Through certain animal studies and clinical observations it is known that memory and the ability to learn are aspects of our brain function that can be affected by acute and chronic stress.
However, how stress and cognition are related to the passage of time has not been widely studied, and less so in population studies.
This has been one of the objectives of the Chicago Health and Agin Project, whose results have recently been published in Psychosomatic Medicine (2014). Neelum Aggarwal and other researchers tell us about data from more than 6,200 older people (65 years or older) who are black and white.
Specifically, each participant underwent between 2 and 5 evaluations over an average of almost seven years. Sociodemographic variables (such as marital status, for example), healthy behaviors, health and disease history were measured, and various psychological measures were taken and various cognitive tests were applied.
They were also given a six-question scale to assess their degree of perceived stress. The data found that a higher level of perceived stress was associated with lower scores on the initial cognitive assessment , and also with a faster rate of cognitive decline during follow-ups.
This link between higher perceived stress and higher cognitive decline was found regardless of habits such as smoking, the presence of other chronic diseases, blood pressure levels, age or educational level.
This highlights the need to learn to control our stress levels. There are already studies showing the benefits of techniques like relaxation and meditation… and the sooner they are put in place, the better.
Marisa Fernández, Senior Neuropsychologist, Unobrain
