1. You keep forgetting things
Cortisol is often called the “stress hormone.” High levels of cortisol can cause various problems, especially short-term memory loss in older adults, as a study from the Journal of Neuroscience suggests. In the study, researchers from the University of Iowa found that chronic exposure to stress leads to a gradual loss of synapses in the prefrontal cortex where short-term memories are stored.
According to Kaiser, the key to not letting it to get to that point is creating barriers to stress that allow your mind and body to restore. “Don’t look at your phone during lunch and turn off notifications on your phone at night,” he says. “By changing your relationship with stress, you can begin changing your response to it so you’re not treating an alert or email like being chased by a predator.”
