because it helps kick your body into fight-flight-freeze mode during times of increased stress.

This hormone has several important functions, and the right amount can even help you form memories. This might help explain why mild anxiety can actually help improve memory.

Too much cortisol, on the other hand, can have the opposite effect. People with chronic or severe anxiety tend to have higher levels of cortisol, which makes sense considering that anxiety involves extreme, frequent worry about potential threats.

The constant stress you experience can keep your body stuck in a fight-flight-freeze response, ready to respond to danger.

Lack of sleep

Anxiety can make it tough to get enough restful sleep. If you aren’t lying awake, replaying a loop of anxious thoughts, you might wake up frequently or have troubling dreams.

A few nights of poor sleep can leave you feeling foggy, distracted, and unable to concentrate, though you probably won’t experience any major health impacts.

Regular sleep deprivation can have serious health consequences, including memory loss. This is because sleep is essential for both memory and overall brain function.

Anxiety itself

If you live with anxiety, you know it can serve as a powerful distractor.

Your worries might occupy your thoughts to the point where you can’t seem to escape them, even when you try. Worry and distress might eventually become repeating background tracks for your day. No matter what you do, you’re also attempting to manage and cope with anxious thoughts at the same time.

This divided brainpower often makes it harder to give your whole attention to what you want to focus on, since anxiety keeps getting in the way.

As you continue to focus on your worries and their causes, your brain begins prioritizing these potential threats in order to keep you safe.

As a result, other information may begin to fade into the background.

Once you realize you’ve forgotten some important things, you might even start to wonder whether something serious is going on. And you might begin to fixate on those concentration and memory issues.

In turn, minor moments of forgetfulness that might happen to anyone, especially people under stress, stand out more and more. Normal forgetfulness, then, fuels the cycle by becoming another trigger for anxious thoughts.

Habit of pushing back unwanted memories

Many people respond to traumatic or distressing memories by burying them or pushing them away.

If your worries overwhelm and exhaust you to the point where you begin to have trouble functioning, you might try to block or suppress them in order to cope.

You might not forget a specific event entirely, but refusing to think about it can blur the details and help it fade from the forefront of your memory.

Suppression might seem beneficial, but it doesn’t help you address the source of the problem. Unaddressed anxiety can get worse and have an even greater effect on memory and concentration over time.

Some people who have panic attacks find it difficult to recall what happened just before or during an attack. Panic-related memory loss can happen for some of the same reasons that general anxiety leads to memory loss.

Panic attacks — brief episodes of extreme fear — are a type of anxiety. They come on quickly, often without warning, triggering symptoms that can feel overwhelming and terrifying:

difficulty breathing or feelings of choking
pounding or racing heart
sweating, trembling, or shaking
numbness, tingling, or blurred vision
feeling of doom
feeling of losing control

Some people having a panic attack might believe they’re dying or having a heart attack. You might feel totally preoccupied by these unpleasant feelings, lose track of time, and think about nothing except getting through the attack.

Afterward, you might recall the intense panic vividly, but you might not recall exactly how you made it through.

If you’ve had a panic attack before, you might also worry about having one again, especially when you find yourself in a situation that triggers feelings of worry or fear. When this increase in anxiety occupies your focus, you might also notice some memory trouble.

Memory loss can happen for plenty of reasons.

A few of the other potential causes include:

head injuries
depression, trauma, or emotional distress
brain tumors
chemotherapy
dementia
regular alcohol or substance use
side effects of certain prescription medications

Even when you live with anxiety, other concerns can contribute to memory loss, so it’s important to monitor your difficulty remembering things.

Occasional forgetfulness, especially when it accompanies anxiety and poor sleep, might not be serious, but it can worsen over time.

You will want to connect with a healthcare professional, though, when you regularly:

have trouble completing everyday tasks, such as work responsibilities or traveling from place to place
lose things regularly
forget important safety precautions, such as turning off the stove or locking your doors
ask the same questions or say the same things again and again
notice problems at work or school or in your personal relationships
have difficulty remembering scheduled appointments or events
forget words

Along with mentioning any signs you notice, it might also help to share any signs your loved ones have noticed. For example, maybe you mix up words or tell the same stories without realizing.

It’s always a good idea to reach out if your memory problems cause distress. Worrying about what’s going on can fuel more anxiety, making the problem worse.

Anxiety symptoms usually improve with treatment, but these changes probably won’t happen overnight.

To boost your concentration and recall in the meantime, try these tips:

Write things down

Making a note of important information can help in two ways.

You’re more likely to remember things when you write them down, for one. But, even if jotting down a note doesn’t help you remember offhand, you’ll still have a physical reminder to look back on.

Try keeping a daily journal or planner, or make notes on a large calendar. Prefer more advanced technology? Scheduling apps or smartphone notifications can also offer helpful reminders.

Journaling can also help relieve anxiety. Exploring your worries and their potential causes in writing can help you express them so they don’t take up so much mental energy.

