Now there's another good reason to reduce the stress in your life: researchers have found that elevated levels of stress hormone are linked to a decline in cognitive function.
Add stress reduction to the list of steps you can take to keep your mind sharp. Johns Hopkins researchers have linked high levels of the stress hormone cortisol with a decline in cognitive performance in older individuals.
The researchers examined the stress–cognitive function connection as part of the ongoing Baltimore Memory Study, in which they gave 20 standard cognitive tests to 967 participants (average age 61) while measuring cortisol levels in their saliva. Samples were collected before, during, and after the individuals underwent the cognitive tests and again at the end of the study. The tests provided data on mental abilities such as information processing speed, language skills, and verbal memory and learning.
The researchers found that as cortisol levels rose, cognitive performance declined in a manner comparable to the aging process. For example, the cortisol-related slide in language skills was similar to what would be expected from someone who had aged nearly six years. A possible explanation is that chronic stress leads to malfunctions in the brain pathway that both regulates cortisol production and influences the health of brain cells, resulting in a greater degree of wear and tear on the brain.
This study was reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry (Volume 64, page 810).
