Emotional Causes Of Memory Loss
Because our mind and body are connected and affect each other, our emotions and thoughts can impact our brain. The energy it takes to cope with certain feelings or life stress can get in the way of storing or remembering details and schedules.
Often, these emotional triggers of memory loss can be improved by support, counseling, and lifestyle changes. Even just being aware ofand limiting exposure tothings that increase stress can help.
How Memory Loss Affects Our Life
Poor memory can affect our lives in all sorts of ways.
Staying on top of household jobs can be difficult. We might start cooking, get distracted, forget that weve left something on the hob and end up with a blackened pan to clean. We could start cleaning and forget where we put the cloth we were using. Our plants might go unwatered, keys get lost multiple times a week, and bins start to overflow as we keep forgetting to put them out for collection.
Beyond housework, we might start to forget things like taking our medication, going to appointments, doing vital a report for our boss, or paying bills on time.
Reading can be difficult because if we cant remember what weve just read then we have to re-read the same page again and again. This can make books inaccessible to us.
Staying in contact with people can be hard because we forget to reply to messages, forget to ring people back, and forget things that people say to us.
Memory loss can affect our work life, social life, relationships, finances, family and health.
How Are Depression And Memory Loss Related
A lot of the connection between depression and memory loss has to do with how our body handles stress. The link between stress, depression, and physical fatigue is quite cyclical. When someone is experiencing a greater amount of stress, they can often feel stuck, leading to a depressive state, says Katie Cunningham, a Chicago-based therapist at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls.
When youre experiencing chronic stress, your body releases high amounts of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline to cope, which has a knock-on effect impacting how the rest of your body functions. In terms of your mental health, the sustained cortisol levels can create an imbalance of certain key neurotransmitters that impact mood, says Cunningham, which can then impact your mood, sleep, and even memory.
When it comes to impaired memory and depression, an imbalance of neurotransmitters dopamine and adrenaline are part of the problem here, says Teralyn Sell, PhD, a licensed psychotherapist. Dopamine and adrenaline are in charge of your concentration, focus, and overall drive if you have a dopamine imbalance, memory could be something that you struggle with.
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How To Manage Depression And Memory Loss
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With that, there are other strategies which you can follow to manage the memory loss in everyday life including:
- Keep reminders in your phone and mention the tasks that must be done at the same time.
- Keep your focus aligned towards one work at a time.
- Make sure that you work in a distraction free environment.
- Commit yourself to consume all the required information in the memory.
What Does It Mean When Your Car Wont Restart
Andmost important of alldoes wont restart mean that the starter fails to activate when you turn the key, or does it mean that the starter cranks the engine but the engine does not start and run on its own? Since its intermittent and unlikely to be tested while malfunctioning, I would guess ignition module or crank position sensor.
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How Anxiety Can Cause Memory Loss
Anxiety can definitely cause memory loss. Here are three reasons that anxiety can cause memory loss:
- Stress Hormones The stress hormone cortisol is often elevated in patients who have General Anxiety Disorder. Cortisol elevation can help create a memory in a stressful situation, but it makes it more difficult for a person to recall an existing memory. It is not believed that these memory problems are permanent or represent any type of loss of brain function. When the stress diminishes, your normal ability to recall memories will return.
- Distracted Thinking People with anxiety are also prone to having incredibly active minds with lots of thoughts running through their mind. When your mind is this active, you are not focused on the new things you’re trying to remember, which distracts you from forming a memory. Distracting thinking also blocks your ability to become aware of memories when they appear in your stream of consciousness. It is like clouds blocking your ability to see the sun.
- Sleep Loss, etc. – Anxiety also affects secondary issues which may affect memory. For example, anxiety can make it harder to sleep, and sleep deprivation has a known effect on memory and recall.
What Does Anxiety Do To Memory And Why
First things first, anxiety isnt likely to have you waking up with full-blown amnesia. It doesnt tend to affect long-term memories. Its your working and short-term memories that might slip under anxietys sweaty yoke.
Theres a reason some peeps describe mild anxiety-related memory loss as being a brain fog.
You might forget stuff like:
- directions
- conversations you straight-up know you had
- dates for engagements and deadlines
- information youve just read
Anxiety-forgetfulness usually comes with feelings of confusion, dissociation, and concentration difficulties its not your standard total sci-fi alien brain-wipe amnesia. There are a fair few neuroscience reasons for anxietys short-term memory meddling.
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The #1 Cause Of Memory Loss
The #1 cause of memory loss is simply getting older. Some forgetfulness is normal and doesnt indicate a serious problem.
Forgetfulness can be a normal part of aging,says the National Institute on Aging. As people get older, changes occur in all parts of the body, including the brain. As a result, some people may notice that it takes longer to learn new things, they dont remember information as well as they did, or they lose things like their glasses. These usually are signs of mild forgetfulness, not serious memory problems, like Alzheimers disease.
Read on to find out when memory loss can indicate something more serious.
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What Can Be Done To Protect Cognition
Thankfully, the impact on cognition from depression can be temporary , although repeated episodes of depression can lead to more long-lasting cognitive health issues, says Dr. Reddy.