When you have less to worry about, your memory might improve automatically.

Spend time with loved ones

Staying connected to friends and family can help improve memory indirectly.

Enjoyable social interactions can help distract you from anxiety, making it easier to focus on (and remember) other things.

Talking about your worries to people who care about you can also help. Knowing you have their support can help relieve stress, decreasing cortisol levels and helping you sleep more easily.

Train your brain

Memory and brain games, like sudoku, crosswords, word puzzles, Scrabble, or chess, can all help boost memory and brain function.

Playing these games won’t just exercise your brain, so to speak. They can also serve as a fun distraction from anxious thoughts.

If games don’t appeal, you can also strengthen your brain and improve memory by:

studying a new language (try a free app, like Duolingo)
picking up an old musical instrument (or a new one) and refreshing your skills
teaching yourself a new skill, like knitting, watercolor painting, or basic home repair

Make time for exercise

Exercising your body can help, too.

Physical activity can help improve your mood, ease symptoms of anxiety and depression, and boost overall brain health.

Try starting with something simple, like a 15-minute walk after meals, a weekend hike, or a walk along the beach.

Another benefit? Exercise can help tire you out, so you might fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. When you get better sleep, you might begin to notice anxiety symptoms, including memory loss, begin to ease.

Taking time to relax and wind down before getting into bed every night can also help improve the quality of your sleep.

While mild anxiety symptoms might lift on their own, persistent anxiety generally won’t improve without support from a trained mental health professional.

To find therapists in your area who specialize in anxiety, consult a therapist directory or try a quick Google search.

Interested in giving online therapy a try? Start with our recommendations for the top online therapy services.

Let your therapist know about all of your symptoms, not just memory loss. Make sure to let them know if memory problems don’t improve with treatment.

Already receiving some kind of treatment for anxiety and still have symptoms? It’s worth talking to a professional about other approaches.

Not all treatments work for everyone, and it may take time to find the most effective approach for you.

Some people benefit from therapy alone, while others find a combination of medication and therapy most effective.

Certain coping skills, alternative treatments, and natural remedies can also make a difference.

Memory loss can disrupt your day-to-day life and compound the distress caused by anxiety, but treatment can help.

Along with helping you explore and address underlying causes of anxiety, a therapist can also teach effective coping skills, including breathing exercises or meditation techniques.

As your other anxiety symptoms begin to improve, your memory likely will, too.

Crystal Raypole has previously worked as a writer and editor for GoodTherapy. Her fields of interest include Asian languages and literature, Japanese translation, cooking, natural sciences, sex positivity, and mental health. In particular, she’s committed to helping decrease stigma around mental health issues.

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Makeev Alexander Anatolyevich

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Named an early sign of Alzheimer's that appears years before memory loss may become

alarm for no apparent reason .

The specialist said that patients with still mild impairments often admit that they experienced inexplicable anxiety and brief moments of memory loss 1.5-2 years before the onset of obvious symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Express writes about it.

“It is important to understand that people over 60 who have anxiety for the first time without an obvious cause may show early signs of Alzheimer's disease. This is different from the “natural anxiety” that a person experiences when they feel like they are forgetting something,” says Emer McSweeney.

Things to watch out for:

Anxiety without obvious cause;
The feeling of anxiety is different from ordinary anxiety;
Anxiety disproportionately strong;
It is accompanied by moments of short-term memory loss.

Memory suffers to some extent in all types of dementia. Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the loss of short-term memory, while long-term memory is well preserved. Previously a St. Petersburg neurologist, professor of the Department of Nervous Diseases of the Military Medical Academy named after V.I. Kirov Andrey Emelin named 9 among the early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease0105 loss of interest in former hobbies . Such a person ceases to be interested in what is happening with his loved ones - such spiritual blindness sets in, and then, in addition to memory impairment, more and more new symptoms begin to join - speech becomes simpler, words fall out of memory and are often replaced by similar ones in meaning, lost recognition of objects and their functional purpose, life skills begin to suffer - even the use of ordinary household appliances becomes a problem.

In addition, among the frequent pre-cognitive symptoms - decreased olfactory function (hyposmia) . Before the first problems with memory or thinking begin, a person ceases to distinguish smells clearly. According to the doctor, pathological changes in the brain begin long before the first symptoms of the disease - at least 10 years.

Learn more

Memory loss anxiety

The Relationship Between Anxiety and Memory Loss

Meta

Examining the Stress Response

How It Happens

The Link to Memory

How Anxiety and Memory Loss Are Connected

Understanding Anxiety

Anxiety and Memory Loss: What's the Connection?

Elevated cortisol levels

Lack of sleep

Anxiety itself

Habit of pushing back unwanted memories

Write things down

Spend time with loved ones

Train your brain

Make time for exercise

Not Found (#404)

Makeev Alexander Anatolyevich

Named an early sign of Alzheimer's that appears years before memory loss may become