In addition to seeking therapy and other appropriate treatments from a trusted mental health practitioner, there are some things people who are experiencing depression can do to help protect their cognitive health, Cunningham says. Adding more foods with omega-3 fatty acids can help boost your serotonin levels, and remember to eat well-balanced meals and to drink plenty of water, she says. This might sound basic, but these brain-healthy habits can help naturally produce more of those all-important neurotransmitters that the brain needs to function properly.
What you should know is that fatigue is a warning sign to make changes, adds Dr. Sell. It is important to give yourself permission to rest when needed and start to look at your bedtime habits and how you fuel your body with nutrient dense foods during the day.
Although it can difficult to do when in a depressive state, exercising is another great mood-enhancing activity for the brain. If you can muster up the energy for 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, it can make quite a difference, says Cunningham.
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Panic Attacks And Memory Loss
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
- numbness, tingling, or blurred vision
- feeling of doom
- feeling of losing control
Some people having a panic attack might believe theyre 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 youve 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:
- 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 its important to monitor your difficulty remembering things.
Can Mental Health Problems And Stress Affect Your Memory
Many of us feel more forgetful than normal at times of stress and anxiety. So why is this, and what should we do if we’re experiencing poor memory in conjunction with poor mental health?
Reviewed byDr Sarah Jarvis MBE
27-Aug-20·5 mins read
It’s a familiar situation: you rush out of your house feeling stressed, only to realise you’ve left your wallet at home. Or you start to panic during an exam or interview, and find your mind going blank. If you’ve ever been accused of being scatty or distracted, you’ll be all too aware of the ways stress can affect your memory.
As the COVID-19 pandemic lingers on, chances are we’re all feeling the strain. And while stress and anxiety can affect our functioning in many different ways, memory issues are an important piece of the puzzle. Whether you’ve been experiencing complete blanks in your memory – or are simply feeling preoccupied and repeatedly misplacing your keys – it could be due to shaky mental health.
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S To Control Your Anxiety
The good news about exercise and sleep is that they’re important for anxiety as well, so if you start ensuring that you get enough exercise and rest daily you’ll put yourself in a much better position for overcoming anxiety.
But you’ll still need to commit to a treatment option that can reduce your anxiety – and ultimately improve your memory – in the long term.
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Causes Of Anxiety Memory Loss
The main cause of memory loss is a hormone known as cortisol. It’s the hormone released during stress, which is why those with severe anxiety are more at risk for developing memory loss problems. Numerous studies have confirmed that cortisol contributes to memory loss, especially short term memory loss, because it is a toxin to the cells of the brain.
The longer you deal with anxiety, the more cortisol you’ll have in your system, and that means that you’re more likely to continue to suffer from memory loss in the future. But cortisol is not the only culprit. Other reasons for trouble remembering include:
Memory loss may be its own cause of anxiety. People are afraid of getting older and forgetting things, so when they forget anything they start to feel as though their minds are failing them.
All of these examples of memory loss are normal, and simply a part of dealing with anxiety. In order to overcome that memory loss, you need to do two things:
- Learn Memory Improvement Tricks
- Control Your Anxiety
Memory improvement tools are always important, and when you have anxiety they’re even more so. You should be focusing on new and interesting ways to keep your memory active.
Daily blogging is one useful way. Give yourself a personal recap of your day. You don’t need to go into great detail, but you should take relevant notes of things that you want to remember and then re-read those notes often in order to keep those memories alive.
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Depression And The Hippocampus
Researchers in 2015 concluded that people with depression had lower hippocampus volume a key brain area devoted to memory.
They found this effect in people with recurrent depressive episodes, but not first-time episodes. The effect was stronger in people with early onset depression .
The researchers also point out that studies have linked depression to changes in the size of your amygdala, a brain region that deals with emotion.
One theory to explain these depression-related cognitive changes is that stress-induced chemical reactions may lead to a loss of neurons the nerves that carry information in the brain and suppressed growth of new neurons.
Coping With Memory Loss
There isnt an overnight anxiety cure yet. Treating anxiety takes time. But there are plenty of things you can do to help your memory recover more quickly in the meantime.
For starters, there are plenty of mental exercises you can carry out to improve memory. There are also loads of foods available that nourish the synapses and nerves responsible for remembering.
Some of the best tips to accelerate taking back control of your memory include:
- Writing stuff down. It can be helpful to make notes of important stuff you want to remember. But its important to not get hypervigilant about this and let it spiral into an obsession.
- Spend time with friends and family. Spending time with loved ones makes you less anxious, in theory. So long as your family are people you feel safe with, being around them fora while could lower your anxiety levels and clear away some of that brain fog.
- Exercise. Studies have shown that physical exercise may benefit your cognitive processes and memory . Doing some sudoku and hitting the gym wont give you photographic recall, but they do make your brain better at storing and retrieving information.
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Can Dissociative Amnesia Be Prevented
Although it may not be possible to prevent dissociative amnesia, it might be helpful to begin treatment in people as soon as they begin to have symptoms. Immediate intervention after a traumatic event or emotionally distressing experience can help to reduce the likelihood of dissociative disorders.
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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 doesnt 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.
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